TERM PAPER SEMESTER ONE

Course Code: MIB 130 Credit Units: 04

Objectives
The aim of the term paper is to provide the students with an opportunity to further enhance their knowledge in a sector of their choice by undertaking a significant practical unit of examining and analyzing various aspects of business management at a level commensurate with the learning outcomes of the various courses taken up y them in the ongoing semester.

For students of the first semester, the required term paper is primarily a self worded structured report written by the students after interpreting & analyzing various primary & secondary records of intelligent interviews/readings from several sources on a particular sector. Conduct of Term Paper
The term paper will be executed & submitted by students in groups. (Maximum four students in each group) The students are to form groups of four and decide the sector of study / company of interest within two weeks of the start of the semester. A Faculty Mentor will be assigned to each group of students undertaking a Team Paper. Special Time slot to conduct the research will be included in the timetable.

The Mentor will conduct weekly sessions to guide & follow up the students as well as to clarify any queries or problem faced by the students.
Weekly review of the Work in Progress will be maintained by Faculty Mentor & will carry 20% weightage during the final evaluation. This will be substantiated through a proper economic diary maintained by the students documenting their daily objectives, plan of action, activities undertaken, documentation of reading & referencing material, analysis (if any) & learning outcomes.

Students may use innovative tools & techniques to maintain this diary such as econcepts, online blogs, charts, graphs etc. Student will be given some discretion in the choice of sector for the term paper and the approach to be adopted. The term paper has to be formulated with multi disciplinary aspects explained in the section below.

Focus Areas of Study

1. Principles of Global Business Management (PGBM)

Analysis of International Business Expansion Strategy of 5 companies within the chosen sector while maintaining a scrap book of the latest news & views

2. Marketing Management-A Global Perspective (MMAGP) General o o o Market Description and Current Marketing Situation with analysis using SWOT & PEST Marketing Strategy Assessment Competitive Assessment ? Identifying the products' benefits in terms of clinical differentiation.

For a specific Company within the sector o o o o o o Product Assessment and Review for a company within the sector Identifying a critical unmet need from the customer and whether the customer will use/buy it Obtaining the optimal product profile from customers Channel Assessment: Success in existing sales, marketing and service programmes and channels, New Programmes and Channels that could increase revenue etc. Brand Assessment, impact of existing campaigns, testing of new positioning initiatives etc. Pricing Assessment: Understanding Different pricing strategies adopted by different players

3. Accounting for Managers (AFM) a. Analysis of Financial Statements of selected 5 companies of the sector.

2. Essential IT Tools & Techniques for Global Managers (EITTGM) a. Use Statistical Tools & Techniques (predominantly MS Excel & SPPS) to analyze various facts, figures & trends as well as carry out projections & sensitivity analysis. b. Analysis of ICT trends in the sector

3. Quantitative Applications in Management (QAM)

a. Practical Application of all methods learnt on some form of live data collected for
the sector/ company(s) therein.

4. Economic Analysis (EA) a. Nature of Competition (Number of companies, market share, market dominance, entry and exit barriers etc.) b. Impact of change in the National Income on the growth of the sector. c. Impact on the performance (revenue) of chosen sector due to change in technology, foreign investment and Government Policies d. Major Mergers, collaborations or Takeovers that have taken place in the sector. 5. Organizational Theory & HRM (OT&HRM) a. HRM Policies and Best Practices followed in the sector b. Cross Analysis of various data related to any one major aspect such as employee turnover/satisfaction/training etc. Needless to add, effective deployment of Self Devleopment, Interpersonal Skills & techniques of Business Communication is integral to all aspects of the term paper and will be evaluated accordingly. General Guidelines Each group must submit an independently written report of their term paper project. All contents need to be sourced from reliable primary & secondary sources; references for which MUST be maintained in proper format. At least one middle level or senior level person of a company from the chosen sector has to be interviewed face to face Though the term paper is more a descriptive report covering the What, Why and How aspects; participation in leg work or field research of a company(s) will add value to the study. The paper should utilise class room learning and industry exposure to evaluate issues on hand and suggest remedial/progressive measures that may be taken by a company(s)

Assessment & Evaluation: The term paper will be in the form of an integrated report and assignment. A board consisting of all the faculty members who are teaching the students in the first semester will conduct the final evaluation. The faculty mentor assigned to the group will do the continuous evaluation.

All reports will be examined most strictly for plagiarism. The groups with the best papers will be given the opportunity to present them in a workshop. Components Continuous Assessmen t & Economic Diary 20% Presentation Content & Layout of Report 20% Analysis Conclusion & Recommendations Viva/ Defending Questions 15%

Weightage

15%

20%

10%

TERM PAPER SEMESTER THREE

Course Code: MIB 330 Credits : 06

Objectives
The aim of the term paper is to enhance the strength of the research and analysis skills gained by the students in the previous semesters by undertaking an extension of the previously embarked on research or exploring a new arena in the field of their choice of business management to develop an in depth understanding and practical application of the various courses taken up by them in the ongoing and past semesters. For students of the third/seventh semester, the required term paper is primarily a self worded, well researched and structured report written by the students after interpreting & analyzing various primary & secondary records of intelligent interviews/readings from several sources on a particular sector specific issue. It will also prove beneficial for students in identifying companies of their final placements.

Conduct of Term Paper

The term paper will be executed & submitted by students in groups of two. Students maybe of the same specialization or across specialization. The students have to decide the sector / company specific issue of interest within two weeks of the start of the semester. A Faculty Mentor will be assigned to each group of students undertaking a Term Paper Special Time slot to conduct the research will be included in the timetable. The Mentor will conduct weekly sessions to guide & follow up the students as well as to clarify any queries or problem faced by the students. Weekly review of the Work in Progress will be maintained by Faculty Mentor & will carry 20% weightage during the final evaluation.

This will be substantiated through a proper research diary maintained by the students documenting their daily objectives, plan of action, activities undertaken, documentation of reading & referencing material, analysis & learning outcomes. Students may use innovative tools & techniques to maintain this diary such as econcepts, online blogs, charts, graphs etc. Student will be given some discretion in the choice of sector / company specific issue for the term paper and the approach to be adopted. The term paper has to be formulated with multi disciplinary aspects explained in the section below.

Focus Areas of Study

IMPORTANT: The focus areas must include at least five of any of the following options or their related areas of relevance. The following options are ONLY INDICATIVE and their final selection is based on the students own judgmental /innovation capabilities. The depth and level of the study should not be less than that indicated below. Needless to add, higher research aptitude will be appreciated more. 4. International Trade

a. Analysis of political risks, country risk and exchange rate exposure, and identification of the benefits of raising funds from Euromarkets rather than domestic markets for the chosen sector/company/topic. Critical review of the theoretical approaches to financial and non-financial risks highlighting their advantages and disadvantages.

b. Examine the role of WTO in International trade, the key principles of the WTO and the way they affect the liberalisation of the International trade. Highlight the real life role of a chosen organisation in the promotion of its key principles. On the basis of the analysis of the countrys export and import structure and FDI flows show the impact of WTO arrangements on the economic development of the country.

c. Outline of risk mitigation strategies for a chosen company. Examination of the issues affecting the company that are associated with the main risks (input material risk, foreign exchange risk, safety risk, operational risk etc.) and provision of recommendations for management of these risks. d. Examine the concept of Marine Insurance, by discussing insurance as a risk transfer mechanism. Examine risk, risk evaluation and risk management. Examine the benefits of insurance in reference to individuals, communities and businesses.

5. Marketing

a. Examine the sales and distribution strategy of a technology of your choice, explaining the applications of the device in the industry, presenting the product specification, highlighting objectives of distribution within the product-service system, and describing customer support processes.

b. Analyse the way in which effective operation management can achieve strategic objectives in the hotel industry. Explore the relationship between strategic objectives and operation management, to examine management approaches in the service history, which include strategic management, operations management and revenue management, to identify the strategic objectives in the hotel industry, to compare the success of traditional management processes in the hotel industry with the introduction of a model based upon integrated operations management, and to investigate to what extent does hotel management follow the integrated approach of operations management.

c. Enumerate the approaches to strategic management of two companies comparing their market segmentation, marketing communication campaigns, supply chain and logistic management, production and manufacturing process,

etc.

d. Examine the strategy of Airbus, the civil aircraft manufacturer. Also discuss the strategic choices Airbus has made, outlining the critical success factors in the sector, identifying how successful Airbus has been, and describing the resources and capabilities that Airbus has utilised in the past five years to generate competitive advantage.

e. Investigate the process and strategy development in digital marketing environment of business-to-consumer companies. Also study the scope of digital marketing. Emphasize the effects of digital marketing on social and ethical issues. Analyse the impacts of technology to the marketing mix the Four Ps model of business-to-consumer firms in digital marketing practice. f. Explain the marketing strategy of the online discount retailer conducting the companys SLEPT (PESTL) and SWOT analysis. Describe their marketing strategies and suggest a plan of digital marketing through the optimization of their search engine marketing, online customer targeting, etc.

g. Investigate e-marketing strategies currently employed by online companies to increase their customers satisfaction. Briefly enumerate the background of the research, its objectives, the purpose of the study and the main hypotheses and the significance of the proposed research.

h. Critically analyse and develop an integrated marketing communication plan for a company of your choice. Provide the situation analysis, objectives, strategies, tactics, actions and control framework used to achieve the aim of your research. Analyse in relation to customer, business and internal context. Also incorporate Promotional strategy and communication mix. Present a timeline for the implementation of these strategies and suggest a set of control systems in order for these strategies to be achieved. i. Assess the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing on a product of your

choice. Also analyse its use and activity.

j. Analyse integrated marketing communication strategies, using relevant corporate examples. Include a full analysis of marketing communication campaigns discussing aspects like semiotics and celebrity endorsement. Discuss the different ways of raising awareness, including event marketing. Draw a comparison between repositioning and raising awareness campaigns.

k. Examine the concept of brand management relating in to customer management. Analyse Brand management approaches within the coffee industry and analysing Brand management practices used by Starbucks coffee shops.

l. Critically evaluate the brand management and development in a healthy fast-food store addressing the issues related to the brand planning cycle, brand environment, brand development at the company. Examine the company's brand strategy and the role of marketing mix in their brand success.

6. Finance a. Highlight the significance of personal development and continuing

professional development (CDP) as the tools of human resource management in financial services. Discuss the key principles, benefits and regulating framework of CDP and analyse the opportunities provided by CDP programmes. b. Address the issues of trade liberalisation in financial services providing

information on its history and regulatory background. Explain the causes and benefits of liberalisation within the financial sector, and assess its impact on developed and less developed countries.

c.

Examine the concept of management and organisational culture in

financial service organisations. Examine the current state of corporate culture and team building, and provides points on what aspects needs to change. d. Present PESTLE analysis of the Indian financial services industry.

e.

Examine the banking industry with respect to the 'too big to fail' policies

and present arguments in favour and against this type of intervention in the financial system. Examine the concept of moral hazard in relation to the analysed policies. f. Examine British Petroleum (BP) and the Gulf of Mexico crisis in relation to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). g. Assess whether mergers and acquisitions (M&A) always brings about the desired effect. Discuss why M&A waves occur and the motivations behind them. You may examine M&As in relation to Procter & Gamble, Santantder, General Electric, Mittal Steel, and Google. h. Investigate the performance of a company from their pre-merger through to the post merger periods. Provide a review of literature on the theory of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), an overview of the industry and background including their financial and operational review, performance analysis, etc. i. Address the rules and principles of the corporate law explaining the

purpose of using share premium and revaluation reserves. Explore the reasons for a public companys purchase or redemption of its own shares, define conditions for the premium to be paid by the company on the redemption of the shares and examine whether the entire premium can be written off to the share premium account.

7. Human Resource

a. Evaluate a small public limited companys recruitment and selection policy, and evaluate its approach to recruiting, training and developing future

managers and leaders. In particular, investigate how the power dimensions in the organisation in relation to diversity and recruitment.

b. Address the issues of HRM in company of your choice related to the recruitment and retention of new employees. Evaluate the induction process for new employees and outline the positive and negative aspects of high retention levels.

c. Examine a case of organisational conflicts based on the difference in leadership styles and employees resistance to change in a Business College. Review the theory of leadership styles applying it to the styles of the college leader and a newly appointed director. Discuss approaches to effective change management and team development. d. Critically evaluate the behaviour of a company describing their organisational structure and addressing the issues of the employees' team work, leadership, employee motivation, time management, communication within the company and employee training. e. Investigate the executive compensation and its relation to the performance of Indian publicly listed companies.

f. Examine the role of the incentive pay in employee motivation discussing the incentive system used by the MNCs. Outline the negative aspects of performance-based incentives and the link between compensation and shareholders' interests. Highlight the importance of an optimally designed managerial compensation structure.

g. Examine the concept of emotional intelligence from the perspective of human resource management (HRM). Discuss the abrasive behaviour of an employee who experiences emotional outbursts, and suggesting how the manager should deal with the situation.

h. Identify whether the compensation cost is the motivation of earning management. i. Critically examine the practices of performance appraisal (PA) and employee training and development (T&D) at a company of your choice, highlighting the importance of these HR approaches in modern businesses.

8. Operations

a. Investigate the concept of third party logistics (3PL) looking at its features, roots, and functions. Address the role of 3PL in modern supply chain and in conditions of the global financial crisis. Include a company specific case study.

b. Investigate the issues of supply chain management (SCM) by conducting a comparative study of SCM in the company of your choice and its competitors. Identify factors that influence SCM of these companies.

c. Investigate change management using the supermarket sector. Focus on the introduction of new technologies and the issues that may arise from this.

d. Examine project management focusing on the perception and implementation of leadership traits, skills and practices among project managers in India.

e. Highlight the importance of planning in project management reporting on a joint project launched by a global company with another major giant.

Develop a project management plan including the scope and requirements of the project, the scheduling and work breakdown structure, milestones, critical paths, budget, human resources and risk management.

f. Address the challenges of cross-cultural project management in the tourism industry conducting a case study of tourism projects for UK tourists in India. g. Examine the methods of project management (PM) highlighting its importance for business efficiency and environmental sustainability. Focus on critical path analysis, task scheduling and event management analysis, i.e. the tools of PM that are used in the identification of resource constraints, time and costs associated with the project. Discuss the importance of stakeholders for the successful delivery of projects examining the approaches that managers can apply in PM.

h. Investigate customer relationship management (CRM), and discuss the way in which it can build customer loyalty in a major global company.

i. Examine the practices of relationship marketing (RM) used by a telecom company. Present the company's background and describe their B2B and B2C online services. Also examine their strategy of online customer retention, and characterise the e-tools used by it.

Needless to add, effective deployment of Behavioural Sciences & techniques of Business Communication is integral to all aspects of the term paper and will be evaluated accordingly. General Guidelines Each group must submit an independently written report of their term paper project. All contents need to be sourced from reliable primary & secondary sources; references for which MUST be maintained in proper format.

The paper should have at least Five Citations from reputed Refreed International Journals. The Bibliography should either be in APA, of MLA format or follow the simple Harvard Style of Referencing. At least one senior level person of a company from the chosen sector has to be interviewed face to face Though the term paper is more a descriptive report covering the What, Why and How aspects; participation in leg work or field research of a company(s) will add value to the study. The paper should utilise class room learning and industry exposure to evaluate issues on hand and suggest remedial/progressive measures that may be taken by a company(s)

Assessment & Evaluation: The term paper will be in the form of an integrated report and assignment. A board consisting of all the faculty members who are teaching the students in the third semester will conduct the final evaluation. The faculty mentor assigned to the group will do the continuous evaluation. All reports will be examined most strictly for plagiarism.

The groups with the best papers will be given the opportunity to present them in a workshop. Component Continuou s s Assessme nt & Research Diary Weightage 20% Presentatio n Conten Analysi t& s Layout of Report 20% 20% Conclusion & Recommendatio ns Viva/ Defendin g Question s 15%

15%

10%