SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100

CASE 1 Your Job and Your PassionYou Can Pursue Both!

The 21st century offers many challenges to every one of us. As more firms go global, as more
economies interconnect, and as the Web blasts away boundaries to communication, we become more
informed citizens. This interconnectedness means that the organizations you work for will require you
to develo both general and secialized knowledge!such as seaking multile languages, using
various software alications, or understanding details of financial transactions. "ou will have to
develo general management skills to foster your ability to be self#reliant and thrive in a changing
market#lace. And here$s the e%citing art& As you build both tyes of knowledge, you may be able to
integrate your growing e%ertise with the causes or activities you care most about. 'r, your career
adventure may lead you to a new assion.
(ormer residents )eorge *. W. +ush and +ill ,linton are well known for combining their
management skills!running a country!with their assion for heling eole around the world.
Together they have raised funds to assist disaster victims, those with *-./A-01, and others in need.
2ake +urton turned his love of snow sorts into an entire industry when he founded +urton
1nowboards. Annie Withey oured her business and marketing knowledge into her two famous
business ventures& 1martfood and Annie$s *omegrown. +oth roducts were the result of her assion
for healthful foods made from organic ingredients.
As you enter the workforce, you may have no idea where your career ath will lead. "ou may be
asking yourself, 3*ow will - fit in45 3Where will - live45 3*ow much will - earn45 3Where will my
business and ersonal careers evolve as the world continuous to change at such a fast ace45 -f you are
feeling nervous because you don$t know the answers to these questions yet, rela%. A career is a
6ourney, not a single destination. "ou may have one tye of career or several. -t is likely you will work
for several organisations, or you may run one or more businesses of your own.
As you ask yourself what you want to do and where you want to be, take a few minutes to review
the chater and its main toics. Think about your ersonality, what you like and dislike, what you
know and what you want to learn, what you fear and what you dream. Then try the following e%ercise.
Questions
1. ,reate a three#column chart in which the first column lists nonmanagement skills you have.
Are you good at travel4 0o you know how to build furniture4 Are you a whiz at sorts
statistics4 Are you an innovative cook4 0o you lay video games for hours4 -n the second
column, list the causes or activities about which you are assionate. These may dovetail with
the first list, but they might not.
2. 'nce you have you two columns comlete, draw lines between entries that seem comatible. -f
you are good at building furniture, you might have also listed a concern about families who are
homeless. 7emember that not all entries will find a match!the idea is to begin finding some
connections.
8. -n the third column, generate a list of firms or organizations you know about that reflect your
interests. -f you are good at building furniture, you might be interested working for the *abitat
for *umanity organization, or you might find yourself gravitating towards a furniture retailer
like -kea or 9than Allen. "ou can do further research on organizations via -nternet or business
ublications.
CASE 2 Biyani Pioneering a Retailing Reolution in !ndia
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SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
I use people as hands and legs. I prefer to do thinking around here.
" #ishore Biyani$ CE% & '($ Pantaloon Retail )!ndia* +td,
:ishore +iyani ;+iyani<, ,9'= >0 of ?antaloon 7etail ;-ndia< @td., lanned to have 8A (ood +azaar
outlets, 22 outlets in +ig +azaar, 21 ?antaloons outlets, and four seamless malls under the ,entral
logo, by the end of 2AAB. *e also lanned to launch at least three businesses every year and had
already selected music, footwear and car accessories as his ne%t areas of investments. *e was already
the to retailer in -ndia followed by 7aghu ?illai of 7?). As of 2AAC, +iyani headed a comany that
had a turnover of 7s D,BAA million and oerated 18 ?antaloon aarel stores, E +ig +azaars, 18 (ood
+azaars, and 8 seamless malls ;,entral<, one each located in +angalore, *yderabad, and ?une.
+iyani$s 6ourney from a erson who looked after his family business to -ndia$s to retailer in 1EFG,
when he launched >anz Wear ?vt. @td. The comany launched one of the first readymade trousers
brands H I?antaloon$ H in the country. The comany also launched its first 6eans brand called I+are$ in
1EFE. 'n 1etember 2A, 1EE1, >anz Wear ?vt. @td. went ublic and on 1etember 2B, 1EE2, it
changed its name to ?antaloon (ashions ;-ndia< @imited ;?(-@<. I2ohn >iller$ was the first formal shirt
brand from ?(-@.
The comany oened its first aarel stores, called I?antaloons$ at :olkata in August 1EEG. The
stores generated 7s GA million. +iyani then realized the otential of the -ndian market and started to
aggressively ta it. Accordingly, +iyani decided to e%and into other segments of retailing besides
aarel. To reflect this change in focus, the comany changed its name to ?antaloon 7etail ;-ndia<
@imited ;?7-@< in 2uly 1EEE and set itself a target of achieving 7s 1A billion in sales by 2une 2AAB. -n
course of time he launched three other retail formats ## +ig +azaar, (ood +azaar, and ,entral.
+iyani didn$t believe in coying ideas from western retailers. *e was critical of his eers who felt
6ust coied ideas form the west without making any effort to mold them to -ndian conditions. *e
ensured that his store formats such as +ig +azaar, (ood +azaar, and ?antaloons were all suited to the
urchasing style of -ndian consumers.
+iyani was a huge risk taker and his lanning was always different from the conventional way of
doing business. This was also one of the factors that had romted +iyani to move away from his
father$s conventional way of doing business. 0uring the initial stages of his success, his risk#taking
attitude sometimes had the effect of turning away financiers. The biggest risk that +iyani took was in
oening +ig +azaar in >umbai in 2AA1. The comany needed money to e%and +ig +azaar$s
oerations. *owever, it had rofits of only 7s CA million with a low share rice at eighteen ruees.
Therefore, +iyani could not raise money through equity. -n light of this situation, +iyani took a loan of
7s 1,2AA million from -,-,- for launching the oerations of +ig +azaar, which increased his debt
e%osure. *owever, +ig +azaar roved to be a resounding success with 1AA,AAA customer visits in its
first week of oerations. According to analysts, if +ig +azaar had failed, +iyani would have landed in
a severe debt crisis. The success of +ig +azaar not only increased the comany rofits, it also changed
the ercetion of investors.
>any eole criticized +iyani for not delegating authority and +iyani himself acceted the
criticism. *e said, 3- use eole as hands and legs. - refer to do the thinking around here.5 *e
referred taking individual decision on activities like strategic lanning, ideas for other ventures, and
other imortant issues. -t was because of this that managers like :ush >edhora of Westside were
initially arehensive about 6oining +iyani$s business. *owever, +iyani changed his attitude gradually
with the launch of +ig +azaar, (ood +azaar, and ,entral and aointed different eole for managing
different business units.
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SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
+iyani believed in leading a simle life and in being simly dressed. *is vision came from his
diverse reading connected to retailing and other areas. *e made it a oint to visit each of his stores
across the country. *e aimed to send at least seven hours a week at the stores. -n the stores, he would
stand at a corner and observe eole. *e also walked on streets, met common eole, and talked to
local leaders to lan and ut u new roducts in his stores. 9ach of his stores was set with a weekly
target, which was reviewed every >onday. Whenever a new store was oened, the details of its
oerations during the first CB days were to be sent to him. 1ometimes, he suggested remedies to some
roblems. +iyani believed in e%tensive advertising to make more eole know about the roduct. *is
decision making was quick and devoid of unnecessary delays. +iyani was also a good learner and
learned quickly from his mistakes. *e lanned to imrove inventory management through resonding
effectively to the demands of the customers rather than forecasting them, as he felt that forecasting
would ile u the inventory in this dynamic market.
Questions
1. The tremendous success of the I?antaloons$, I+ig +azaar$ and I(ood +azaar$ retailing formats,
easily made ?7-@ the number one retailer in -ndia by early 2AAC, in terms of turnover and
retail area occuied by its outlets. 9%lain how +iyani is further lanning to consolidate his
businesses.
2. 3'ur striving toward looking at the -ndian market differently and strategizing with the
evolving customer heled us erform better.5 What other qualities of :ishore +iyani do you
think were instrumental in making him to retailer of -ndia4
CASE - .he /e0 1rontier 2or 1resh 1oods Su3er4ar5ets
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SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
(resh (oods 1uermarket is a grocery store chain that was established in the 1outheast 2A years ago.
The comany is now beginning to e%and to other regions of the Jnited 1tates. (irst, the firm oened
new stores along the eastern seaboard, gradually working its way u through >aryland and
Washington, 0,, then through Kew "ork and Kew 6ersey, and on into ,onnecticut and >assachusetts.
-t has yet to reach the northern Kew 9ngland states, but e%ecutives have decided to turn their attention
to the 1outhwest, articularly because of the growth of oulation there.
.ivian Koble, the manager of one of the chain$s most successful stores in the Atlanta area, has
been asked to relocate to ?hoeni%, Arizona, to oen and run a new (resh (oods 1uermarket. 1he has
decided to accet the 6ob, but she knows it will be a challenge. As an African American woman, she
has faced some re6udice during her career, but she refuses to be stoed by a glass ceiling or any
other barrier. 1he understands that she will be living and working in an area where several cultures
combine and collide, and she will be hiring and managing a diverse workforce. Koble has the suort
of to management at (resh (oods, which wants the store to reflect the surrounding community!in
both staff makeu and roduct selection. 1o she will be looking to hire emloyees with *isanic and
Kative American roots, as well as older workers who can relate to the many retired residents in the
area. And she will be seeking their inuts on the selection of certain food roducts, including ethnic
brands, so that customers know they can buy what they need and want a (resh (oods.
-n addition, Koble wants to make sure that (resh (oods rovides services above and beyond those
of a standard suermarket to attract local consumers. (or instance, she wants the store to offer free
delivery of groceries to home#bound customers who are either senior citizens or hysically disabled.
1he wants to be sure that the store has enough bilingual emloyees to translate for and otherwise assist
customers who seak little or no 9nglish. Koble believes that she is a ioneer of sorts, guiding (resh
(oods 1uermarkets into a new frontier. 3The sky is almost blue here,5 she says of her new home state.
3And there$s no glass ceiling between me and the sky.5
Questions
1. What stes can .ivian Koble take to recruit and develo her new workforce4
2. What other ways can Koble hel her comany reach out to the community4
8. *ow will (resh (oods 1uermarkets as whole benefit from successfully moving into this new
region of the country4
CASE 6 .he +a0 %22i7es o2 Jeter$ Ja75son$ 8uidry$ and Boyer
T*9 9.'@JT-'K '( T*9 (-7>
C
SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
0avid 2eter and Kate 2ackson started a small general law ractice in 1EE2 near 1acramento, ,alifornia.
?rior to that, the two had sent five years in the district attorney$s office after comleting their formal
schooling. What began as a small artnershi!6ust the two attorneys and a aralegal/assistant!had
now grown into a ractice that emloyed more than 2G eole in three searated towns. The current
staff included 1F attorneys ;three of whom have become artners<, three aralegals, and si% secretaries.
(or the first time in the firm$s e%istence, the artners felt that they were losing control of their
overall oeration. The firm$s current caseload, number of emloyees, number of clients, travel
requirements, and facilities management needs had grown far beyond anything that the original
artners had ever imagined.
Attorney 2eter called a meeting of the artners to discuss the matter. +efore the meeting, oinions
about the ressing roblems of the day and roosed solutions were sought from the entire staff. The
meeting resulted in a formal decision to create a new osition, general manager of oerations. The
artners roceeded to comose a 6ob descrition and 6ob announcement for recruiting uroses.
*ighlights and resonsibilities of the 6ob descrition include&
1uervising day#to#day office ersonnel and oerations ;hones, meetings, word rocessing,
mail, billings, ayroll, general overhead, and maintenance<.
-mroving customer relations ;more e%editious rocessing of cases and clients<.
9%anding the customer base.
9nhancing relations with the local communities.
>anaging the annual budget and related incentive rograms.
>aintaining annual growth in sales of 1A ercent while maintaining or e%ceeding the current
rofit margin.
The general manager will rovide an annual e%ecutive summary to the artners, along with secific
action lans for imrovement and change. A search committee was formed, and two months later the
new osition was offered to +rad *owser, a longtime administrator from the insurance industry
seeking a final career change and a return to his ,alifornia roots. *owser made it clear that he was
willing to make a five#year commitment to the osition and would then likely retire.
Things got off to a quiet and uneventful start as *owser sent few months 6ust getting to know the
staff, observing day#today oerationsL and reviewing and analyzing assorted client and attorney data
and history, financial sreadsheets, and so on.
About si% months into the osition, *owser became more outsoken and assertive with the staff
and established several new oerational rules and rocedures. *e began by changing the regular
working hours. The firm reviously had a fle% schedule in lace that allowed emloyees to begin and
end the workday at their choosing within given arameters. *owser did not care for such a 3loose
schedule5 and now required that all office ersonnel work from E&AA to B&AA each day. A few staff
member were unhay about this and comlained to *owser, who matter#of#factly informed them that
3this is the new rule that everyone is e%ected to follow, and anyone who could or would not comly
should robably look for another 6ob.5 1ylvia +ronson, an administrative assistant who had been with
the firm for several years, was articularly unhay about this change. 1he arranged for a rivate
meeting with *owser to discuss her child care circumstances and the difficulty that the new schedule
resented. *owser seemed to listen half#heartedly and at one oint told +ronson that 3assistance are
essentially a#dime#a#dozen and are readily available.5 +ronson was seen leaving the office in tears that
day.
*owser was not hay with the average length of time that it took to receive ayments for services
rendered to the firm$s clients ;accounts receivable<. A closer look showed that 8A ercent of the clients
B
SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
aid their bills in 8A days or less, DA ercent aid in 8A to DA days, and the remaining 1A ercent
stretched it out to as many as 12A days. *owser comosed a letter that was sent to all clients whose
outstanding invoices e%ceeded 8A days. The strongly worded letter demanded immediate ayment in
full and went on to indicate that legal action might be taken against anyone who did not resond in
timely fashion. While a small number of 3late5 ayments were received soon after the mailing, the firm
received an even larger number of letters and hone calls from angry clients, some of whom had been
with the firm since its incetion.
*owser was given an advertising and romotion budget for uroses of e%anding the client base.
'ne of the aralegals suggested that those e%enditures should be carefully lanned and that the firm
had several attorneys who knew the local markets quite well and could robably offer some insights
and ideas on the sub6ect. *owser thought about this briefly and then decided to go it alone, reasoning
that most attorneys know little or nothing about marketing.
-n an attemt to 3bring all of the eole together to form a team,5 *owser established weekly staff
meetings. These mandatory, hour#long sessions were run by *owser, who resented a series of
overhead slides, handouts, and lectures about 3some of the roven management techniques that were
successful in the insurance industry.5 The meetings tyically ran ast the allotted time frame and rarely
if ever covered all of the agenda items.
*owser sent some of his time 3enhancing community relations.5 *e was very generous with
many local grous such as the historical society, the garden clubs, the recreational sorts rograms, the
middle#and high#school band rograms, and others. -n less than si% months he had written checks and
authorized donations totaling more than M2B,AAA. *e was delighted about all this and was certain that
such gestures of goodwill would ay off handsomely in the future.
As for the budget, *owser carefully reviewed each line item in search of ways to increase revenues
and cut e%enses. *e then roceeded to increase the e%ected base or quota for attorney$s monthly
billable hours, thus directly affecting their rofit sharing and bonus rogram. 'n the other side, he
significantly reduced the attorneys$ annual budget for travel, meals, and entertainment. *e considered
these to be frivolous and unnecessary. *owser decided that one of the two full#time administrative
assistant ositions in each office should be reduced to art#time with no benefits. *e saw no reason
why the current workload could not be comleted within this model. *owser wraed u his initial
financial review and action lan by osting notices throughout each office with new rules regarding the
use of coy machines, hones, and sulies.
*owser comleted the first year of his tenure with the required e%ecutive summary reort to the
artners that included his analysis of the current status of each deartment and his action lan. The
artners were initially imressed with both *owser$s aroach to the new 6ob and with the changes
that he made. They all seemed to make sense and were directly in line with the key comonents of his
6ob descrition. At the same time, 3the office rumor mill and grae vine5 had 3heated u5
considerably. ,omany morale, which had been quite high, was now clearly waning. The water
coolers and hallways became the frequent meeting laces of disgruntled emloyees.
As for the marketlace, while the artner did not e%ect to see an immediate influ% of new clients,
they certainly did not e%ect to see shrinkage in their e%isting client base. A number of individual and
cororate clients took their business elsewhere, still fuming over the letter they had received.
The artners met with *owser to discuss the situation. *owser urged them to 3sit tight and ride out
the storm.5 *e had seen this haen before and had no doubt that in the long run the firm would
achieve all of its goals. *owser ointed out that eole in general are resistant to change. The artners
met for drinks later that day and looked at each other with a great sense of uncertainty. 1hould they
ride out the storm as *owser suggested4 *ad they done the right thing in creating the osition and
hiring *owser4 What had started as a seemingly, wise, logical, and smooth sequence of events had
now become a crisis.
D
SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
Questions
1. 0o you agree with *owser$s suggestion to 3sit tight and ride out the storm,5 or should the
artners take some action immediately4 -f so, what actions secifically4
2. Assume that the creation of the )>!'eration osition was a good decision. What leadershi
style and tye of individual would you try to lace in this osition4
8. ,onsider your own leadershi style. What tyes of ositions and situations should you seek4
What tyes of ositions and situation should you seek to avoid4 Why4
CASE 9 .he 8ri::ly Bear +odge
0iane and 7udy ,onrad own a small lodge outside "ellowstone Kational ?ark. Their lodge has 1B
rooms that can accommodate u to CA guests, with some rooms set u for families. 0iane and 7udy
serve a continental breakfast on weekdays and a full breakfast on weekends, included in the room they
charge. Their busy season runs from >ay through 1etember, but they remain oen until Thanksgiving
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SUBJECT: General Management Marks:100
and reoen in Aril for a short sring season. They currently emloy one cook and two waitersons for
the breakfasts on weekends, handling the other breakfasts themselves. They also have several
housekeeing staff members, a groundkeeer, and a front#desk emloyee. The ,onrads take ride in
the efficiency of their oeration, including the loyalty of their emloyees, which they attribute to their
own form of clan control. -f a guest needs something!whether it$s a breakfast catered to a secial diet
or an e%tra set of towels!)rizzly +ear workers are emowered to suly it.
The ,onrads are considering e%anding their business. They have been offered the oortunity to
buy the roerty ne%t door, which would give them the sace to build an anne% containing an
additional 2A rooms. ,urrently, their annual sales total M8AA,AAA. With e%enses running M28A,AAA!
including mortgage, ayroll, maintenance, and so forth!the ,onrads$ annual income is MGA,AAA. They
want to e%and and make imrovements without cutting back on the ersonal service they offer to their
guests. -n fact, in addition to hiring more staff to handle the larger facility, they are considering
collaborating with more local business to offer guided rafting, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding
tris. They also want to e%and their food service to include dinner during the high season, which
means renovating the restaurant area of the lodge and hiring more kitchen and wait staff. Jltimately,
the ,onrads would like the lodge to oen year#round, offering guests oortunities to cross#country
ski, ride snow#mobiles, or hike in winter. They hoe to offer holiday ackages for Thanksgiving,
,hristmas, and Kew "ear$s celebrations in the great outdoors. The ,onrads reort that their emloyees
are enthusiastic about their lans and want to stay with them through the e%ansion rocess. 3This is
our dream business,5 says 7udy. 3We$re only at the beginning.5
Questions
1. 0iscuss how 7udy and 0iane can use feedforward, concurrent, and feedback controls both
now and in future at the )rizzly +ear @odge to ensure their guests$ satisfaction.
2. What might be some of the fundamental budgetary considerations the ,onrads would have as
they lan the e%ansion of their logic4
8. 0escribe how the ,onrads could use market controls lans and imlement their e%ansion.
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