1st Test Paper

CA-IPC – Group II
Paper 7: Information Technology & Strategic Management
Section – A - Information Technology

Question 1 is compulsory.
Attempt any five questions from the rest.

Q1.
a) Explain the life cycle of Procure to pay. (2 marks)
b) Explain the features of Tablet. (2 marks)
c) What are the risk involved in E-Commerce. (2 marks)
d) Differentiate between Explicit and Tacit Knowledge (2 marks)
e) Discuss the major parameters that need to be considered while choosing an appropriate delivery
channel for information. (2 marks)

Q2. A company ABC Ltd. is engaged in selling consumer goods to different categories of customers. To
increase its sales, different types of discounts are offered to customers. The policy of discount is as
given below:
 On cooking range, a discount of 12% is allowed to dealers and 9% to retailers irrespective of the
value of the order.
 A discount of 12% is allowed on washing machine irrespective of the category of customer and the
value of the order.
 On decorative products, dealers are allowed a discount of 20% provided that the value of the order
is Rs. 10,000 and above. Retailers are allowed a discount of 10% irrespective of the value of the
order.
Prepare a flow chart to calculate the discount for the above policy. (8 marks)

Q3.
a) What is an Operating System? Discuss various activities its performs. (4 marks)
b) Describe any four benefits of database management solutions for an organization. (4 marks)

Q4.
a) Define Unguided Media. Explain some common types. (4 marks)
b) What does FCAPS stand for? Explain it with reference to Network Management function. (4 marks)

Q5.
a) What do you understand by term “Executive Information System”? Discuss its components in
details. (4 marks)
b) What do you understand by AIS? Also discuss its key elements. (4 marks)

Q6.
a) Discuss Output control in details. (4 marks)
b) Discuss some benefits of Grid Computing. (4 marks)

Q7. Write a short note on: (Attempt any four) (4*2 marks)
a) Explain any two key modules of Infosys Finacle.
b) Application areas of Grid Computing
c) IaaS
d) Data Mining
e) Serial v/s Parallel Transmission
 Section – B – Strategic Management

Question 8 is compulsory.
Attempt any five questions from the rest.

Q8.
a) Explain the need for a business organization to scan the environment on a continuous basis. Discuss
the contemporary developments in the business environment. (3 marks)
b) “Organizations sustain superior performance over a long period of time, inspite of the rapid changes
taking place continually in its competitive environment if they implement strategic management
successfully.” Discuss. (3 marks)
c) KSFs are the rules that shape whether a company will be financially and competitively successful?
Do you agree with this statement? How to identify an industry KSFs? (3 marks)
d) “Human resources are now viewed as a source of competitive advantage.” Discuss the four activities
when performed properly can increase the competency of workforce. (3 marks)
e) What is divestment strategy? When is it adopted? (3 marks)

Q9.
a) State Correct or Incorrect with reason – (2*2 marks)
(i) For a small entrepreneur vision and mission are irrelevant.
(ii) A strategic group is a cluster of firms with dissimilar competitive approaches.
b) “Business environment exhibits many characteristics.” Explain. (3 marks)

Q10. What is the rationale behind Business Process Reengineering (BPR)? What steps would you
recommend to implement BPR in an organization? (7 marks)

Q11.
a) State the points that may be considered while writing a mission statement of a company. (3 marks)
b) Write a short note on elements considered for situational Analysis. (4 marks)

Q12.
a) “The Ansoff’s product market growth matrix is a useful tool that help businesses their product and
market growth strategy”. Elucidate this statement. (3 marks)
b) What is strategic change? Explain the change process proposed by Kurt Lewin that can be useful in
implementing strategies? (1 +3 marks)

Q13. Distinguish between

a) Expansion strategy and Retrenchment strategy. (3 marks)
b) Old v/s new organization structure (4 marks)

Q14. Write a short note on:

a) Role of IT in BPR (3 marks)
b) Strategic Responses to the Environment
Or Leadership styles (4 marks)

All the Best

Rishabh Gaur
+91-8527931436
 1st Full Course Test Answers
Ans. 1
a) Procure to Pay (Purchase to Pay or P2P) cycle covers all the business processes relating to obtaining raw
materials required for production of a product or for providing a service. It involves the transactional flow of
data from the point of placing an order with a vendor to the point of payment to the vendor.
Typical life cycles of a purchase transaction which may include the following transactions are given as under:
(a) Purchase requisition: a document is prepared requesting the purchase department to place an order with the
vendor specifying the quantity and time frame.
(b) Request for quote: an invitation is sent to the vendors to join a bidding process for specific products.
(c) Quotation: the vendors provide cost quotations for the supply of products.
(d) Purchase order: A commercial document is issued to the vendor specifying the type, quantity and agreed prices
of products.
(e) Receipts: the physical receipt of goods and invoices.
(f) Payments: the payments are made against the invoices.

b) Some features of Tablets are:

a) Input Method: Tablets rely solely on a touch interface on the screen for all input.
b) Size: This is probably the biggest reason to go with a tablet PC. Tablets have the size roughly of a small
pad of paper and a weight that is less than one Kg.
c) Battery Life: Tablets are design for efficiency because of the low power requirements of their hardware
components. Tablets can achieve all day usage.
d) Storage Capacity: Most tablets come with configurations that allow between 16 and 64 gigabytes of
storage.
e) Performance: Since most tablet PCs are based on extremely low powered processors more suited for
tasks like email, web browsing, playing video or audio.
f) Software: The two major tablet platforms are Android and iOS amongst plenty of applications that are
available.
g) Wireless: Because tablets by design are mobile computers; most of them have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and
mobile connectivity.

c) The risks associated with e-Commerce are multi-faceted. Given below is a sample listing of risks of e-
Commerce:
 Problem of anonymity: There is need to identify and authenticate users in the virtual global market where
anyone can sell to or buy from anyone, anything from anywhere.
 Repudiation of contract: There is possibility that the electronic transaction in the form of contract, sale order or
purchase by the trading partner or customer may be denied.
 Lack of authenticity of transactions: The electronic documents that are produced in the course of an e-
Commerce transaction may not be authentic and reliable.
 Data Loss or theft or duplication: The data transmitted over the Internet may be lost, duplicated, tampered with
or replayed.
 Attack from hackers: Web servers used for e-Commerce may be vulnerable to hackers.
 Denial of Service: Service to customers may be denied due to non-availability of system as it may be affected by
viruses, e-mail bombs and floods.
 Non-recognition of electronic transactions: e-Commerce transactions, as electronic records and digital
signatures may not be recognized as evidence in courts of law.
 Lack of audit trails: Audit trails in e-Commerce system may be lacking and the logs may be incomplete, too
voluminous or easily tampered with
 Problem of piracy: Intellectual property may not be adequately protected when such property is transacted
through e-Commerce.

d) Explicit knowledge: Explicit knowledge is that knowledge which can be formalized easily and as a consequence
is easily available across the organization. Explicit knowledge is articulated, and represented as spoken words,
written material and compiled data. This type of knowledge is codified, easy to document, transfer and
reproduce. For example - Online tutorials, Policy and procedural manuals.
Tacit knowledge: Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, resides in a few often-in just one person and hasn't been
captured by the organization or made available to others. Tacit knowledge is unarticulated and represented as
intuition, perspective, beliefs, and values that individuals form based on their experiences. It is personal,
 experimental and context-specific. It is difficult to document and communicate the tacit knowledge. For example -
hand-on skills, special know-how, employee's experiences.

e)
More than just the intranet: It is rarely sensible to have a goal of ‘increasing intranet usage’. Fundamentally, staff
will (and should) use whichever methods are easiest and most efficient to obtain information. Any attempt to
move staff usage to the intranet away from existing information sources will almost certainly fail, unless the
intranet is easier than the current methods. For example, it may be effective to put a notice on the notice board in
a canteen (such as for field staff), rather than putting the same on intranet.
Understand staff needs & environment: Job roles and work environments will have a major impact upon the
suitability of delivery channels. This includes which systems do staff use, their level of PC access, their amount of
computer knowledge, and their geographic location. For example, there may only be a single PC in an enterprise
and people working may have no time available in the day to access the intranet anyway. In this situation, the
intranet would not be an effective delivery channel and face-to-face communication may be better.
Traditional Channel need to be formalized: Instead of attempting to eliminate existing information sources in
favour of the intranet, it may be more beneficial to formalize the current practices. For example, staff may have
key details pinned to the walls of their cubicles or work locations. The best outcome in this situation could be to
organize monthly reprinting of these notes to ensure they are up-to-date.

Ans. 2 Discuss in class

Ans. 3 a) An Operating System (OS) is a set of computer programs that manages computer hardware resources
and acts as an interface with computer applications programs. The operating system is a vital component of the
system software in a computer system. Application programs usually require an operating system to function
that provides a convenient environment to users for executing their programs. Computer hardware with
operating system can thus be viewed as an extended machine, which is more powerful and easy to use. Some
prominent Operating systems used nowadays are Windows 7, Windows 8, Linux, UNIX, etc.
A variety of activities are executed by Operating systems which include:
Performing hardware functions: Application programs to perform tasks have to obtain input from
keyboards, retrieve data from disk & display output on monitors. Achieving all this is facilitated by
operating system. Operating system acts as an intermediary between the application program and the
hardware.
User Interfaces: An important function of any operating system is to provide user interface. If we
remember DOS days, it had a command based User Interface (Ul) i.e. text commands were given to
computer to execute any command. But today we are more used to Graphic User Interface (GUI) which
uses icons & menus like in the case of Windows. So, how we interface with our system will be provided by
Operating system.
Hardware Independence: Every computer could have different specifications and configurations of
hardware. If application developer would have to rewrite code for every configuration s/he would be in a
big trouble. Fortunately, we have operating system, which provides Application Program Interfaces (API),
which can be used by application developers to create application software, thus obviating the need to
understand the inner workings of OS and hardware. Thus, OS gives us hardware independence.
Memory Management: Memory Management features of Operating System allow to control how memory
is accessed and maximize available memory & storage. Operating systems also provides Virtual Memory
by carving an area of hard disk to supplement the functional memory capacity of RAM. In this way it
augments memory by creating a virtual RAM.
Task Management: Task Management feature of Operating system helps in allocating resources to make
optimum utilization of resources. This facilitates a user to work with more than one application at a time
i.e. multitasking and also allows more than one user to use the system i.e. timesharing.
Networking Capability: Operating systems can provide systems with features & capabilities to help
connect computer networks. Like Linux & Windows 8 give us an excellent capability to connect to internet.
Logical access security: Operating systems provide logical security by establishing a procedure for
identification & authentication using a User ID and Password. It can log the user access thereby providing
security control.
File management: The operating system keeps a track of where each file is stored and who can access it,
based on which it provides the file retrieval.

Ans. 3 b) Major advantages of DBMS are given as follows:

 Permitting data sharing: One of the principle advantages of a DBMS is that the same information can be made
available to different users.
 Minimizing Data Redundancy: In a DBMS duplication of information or redundancy is, if not eliminated,
carefully controlled or reduced i.e. there is no need to repeat the same data over and over again. Minimizing
redundancy can therefore significantly reduce the cost of storing information on hard drives and other storage
devices.
 Integrity can be maintained: Data integrity is maintained by having accurate, consistent, and up-to-date data.
Updates and changes to the data only have to be made in one place in DBMS ensuring Integrity. The chances of
making a mistake increase if the same data needs to be changed at several different places than making the
change in one place.
 Program and file consistency: Using a DBMS, file formats and programs are standardized. This makes the data
files easier to maintain because the same rules and guidelines apply across all types of data. The level of
consistency across files and programs also makes it easier to manage data when multiple programmers are
involved.
 User-friendly: DBMS makes the data access and manipulation easier for the user. DBMS also reduces the
reliance of users on computer experts to meet their data needs.
 Improved security: DBMSs allow multiple users to access the same data resources which could lead to risk to an
enterprise if not controlled. Security constraints can be defined i.e. Rules can be built to give access to sensitive
data. Some sources of information should be protected or secured and only viewed by select individuals.
Through the use of passwords, database management systems can be used to restrict data access to only those
who should see it.
 Achieving program/data independence: In a DBMS data does not reside in applications but data bases program
& data are independent of each other.
 Faster application development: In the case of deployment of DBMS, application development becomes fast.
The data is already therein databases, application developer has to think of only the logic required to retrieve
the data in the way a user needs.

Ans. 4 a) Unguided Transmission Media consists of a means for the data signals to travel but nothing to guide them
along a specific path. The data signals are not bound to a cabling media. Some of the common examples of
unguided media are Terrestrial Microwave, Radio waves, Micro Waves, Infrared Waves and Communications
Satellites.
Terrestrial Microwave: These are the waves which uses point to point to data communication between
antennas. Terrestrial microwave involves earthbound microwave systems, which transmit high-speed
radio signals in a line-of-sight path between relay stations spaced approximately 30 miles apart.
Terrestrial microwave media uses the atmosphere as the medium through which to transmit signals, and
is used extensively for high-volume as well as long-distance communication of both data and voice in
the form of electromagnetic waves. However major disadvantage of terrestrial microwave is that it
cannot bend around the curvature of the earth.
Radio Waves: Wireless networks do not require any physical media or cables for data transmission.
Radio waves are an invisible form of electromagnetic radiation that varies in wavelength from around a
millimeter to 100,000 km. making it one of the widest ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio
waves are most commonly used transmission media in the wireless Local Area Networks. Radio Waves
travel easily through normal office walls. In addition, radio devices are fairly inexpensive and easy to
install. Finally, radio waves can transmit data at high speeds.
Micro Waves: Microwaves are radio waves with wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as
short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz (0.3 GHz) and 300 GHz.
These are used for communication, radar systems, radio astronomy, navigation and spectroscopy.
Infrared Waves: Infrared light is used in industrial, scientific, and medical applications. Night-vision
devices using infrared illumination allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being
detected. Infrared tracking, also known as infrared homing, refers to a passive missile guidance system
which uses the emission from a target of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared part of the spectrum
to track it. Infrared light is red light that usually is not visible to human eyes.
Communication Satellites: Communication satellites use the atmosphere (microwave radio waves) as
the medium through which to transmit signals. A satellite is some solar-powered electronic device that
receives, amplifies, and retransmits signals; the satellite acts as a relay station between satellite
transmissions stations on the ground (earth stations). They are used extensively for high- volume as well
as long-distance communication of both data and voice. It is cost-effective method for moving large
quantities of data over long distances. However, satellites are very expensive to develop and place in
orbit and have an age limit of 7-10 years. Signals weaken over long distances; weather conditions and
 solar activity can also cause noise interference. Anyone can listen in on satellite signals, so sensitive data
must be sent in a secret or encrypted form.

Ans. 4 b) FCAPS is the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model and framework for network
management. It is an acronym for Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security.
 Fault Management – A fault is an event that has a negative significance. The goal of fault management is
to recognize, isolate, correct and log faults that occur in the network. Most fault management systems poll
the managed objects for error conditions and present this information to the network manager. Fault
management identifies and isolates network issues; proposes problem resolution; and subsequently logs
the issues and associated resolutions.
 Configuration Management – Monitors network and system configuration information so that the impact
on network operations (hardware and software elements) can be tracked and managed. Network changes,
additions and deletions need to be coordinated with the network management personnel.
 Accounting Management – Accounting management is concerned with tracking network utilization
information, such that individuals users, departments, or business units can be appropriately billed or
charged for accounting purposes. For non-billed networks, accounting refers to administration whose
primary goal is to administer the set of authorized users by establishing users, passwords and permissions
and to administer the operations of the equipment such as by performing software backup and
synchronization.
 Performance Management – Measures and makes network performance data available so that
performance can be maintained and acceptable thresholds. It enables the manager to prepare the
network for the future, as well as to determine the efficiency of the current network. The network
performance addresses the throughput, network response times, packet loss rates, link utilization,
percentage utilization, error rates and so forth.
 Security Management – Controls access to network resources as established by organizational security
guidelines. Most network management systems address security regarding network hardware such as
someone logging into a router. Security management functions include managing network authentication,
authorization, and auditing, such that both internal and external users only have access to appropriate
network resources, configuration and management of network firewalls, intrusion detection systems and
security policies (such as access lists).

Ans. 5 a) An Executive Information System (EIS) is the nature of Information System used by executives to access and
administer the data they entail to make informed business decisions. The EIS in itself is not an instrument, but rather, an
infrastructure within a company. It may be defined as just not as a piece of hardware or software, but an
infrastructure that supplies to a firm's executives the up-to-the-minute operational data, gathered and sifted from
various databases. EIS links data from various sources both internal and external to provide the amount and kind of
information executives find useful. These systems are designed for top management; easy to use; present
information in condensed view; access organization's databases and data external to the organization.
The typical information mix presented to the executive may include financial information, work in process, inventory
figures, sales figures, market trends, industry statistics, and market price of the firm's shares. Components of an EIS
are as follows:
Component Description
Hardware Includes Input data-entry devices, CPU, Data Storage files and Output Devices.
Software Includes Text base software, Database, and Graphic types such as time series
charts, scatter diagrams, maps, motion graphics, sequence charts, and comparison-
oriented graphs (i.e., bar charts) Model base.
User Interface Includes hardware (physical) and software (logical) components by which people
(users) interact with a machine. Several types of interfaces can be available to the EIS
structure, such as scheduled reports, questions/answers, menu driven, command
language, natural language, and input/output.
Telecommunication Involves transmitting data from one place to another in a reliable networked
system.

Ans. 5 b)An Accounting Information System is defined as a system of collection, storage and processing of financial
and accounting data that is used by decision makers. An accounting information system is generally a computer-
based method for tracking accounting activity in conjunction with information technology resources. The resulting
statistical reports can be used internally by management or externally by other interested parties including
investors, creditors and tax authorities.
Key components of Accounting Information System
People - AIS helps various system users that include accountants, consultants, business analysts,
managers, chief financial officers and auditors etc. from different departments within a company to work
together. With well-designed AIS, everyone within an organization who is authorized to do so can access
the same system and get the same information. AIS also simplify getting information to people outside of
the organization when necessary.
Procedure and Instructions - These include both manual and automated methods for collecting, storing,
retrieving and processing data.
Data - Refers to the information pertinent to the organization's business practices that may include sales
orders, customer billing statements, sales analysis reports, purchase requisitions, vendor invoices, check
registers, general ledger, inventory data, payroll information, timekeeping, tax information etc. This data
can then be used to prepare accounting statements and reports such as accounts receivable aging,
depreciation/amortization schedules, trial balance, profit and loss, and so on.
Software - These are the computer programs that provide quality, reliability and security to the company's
financial data that may be stored, retrieved, processed and analyzed. Managers rely on the information it
outputs to make decisions for the company, and they need high-quality information to make sound
decisions.
Information Technology Infrastructure - This include hardware such as personal computers, servers,
printers, surge protectors, routers, storage media, and possibly a backup power supply used to operate
the system. The hardware selected for AIS must be compatible with the intended software.
Internal Controls - These are the security measures such as passwords or as complex as biometric
identification to protect sensitive data against unauthorized computer access and to limit access to
authorized users. Internal controls also protect against computer viruses, hackers and other internal and
external threats to network security.

Ans. 6 a) Output controls ensure that the data delivered to users will be presented, formatted and delivered in a
consistent and secured manner. Whatever the type of output, it should be ensured that the confidentiality and
integrity of the output is maintained and that the output is consistent. Output controls have to be enforced both in
a batch-processing environment as well as in an online environment.
 Storage and Logging of Sensitive and Critical Forms: Pre-printed stationery should be stored securely to prevent
unauthorized destruction or removal and usage. Only authorized persons should be allowed access to stationery
supplies such as security forms, negotiable instruments etc.
 Logging of Output Program Executions: When programs, used for output of data, are executed, they should be
logged and monitored.
 Controls over Printing: It should be ensured that unauthorized disclosure of information printed is prevented.
 Report Distribution and Collection Controls: Distribution of reports should be made in a secure way to avoid
unauthorized disclosure of data. A log should be maintained as to what reports were generated and to whom it
was distributed.
 Retention Controls: Retention controls consider the duration for which outputs should be retained before being
destroyed. Consideration should be given to the type of medium on which the output is stored.
 Existence/Recovery Controls: These controls are needed to recover output in the event that it is lost or
destroyed. If the output is written to a spool of files or report files and has been kept, then recovery is easy and
straight-forward.

Ans. 6 b) Some benefits of Grid Computing are -

 Making use of Underutilized Resources: In most organizations, there are large amounts of underutilized
computing resources. In some organizations, even the server machines can often be relatively idle. Grid
computing provides a framework for exploiting these underutilized resources and thus has the possibility of
substantially increasing the efficiency of resource usage. Grid computing (more specifically, a data grid) can be
used to aggregate this unused storage into a much larger virtual data store, possibly configured to achieve
improved performance and reliability over that of any single machine.
 Resource Balancing: For applications that are grid-enabled, the grid can offer a resource balancing effect by
scheduling grid jobs on machines with low utilization. This feature of grid computing handles occasional peak
loads of activity in parts of a larger organization. An unexpected peak can be routed to relatively idle machines in
the grid; and if the grid is already fully utilized, the lowest priority work being performed on the grid can be
temporarily suspended or even cancelled and performed again later to make room for the higher priority work.
 Parallel CPU Capacity: The potential for usage of massive parallel CPU capacity is one of the most common
visions and attractive features of a grid. A CPU-intensive grid application can be thought of as many smaller sub-
jobs, each executing on a different machine in the grid. To the extent that these sub-jobs do not need to
communicate with each other, the more scalable the application becomes. A perfectly scalable application will,
for example, finish in one tenth of the time if it uses ten times the number of processors.
 Virtual resources and virtual organizations for collaboration: Another capability enabled by grid computing is to
provide an environment for collaboration among a wider audience. The users of the grid can be organized
dynamically into a number of virtual organizations, each with different policy requirements. These virtual
organizations can share their resources such as data, specialized devices, software, services, licenses, and so on,
collectively as a larger grid. These resources are virtualized to give them a more uniform interoperability among
heterogeneous grid participants. The participants and users of the grid can be members of several real and
virtual organizations. The grid can help in enforcing security rules among them and implement policies, which can
resolve priorities for both resources and users.
 Access to additional resources: In addition to CPU and storage resources, a grid can provide access to other
resources as well. For example, if a user needs to increase their total bandwidth to the Internet to implement a
data mining search engine, the work can be split among grid machines that have independent connections to the
Internet. In this way, total searching capability is multiplied, since each machine has a separate connection to
the Internet. Some machines may have expensive licensed software installed that users require. Users' jobs can
be sent to such machines, more fully exploiting the software licenses. Some machines on the grid may have
special devices. All of these will make the grid look like a large system with a collection of resources beyond what
would be available on just one conventional machine.
 Reliability: High-end conventional computing systems use expensive hardware to increase reliability. The
machines also use duplicate processors in such a way that when they fail, one can be replaced without turning
the other off. Power supplies and cooling systems are duplicated. The systems are operated on special power
sources that can start generators if utility power is interrupted. All of this builds a reliable system, but at a great
cost, due to the duplication of expensive components.
 Management: The goal to virtualize the resources on the gird and more uniformly handle heterogeneous
systems create new opportunities to better manage a larger, more distributed IT infrastructure. The grid offers
management of priorities among different projects. Aggregating utilization data over a larger set of projects can
enhance an organization’s ability to project future upgrade needs. When maintenance is required, grid work can
be rerouted to other machines without crippling the projects involved.

Ans. 7
a) The key modules of Finacle are as follows:
 Enterprise customer information: This module enables banks to create and maintain a single source of customer
truth enterprise customer information files, across multiple host systems that access comprehensive
segmentation information all through a unified view.
 Consumer banking: Offerings such as savings and checking accounts, and provision for personal and auto
finance are easily supported. Multilayered products-structured deposits, multi-currency accounts, top-up
deposits, master term deposits, top-up loans, revolving loans and securitization are added as needed.
 Corporate banking: This includes commercial lending essentials such as multicurrency disbursements and
repayments, flexible and varied interest rate setup, commitment fee setup, crystallization, amortization, and
debt consolidation. Finacle maintains the corporate customer information files, corporate deposits, commercial
lending, corporate origination and corporate payments with comprehensive liquidity management, sweeps and
pool facilities.
 Trade finance: This module presents an end-to-end solution for the trade finance needs of a bank and is fully
integrated with the payment system and exchange rate setup, and supports multicurrency processing of trade
products such as: documentary credit, forward contract, import and export financing, letter of guarantee,
factoring and buyer's credit etc.
 Customer analytics: This module supports operations with comprehensive intelligence, ranging from data
acquisition to reporting and analysis, leveraging quantitative modelling techniques and multi-dimensional
reporting. There is also the flexibility to pick and choose specific customer analytics functions, relevant to the
business, across the customer life-cycle stages of acquisition, development, and retention.
 Wealth management: This creates new revenue streams by offering high net worth individuals and the mass
affluent, products and services powered by the Finacle wealth management solution.
 Islamic banking: This module offers a flexible and varied feature repertoire for banks to design and deploy
products for varying market segments, based on different Islamic concepts. This further provides unified,
comprehensive, real lime view of the client across the enterprise -covering both Islamic & non Islamic Product.
 Payments: The solution manages end-to-end payments lifecycle and processes payments regardless of payment
instruments, originating channels, hosting modules and payment networks.
 Origination: This module simplifies and strengthens the complete credit lifecycle, across retail and commercial
loans with finacle's enterprise loan origination solution.
 Dashboards: This provides advance operational efficiencies and user experience by enabling availability of
frequently used functions on a single console.

b) Possible reasons of using grid computing are:

 Civil engineers collaborate to design, execute, & analyze shake table experiments.
 An insurance company mines data from partner hospitals for fraud detection.
 An application service provider offloads excess load to a compute cycle provider.
 An enterprise configures internal & external resources to support e-Business workload.
 Large-scale science and engineering are done through the interaction of people, heterogeneous computing
resources, information systems and instruments, all of which are geographically and organizationally dispersed.

c) It is the foundation of cloud services. It provides clients with access to server hardware, storage, bandwidth
and other fundamental computing resources. The service is typically paid for on a usage basis. The service may
also include dynamic scaling so that if the customer needs more resources than expected, s/he can get them
on the fly (probably to a given limit). It provides access to shared resources on need basis, without revealing
details like location and hardware to clients.

d) This involves using statistical, artificial intelligence, and related techniques to mine through large volumes of
data and providing knowledge without users even having to ask specific questions. The objective is to provide
interesting and useful information to users by design even without their querying. Data Mining involves data
analysis for discovering useful patterns that are "hidden" in large volume of diverse data. For Example: Market
segmentation - identify common characteristics of customers who buy same products. OLAP (Online Analytical
Processing) is a multi-dimensional analytical tool typically used in data mining, that gathers and process vast
amounts of information into useful packets.

e)
S. no. Serial Transmission Parallel Transmission
1 In this, the data bits are transmitted serially one In this, the data bits are transmitted simultaneously.
after another.
2 Data is transmitted over a single wire. Data is transmitted over 8 different wires.
3 It is a cheaper mode of transferring data. Relatively expensive.
4 Applicable for long distance data transmission. Not practical for long distance communications as it
uses parallel path, so cross talk may occur.
5 Relatively slower Relatively faster

Ans.8.
a. Environmental analysis helps strategists to develop an early warning system to prevent threats or to develop
strategies which can turn a threat to the firm’s advantage. Because of the difficulty in assessing the future and
its dynamism, all future events cannot be anticipated. However, some future events can be and are
anticipated. The extent to which a few or more events are anticipated through the process of the analysis and
diagnosis, will reflect in the quality of managerial decisions. The managers can also concentrate on a few
major events, instead of dealing with all the environment influences. In general, environmental analysis has
three basic goals as follows:
1) The analysis should provide an understanding of current and potential changes taking place in the
environment.
2) Environment analysis should provide inputs for strategic decision making.
3) Environment analysis should facilitate and foster strategic thinking in organizations – typically a rich source of
ideas and understanding of the context within which a firm operates.
A lot of changes are occurring within India and across the globe affecting the business. Students should list out
different elements of macro environment and discuss the contemporary developments in each of the area. They
may develop their answers to cover different elements of environment.
For example in the economic environment, the impact of the global recession on the Indian business, different
factors such as difficulty in financing through primary market, inflation, low demand in certain sectors such as real
estate etc. As far as social environment is concerned a new culture is evolving in the country on account of
increased global interaction and impact of mass media. There is also increase in awareness. The developments in
the legal environment including introduction of new direct tax code, limited liability partnership, GST, etc. have
their own bearing on the business.

b. Business organizations function with dynamic environment. The environment may vary from being conducive
to hostile. Whatever be the conditions, implementation of strategic management is very important for the
survival and growth of business organizations. Strategy implementation helps in improving the competence
with which it is executed and helps organizations to sustain superior performance in following manner. The
major benefits of strategic management are:
 Strategic Management helps organizations to be more proactive instead of reactive in shaping the future.
 Strategic Management provides framework for all the major business decisions of an enterprise such as
decisions on businesses, products, markets, manufacturing facilities, investment and organizational structure.
 Strategic Management is concerned with ensuring a good future for firm.
 Strategic Management serves as a corporate defense mechanism against mistakes and pitfalls.
 Over a period of time strategic management helps organization to evolve certain core competencies and
competitive advantages that assist in survival and growth of the firm.

c. An industry's Key Success Factors (KSFs) are those things that most affect industry members' ability to prosper
in the marketplace. For a business organization within an industry, it may include, cost structure, technology,
distribution system and so on. It is correct to state that the KSF helps shape the company financially and
competitively.
The answers to three questions help identify an industry's key success factors:
On what basis do customers choose between the competing brands of sellers? What product attributes are
crucial?
What resources and competitive capabilities does a seller need to have to be competitively successful?
What does it take for sellers to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage?

d) Human resource management has been accepted as a strategic partner in the formulation of organization’s
strategies and in the implementation of such strategies through human resource planning, employment,
traning, appraisal and reward systems. The following points should be kept in mind as they can have a strong
influence on employee competence:
e) Recruitment and selection: The workforce will be more competent if a firm can successfully identify,
attracts, and select the most competent applicants.
f) Training: The workforce will be more competent if employees are well trained to perform their jobs
property.
g) Appraisal of Performance: The performance appraisal is to identify any performance deficiencies
experienced by employees due to lack of competence. Such deficiencies, once identified, can often be
solved through counseling, coaching or training.
h) Compensation: A firm can usually increase the competency of its workforce by offering pay and benefit
packages that are more attractive than those of their competitors. This practice enables organizations to
attract and retain the most capable people.

e) It includes the sale or liquidation of a portion of business, or a major division, profit center or SBU. It is
usually a part of reconstructing plan and is adopted when a turnaround has been attempted but has been
proved to be unsuccessful.
A divestment strategy may be adopted due to various reasons:
 A business that had been acquired proves to be a mismatch and cannot be integrated within the company.
 Persistent negative cash flows from a particular business create financial problems for the whole company,
creating the need for divestment of that business.
 Severity of competition and the inability of a firm to cope with it may cause it to divest.
 Technological up gradation is required if the business is to survive but where it is not possible for the firm to
invest in it, a preferable option would be to divest.

Ans. 9.
a)
(i) Incorrect. Entrepreneur, big or small has to function within several influences external forces. Competition in
different form and different degree is present in all kind and sizes of business. Even entrepreneur with small
businesses can have complicated environment. To grow and prosper they need to have clear vision and mission.
(ii)Incorrect: Strategic groups are clusters of competitors that share similar strategies and therefore compete more
directly with one another than with other firms in the same industry. Strong economic compulsion often constrains
these firms from switching one competitive posture to another. Any industry contains only one strategic group
when all firms essentially have identical strategies and have comparable market positions. At the other extreme,
there are as many strategic groups as there are competitors when each rival pursues a distinctively different
competitive approach.

b) Decision making is a managerial process and function which is greatly influenced by the broad characteristics
of business environment. These characteristics are:
 Environment is Complex - The environment consist of a number of factors, events, conditions and influences
arising from different sources and is complex because it is somewhat easier to understand in parts but difficult
to grasp in totality.
 Environment is Dynamic - The environment is constantly changing in nature. Due to the many and varied
influences operating; there is dynamism in the environment causing it to continuously change its shape and
character.
 Environment is Multi-faceted - What will be fate of corporation depends up on perception of management
about change. A particular change in environment, or a new development, may be viewed differently by
different observer i.e. as an opportunity for one company and a threat for another.
 Environment has a far reaching impact - The growth and profitability of an organization depends critically on
environment in which it exits. And thus any environment change has an impact on the organization in several
different ways.

Ans. 10. BPR is an approach to unusual improvement in operating effectiveness through the redesigning of critical
business processes and supporting business systems. It is revolutionary redesign of key business processes that
involves examination of the basic process itself. It looks at the minute details of the process, such as why the work
is done, who does it, where is it done and when it is done. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) refers to the
analysis and redesign of workflows and processes both within the organization and between the organizations and
the external entities like supplier, distributors and service providers.
The orientation of the redesign effort is radical, i.e., it is a total deconstruction and rethinking of a business process
in its entirety, unconstrained by its existing structure and pattern. Its objective is to obtain quantum gains in the
performance of the process in terms of time, cost, output, quality, and responsiveness to customers. BPR is a
revolutionary redesigning of key business processes. BPR involves the following steps:
 Determining objectives and Framework: Objectives are the desired end results of the redesign process which
the management and organization attempts to realize. This will provide the required focus, direction, and
motivation for the redesign process. It helps in building a comprehensive foundation for the reengineering
process.
 Identify Customers and Determine their Needs: The designers have to understand customers - their profile,
their steps in acquiring, using and disposing a product. The purpose is to redesign business process that clearly
provides added value to the customer.
 Study the Existing Process: The existing processes will provide an important base for the redesigners. The
purpose is to gain an understanding of the ‘what’, and ‘why’ of the targeted process. However, as discussed
earlier, some companies go through the reengineering process with clean perspective without laying emphasis
on the past processes.
 Formulate a redesign process plan: The information gained through the earlier steps is translated into an ideal
redesign process. Formulation of redesign plan is the real crux of the reengineering efforts. Customer focused
redesign concepts are identified and formulated. In this step alternative processes are considered and the best is
selected.
 Implement the redesign: It is easier to formulate new process than to implement them. Implementation of the
redesigned process and application of other knowledge gained from the previous steps is key to achieve
dramatic improvements. It is the joint responsibility of the designers and management to operationalize the new
process.
Ans. 11 a) A company’s mission statement is typically focused on its present business scope – “who we are and
what we do”; mission statements broadly describe an organizations present capabilities, customer focus activities
and business makeup. The following points must be considered while writing a mission statement of a company:
1) To establish the special identity of the business – one that typically distinct it from other similarly situated
companies.
2) Needs which business tries to satisfy, customer groups it wishes to target and the technologies and
competencies it uses and the activities it performs.
3) Good mission statements should be unique to the organization for which they are developed.
4) The mission of a company should not be to make profit surpluses may be required fro survival and growth, but
cannot be mission of company.

Ans. 11 b) The elements considered for situational analysis are as follows:

 Environmental factors: What external and internal environmental factors are there that needs to be taken into
account. This can include economic, political, demographic or sociological factors that have a bearing on the
performance.
 Opportunity and issue analysis: What are the current opportunities that are available in the market, the main
threats that business is facing any may face in the future, the strengths that the business can rely on and any
weaknesses that may affect the business performance.
 Competitive situation: Analyze main competitors of organization: Who are they, what are they up to, how do
we compare, what are their competitive advantages, analyze their strength and weaknesses.
 Distribution situations: Review the distribution situation- how are the products moving through channels.
 Product situation: The details about current product and it may be divided into parts such as the core product
and any secondary or supporting services or products that also make up what you sell. It is important to observe
this in terms of its different parts in order to be able to relate this back to core needs of customers.

Ans. 12 a) The Ansoff’s product market growth matrix (proposed by Igor Ansoff) is a useful tool that helps
businesses decide their product and market growth strategy. This matrix further helps to analyze different
strategic directions. According to Ansoff there are four strategies that organization might follow. These options for
strategies are summarized below and show in the matrix drawn under.
Existing
Products New Products
Existing Markets Market Penetration Product Development

Market development Diversification

New Markets

 Market Penetration: Market penetration refers to a growth strategy where the business focuses on selling
existing products into existing markets.
 Market Development: Market development refers to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its
existing products into new markets.
 Product Development: Product development refers to a growth strategy where business aims to introduce
new products into existing markets.
 Diversification: Diversification refers to a growth strategy where a business markets new products in new
markets.
As market conditions change overtime, a company may shift product-market growth strategies. For example, when
its present market is fully saturated a company may have no choice other than to pursue new market.

Ans. 12 b) The changes in environmental forces often require businesses to make modifications in their existing
strategies and bring out new strategies. Strategic change is a complex process and it involves a corporate strategy
focused on new market, products, services and new ways of doing business.
To make the change lasting, Kurt lewin proposed three phases of the changed process for moving the organization
from the present to the future. These stages are unfreezing, changing and refreezing.
a) Unfreezing the situation: The process of unfreezing simply makes the individuals of organizations aware of the
necessity for change and prepares them for such a change. Lewin proposes that the changes should not come
as a surprise to the members of the organization. Sudden and unannounced change would be socially
destructive and morale lowering. The management must pave the way for the change by first “unfreezing the
situation”, so that members would be willing and ready to accept the changes.
 Unfreezing is the process of breaking down the old attitudes and behaviors, customs and traditions so that
they start with a clean slate. This can be achieved by making announcements, holding meetings and
promoting the ideas throughout the organization.
b) Changing of new situation: Once the unfreezing process has been completed and members of the
organization recognize the need for change and have been fully prepared to accept such changes, their
behavior patterns of need are to be redefined. H.C. kellman has proposed three methods for reassigning new
pattern of behavior. These are –
 Compliance: It is achieved by strictly enforcing the reward and punishment strategy for good or bad
behavior. Fear of punishment, actual punishment or actual reward seems to change behavior for the better.
 Identification: Identification occurs when members are psychologically impressed upon to identify
themselves with some given role models whose behavior they would like to adopt and try to become like
them.
 Internalization: Internalization involves some internal changing of the individual’s thought processes in
order to adjust to a new environment. They have given freedom to learn and adopt new behavior in order
to succeed in the new set of circumstances.
c) Refreezing: Refreezing occurs when the new behavior becomes a normal way of life. The new behavior must
replace the former behavior completely for successful and permanent change to take place. In order for the
new behavior to become permanent, it must be continuously reinforced so that this new acquired behavior
does not diminish or extinguish.
Change process is not a one line application but a continuous process due to dynamism and ever changing
environment. The process is cyclical one and remains continuously in action.

Ans. 13 a) Expansion strategy is implemented by redefining the business by adding the scope of business
substantially increasing the efforts of current business. On the other hand, Retrenchment strategy involves
redefinition of business by divesting a major product line or market.
Expansion is a promising and popular strategy that tends to be equated with dynamism, vigor, promise and
success. Retrenchment or retreat becomes necessary or expedient for copying with particularly hostile and
adverse situations in the environment and when any other strategy is likely to be suicidal.
Expansion may take the enterprise along relatively unknown and risky paths, full of promises and pitfalls.
Retrenchment involves regrouping and recouping of the resources.

Ans. 13 b)
Old Organizational Design New Organizational Design
♦ One large corporation ♦ Mini-business units & cooperative
relationships
♦ Vertical communication ♦ Horizontal communication
♦ Centralized top-down decision making ♦ Decentralized participative decision making
♦ Vertical integration ♦ Outsourcing & virtual organizations
♦ Work/quality teams ♦ Autonomous work teams
♦ Functional work teams ♦ Cross-functional work teams
♦ Minimal training ♦ Extensive training
♦ Specialized job design focused on individual ♦ Value-chain team-focused job design

Ans. 14
a) The accelerating pace at which information technology has developed during the past few years had a very
large impact in the transformation of business processes. Various studies have conclusively established the role
of information technology in the transformation of business processes. That information technology is going to
play a significant role in changing the business processes.
A reengineered business process, characterized by IT-assisted speed, accuracy, adaptability and integration of
data and service points, is focused on meeting the customer needs and expectation quickly and adequately,
thereby enhancing his/her satisfaction level. With the help of tools of IT organizations can modify their
processes to make them automatic, simpler, time saving. Thus IT can bring efficiency and effectiveness in the
functioning of the business.
b) The business organization and its many environments have innumerous interrelationship that at times, it
becomes difficult to determine exactly where the organization ends and where its environment begins. It is
also difficult to determine exactly what business should do in response to a particular situation in the
 environment. Strategically, the businesses should make efforts to exploit the opportunity and avoid the
threats.
In this context following approaches may be noted:
(i) Least resistance: Some businesses just manage to survive by way of coping with their changing external
environments. They are simple goal-maintaining units. They are very passive in their behaviour and are solely
guided by the signals of the external environment. They are not ambitious but are content with taking simple paths
of least resistance in their goal-seeking and resource transforming behaviour.
(ii) Proceed with caution: At the next level, are the businesses that take an intelligent interest to adapt with the
changing external environment. They seek to monitor the changes in that environment, analyse their impact on
their own goals and activities and translate their assessment in terms of specific strategies for survival, stability and
strength. They regard that the pervasive complexity and turbulence of the external environmental elements as
‘given’ within the framework of which they have to function as adaptive-organic sub-systems. This is an admittedly
sophisticated strategy than to wait for changes to occur and then take corrective-adaptive action.
(iii) Dynamic response: At a still higher sophisticated level, are those businesses that regard the external
environmental forces as partially manageable and controllable by their actions. Their feedback systems are highly
dynamic and powerful. They not merely recognise and ward off threats; they convert threats into opportunities.
They are highly conscious and confident of their own strengths and the weaknesses of their external
environmental ‘adversaries’. They generate a contingent set of alternative courses of action to be picked up in
tune with the changing environment.
OR
Transformational leadership style: Transformational leadership style use charisma and enthusiasm to inspire
people to exert them for the good of the organization. They offer excitement, vision, intellectual stimulation and
personal satisfaction. It inspires involvement in a mission, giving followers a ‘dream’ or ‘vision’ of a higher calling so
as to elicit more dramatic changes in organizational performance. Such a leadership motivates followers to do
more than originally affected to do by stretching their abilities and increasing their self-confidence, and also
promote innovation throughout the organization.
Transformational leadership style may be appropriate in turbulent environment, in industries at very start or end
of their life-cycle, in poorly performing organizations when there is a need to inspire a company to embrace major
changes. The use of charismatic behaviors to make people feel important and cherished is arguably important
during periods of uncertainty when people are generally feeling quite distressed. Transformational leaders will
change established paradigms ways of working.
However, some researchers believe that leaders who rely too heavily upon charisma are not always effective in the
long term. This is because few individuals may be talented and energetic are able to handle all types of business
problems alone. They require people around them who are able to support them, and who are prepared to tell
them when things are going wrong.
Transactional leadership Style: Transactional leadership style focuses more on designing systems and controlling
the organization’s activities and are more likely to be associated with improving the current situation. It tries to
build on the existing culture and enhance current practices. It uses the authority of its office to exchange rewards,
such as pay and status. They prefer a more formalized approach to motivation, setting clear goals with explicit
rewards or penalties for achievement or non- achievement. For employees’ work efforts generally seek to enhance
an organization’s performance steadily, but not dramatic.
This style may be appropriate in settled environment, in growing or mature industries, and in organizations that
are performing well. The style is better suited in persuading people to work efficiently and run operations
smoothly.
In conclusion, neither style of leadership is suitable for all circumstances. Effective executives use a leadership style
that is appropriate to the needs of the organization and its business situation.

All the Best

Rishabh Gaur
+91-8527931436