MBA IV SEM SYLLABUS

Strategic Management

The External Environment - opportunities, threats, Industry Competition, Competitor analysis, the internal environment - Resources, capabilities and core competencies.

Strategy and Competitive Advantage -Generic Strategies, Co-operative strategies, Merger and Acquisition strategies, Vertical integration strategies, Unbundling and Outsourcing strategies, using offensive and defensive strategies. Outsourcing, Various activities for outsourcing, Benefits of outsourcing, growth and drivers of outsourcing, BPO, LPO, Health care BPO’s HR outsourcing, Emerging and changing environments for oursourcing.

Tailoring strategy to fit specific industry and company situations - Strategies for competing in Emerging industries, Turbulent and high velocity markets, Maturing Industries, Stagnant industries, and Fragmented industries. Strategies for Industry leaders, Runner - up firms, weak and crisis ridden Business. Diversification Strategies.

Corporate Governance - Organizational Structure and Controls, Strategic Leadership, Strategic Entrepreneurship.

Suggested Books:

1. Thompson and Strickland, 2005, Crafting and Executing Strategy - Concepts and Cases, TMH.
2. M. A. Hitt, R D Ireland and R E Hoskisson, 2005, Strategic Management Competitiveness and Globalization, South Western Thomson – Learning.
3. Ramaswamy & Namakumary, 2001, Strategic planning and Corporate Strategy, Macmillan India.
4. G. Saloner, A Shepaid J. Podolny, 2001, "Strategic Management", John Wiley.
5. WheelenandHunger, 2001, "Strategic Management and Business Policy", Pearson Edn.
6. Mintzberg H, 2005, Strategy Safari, Pearson education.
7. Pearce and Robinson, 2005, Strategic Management, TMH.
8. Banerjee, 2005, Corporate Strategies, Oxford University Press.
9. HBR on corporate Strategy - HBSP - 1999.
10. HBR on Strategy for Growth - HBSP - 1998.
11. Stuart L Hart, 2005, The unlimited Business Opportunities in solving the World's Most Difficult Problems, Wharton - Pearson Ed.
12. Robert Mittelstaedt, 2005, Will Your Next Mistake Be Fatal ? Wharton - Pearson Ed.
13. R. A. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique and S C Wheel Wright, 2001, Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, McGraw - Hill Edn.
7. Jauch, Gupta and Glueck, 2005, Business Policy & Strategic Management, frank Bros & Co.
8. Day & Reibstein, 2005, Dynamic Competitive Strategy, Wiley India.
9. Dranove D & Marciano S, 2005, Kellog On strategy, Wiley India.
10. Robert A Pitts and David Lei, 2006, Strategic Management - Building and

Sustaining competitive advantage – Thomson Publishers,

Supply Chain Management

Logistics Management: Logistics Management, Inbound, Internal and Outbound Logistics in SCM, Developing the logistics organization for effective Supply Chain Management, development of integrated logistics strategy, Logistics in Maximizing profitability and cash flow, 3PL, 4PL, International Logistics, Reverse Logistics. Transportation in supply chain, factors affecting transport selection. Role of Handling in SCM, Role and importance of Handling systems, Selection of Handling systems, Breakdown pattern analysis, Spare parts and Equipment Maintenance.

Sourcing: Sourcing of material, Global sourcing - issues, Problems. e-Procurement, Group Purchasing, Inventory Management in Supply chain: Role and importance of inventory in SC, Inventory policies, JIT, VMI. Role of Stores management in SC, inventory as an element of customer service.

Strategic Issues in Supply Chains: Leam Manufacturing, Strategic Partnerships, Alliances, and Collaborative advantage. Strategic relationships in – logistics, Handling systems and equipment, Stores management. Best practice and Bench marking, Re-engineering of supply chain, Modeling and optimization in supply chain.

Retailing and supply chain Interface: Retail supply chain management, Transportation and inventory in retail SC, Channel design and management, Role of Packaging and Repackaging in Retail business, Customer led business, Customer focus in Supply Chain, Complaint Handling, developing customer service strategy, RFID, Bar coding. Role of Human Resources in SCM. Issues in Workforce Management and Relationship Management with suppliers and Customers and employees.

Suggested Books:

1. Mohanty, R. P and Deshmukh, S.G, 2005,. Supply Chain Management Theory and practices, Biztantra.
2. Sunil Chopra & Meindl Peter, 2003, Supply Chain Management strategy, planning and operation, 3rd Edition, Pearson Education / PHI.
3. Altekar, V. Rahul, 2005, Supply Chain Management, PHI.
4. Pierre David, 2003, International Logistics, Biztantra.
5. Joel D. Wisner, G. Keong Leong and Keah-Choon Tan, 2005, Principles of Supply Chain Management A balanced Approach, Thomson.
6. Ronaqld H. Ballou, 2004, Business Logistics/Supply Chain Management, Pearson education, 5th Edition.
7. Coyle, J. J., Bardi E. J. & John Langley. C, 2006, The Management of Business Logistics - A supply Chain Perspective Thomson, 7th Edition.
8. B. S. Sahay, 2004, Supply Chain Management for Global Competitiveness, Macmillan India Ltd, 2nd Edition.
9. Metzer, 2005, “Supply Chain Management”, Response.

Entrepreneurial Development

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Growth: Economic and Non - Economic Factors – Government Actions, Entrepreneurial motivation, Entrepreneurial competencies, Entrepreneurial mobility and Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) – Need for, objectives, course contents and curriculum, phases, evaluation of EDPs.

Small Enterprises: Definition – Characteristics – Relationship with large units – Rationale – Objectives – Scope of Small Enterprises – Opportunities for an Entrepreneurial career – Role of Small Enterprises in Economic Development – Their problems – Project Identification and Selection – Project Formulation – Project Appraisal – Financing – ownership Structures.

Institutional Finance to Entrepreneurs: Commercial Banks – Other Financial Institutions such as IDBI, IFCI, ICICI, IRBI, LIC, UTI, SFCs, SIDCs, SIDBI, and EXIM Bank; Need for Institutional support to Entrepreneurs – Role of NSIC, SIDO, SSIB, SSICs, SISI, DICs, Industrial Estates, Specialized Institutions, and TCOs.

Venture Capital: Venture Capital Financing Concept and features, Need, relevance and development of venture capital funds. Structure and regulatory framework of venture capital financing in India. Investment process and evaluation – Conventional valuation method, the first Chicago method, Revenue multiplier method. Structuring venture capital financing. Investments nurturing methodologies – valuation of venture capital portfolio. Performance of TDICI and other Venture Capital Firms in India. Exit Strategies of venture capital financing. Policy imperatives of VCF development in India.

Suggested Books:

1. S. S. Khanka, 2007, Entrepreneurial Development, S. Chand & Co. Ltd.
2. Vasanth Desai, 2007, Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Development and Management, Himalaya Publishing House, Millenium Edition.
3. Dr. Vasant Desai, 2006, Small Scale Industries and Entrepreneurship, Himalaya Publishing House.
4. A. Sahay and A. Nirjar, 2006, Entrepreneurship, Excel Books.
5. S. R. Bhowmik and M. Bhowmik, 2007, Entrepreneurship, New Age International.
6. David H. Hott, 2004, Entrepreneurship New Venture Creation, PHI.
7. Poornima. M Charantimath, 2006, Entrepreneurial Development and Small Business Enterprises, Pearson Education.
8. Morse. E. A., Mitchell. R. K., 2006, Cases in Entrepreneurship, Sage Publications.
9. Donald G. Kuratko and Richard M. Hodgetts, 2006, Entrepreneurship, Thomson.
10. Raj Agrawal, 2005, Business Environment, Excel Books.

International Finance

Foreign Exchange Markets: The mechanism of FE transfers, CHIPS. FE dealings and quotations. Exchange rate determination – BOP approach, Parity conditions: purchasing power parity, interest rate parity, International Fisher’s effect, Unbiased forward rate theory, The asset approach, technical approach Sterilization.

Foreign Exchange Risk Management: Types of risks – transaction, translation, operating and strategic risks. Risk quantification. Instruments and strategies for hedging and eliminating foreign exchange risks – trading in forwards, futures or option markets; invoicing in the domestic currency; managing payments/collections of currency flows based on the predicted foreign exchange movements. Foreign Exchange forecasting.

Financial Management of the Multinational Firm: Cash management – borrowing and investing, parking the surplus cash, centralized and decentralized cash management and cash transmission. International investments – portfolio and direct investments. Capital budgeting decisions – APV, NPV vs. APV. Country risk analysis – types, assessment and measurement. International mergers and acquisitions – negotiated acquisitions and contested bids. Sources of overseas funding – euro currency markets and instruments, euro credits, foreign bonds, ADRs, GDRs. Global financing strategy. Project financing.

Tax Implications for Global Activities: International tax laws a comparative analysis. arry forward and carry back. Tax treaties. Tax credits. Taxes on income from intracompany transactions. Scope of Tax Charge – Status situation nexus (Sections 5 & 6). Tax implications of foreign activities of an Indian enterprise. Tax incentives for earnings in foreign currency. Tax implications of activities of foreign enterprises in India. Double taxation relieves. Transfer pricing.

Suggested Books:

1. Jeff Madura, International Corporate Finance, 8th Edition, Thomson South-western.
2. Maurice Levi, 1996, International Finance, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill International.
3. Apte.P.G., 2006, International Financial Management, 4th edition, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi – 8
4. Eiteman. D. K., Stonehill.A.I., Moffett. M. H., Pandey. A., 2006, Multinational Business Finance, 10th Edition, Pearson Education.
5. Melvin. M., 2000, International Money and Finance, 6th Edition, Addison - Wesley.
6. Giddy. I. H., 1997, Global Financial Markets, AITBS Publishers & Distributors, Delhi – 51.
7. Adrian Buckley, 1998, Multinational Finance, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi –1.
8. Shailaja. G. S., 2007, International Finance, Orient Longman, Hyderabad.

Consumer Behaviour

Contemporary Dimentions of Consumer Behaviour: CB research process. Concepts and theories of motivation and personality and their Marketing implications. The concept of perception and its impact on Marketing Strategies.

Learning principles and their marketing implications: Concepts of conditioning, important aspects of information processing theory; encoding and information Retention, Retrieval of information, Split-brain Theory.

Social and cultural settings: Culture, Sub-culture and Cross culture and Cross cultural marketing practices. Family Life Cycle-1, 2, 3 and reference groups – direct and indirect- and their marketing implications.

Information Search, evaluation of alternatives: Steps between evaluation of alternatives and purchase decision. Post-purchase behaviour, Customer action and disposal of products.

Models of Consumer Behaviour: Modeling Behavior Traditional Models, Contemporary Models. Generic Model of Consumer Behavior, Nicosia Model. Howard Sheth Model, Engel, Blackwell and Miniard Model.

Suggested Books:

1. Black-well, R. Miniard PW and Engel , 2005, Consumer Behavior, Thomson Learning.
2. Loudon and Della Bitta, 2004, Consumer Behavior, TMH.
3. Schiffman and Kannik, 2004, Consumer Behavior, Pearson Education / PHI.
4. Hawkins, Best and Coney, 2005, Consumer Behavior, TMH.
5. Sheth and Mittal, 2004, Consumer Behavior, Thomson Learning.
6. Deon, 2005, Buyer Behavior, Oxford University Press.
7. Peter, 2005, Consumer Behavior, and Marketing Strategy, TMI.
8. Panwar, 2004, Beyond Consumer Marketing, Response.
9. Evans, 2006, Consumer Behavior, John Wiley.
10. Ramesh Kumar, 2004, “Consumer Behaviour”, 2nd Edition, Pearson/PHI.

Performance Management

Conceptual Approach to Performance Management: Need for Performance management in Indian organizations. Determinants of job performance: Person and system factors. Linkage between human resource strategy and organizational performance. Role of personality factors in job performance. Performance planning and role clarity. Key Performance Areas: Performance Targets - Components of effective Performance Management. Performance management cycles. Spangenberg’s Integrated Model of performance.

Performance Appraisal: Need and methods for Performance Appraisal: Assessment center - psychometric tests - Leaderless group discussions - Management games – Simulation exercises - Role Plays – Self-appraisal - 360 Degree-appraisals - Rating-less appraisals for the future of performance management systems. Performance Review - Reengineering Performance Appraisal system - Performance analysis - Performance review discussion – Performance monitoring and feedback.

Bench marking for excellence in performance: Linkages – Organizational excellence - Corporate Performance Management - EFQM Excellence Model – Diagnostic bench-marking -Process bench-marking – Bench-marking in the Indian industry – Effectiveness of bench-marking - Experience based approach to bench-marking - New Performance Management Model - Process Management as a route to value beyond expectation and emotional surplus.

Competency mapping as a performance management tool: Competency Mapping - Building Competency Models - The McBer Generic Managerial Competency Model -Competency causal flow model - Factors affecting the human performance system – Profiling competency framework for a particular role - Competency gap - Competency Assessment -Balanced Score Card framework - Making Performance Management Systems(PMS) and Appraisals Work.

Developing and Designing Performance Management Systems: Designing Performance Aappraisal as a framework for Performance Management - A realistic model for Performance Management - Using PMS data for HR decisions and performance improvements -PMS and Appraisal practices in India and other Asian countries - Policy and strategy initiatives in improving HR performance - Implementing and managing Performance Management – The impact of Performance Management on line managers and employees.

Suggested Books:

1. G K Suri, C S Venkata Ratnam, N K Gupta, 2004, Performance Measurement and Management – Excel Books Pvt Ltd.
2. Dinesh K Srinivastava, 2005, Strategies for performance Management –– Excel Books.
3. T V Rao, 2006, Performance Management and Appraisal Systems – Response Books.
4. Richard S Williams, 2006, Managing Employee Performance – Thomson Publishers.
5. Agwnis, 2006, Performance Management – Pearson
6. Prem Chadha, 2006, Performance Management – Macmillan India Ltd
7. T V Rao, 2006, Redesigning Performance Appraisal System – Tata McGraw Hills.
8. Editor Mike Walter, 2006, The Performance Management Hand Book: - Jaico Publishing House.
9. King P, 2006, Performance Planning and Appraisal - Tata McGraw Hills.
10. T V Rao, 1999, Appraising and Developing Managerial Performance, Excel Books.
11. T V Rao et al. (Ed.) 2006, 360 Degrees Feedback and Performance Management System (Volumes One, Two, and Three), Excel Books.

Investments Management

Investments: Concept; Real vs. Financial assets; Investment decision process; Sources of investment information; Investment vs. Speculation; Factors to be considered in investment decision -Liquidity, Return, Risk, Maturity, Safety, Tax and Inflation. The concept and measurement of return - realized and expected return. Ex-ante and ex-post returns. The concept of risk. Sources and types of risk. Measurement of risk - Range, Standard Deviation and Co-Efficient of Variation. Risk-return trade-off. Risk premium and risk aversion. Approaches to investment analysis - Fundamental Analysis; Technical Analysis; Efficient Market Hypothesis

Fixed Income Securities - Analysis, Valuation and Management: Features and types of debt instruments, Bond indenture, factors affecting bond yield. Bond yield measurement - Current yield, holding period return, YTM, AYTM and YTC. Bond valuation: Capitalization of income method, Bond-price theorems, Valuation of compulsorily/optionally convertible bonds, Valuation of deep discount bonds. Bond duration, Macaulay’s duration and modified Macaulay’s duration. bond convexity, Considerations in managing a bond portfolio, term structure of interest rates, risk structure of interest rates. Managing Bond Portfolio: Bond immunization, active and passive bond portfolio management strategies.

Common Stocks - Analysis and Valuation: Basic Features of Common Stock. Approaches to valuation – dividend capitalization models; earnings capitalization models; Price-Earnings multiplier approach and capital asset pricing model.

Portfolio Theory: Concept of portfolio, Portfolio return and risk, Harry Markowitz’s Portfolio theory, construction of minimum risk portfolio, the single-index model. Capital market theory: Introduction of risk-free asset, Capital Market Line, Separation theorem. Capital asset pricing model (CAPM): Security Market Line. Identifying the over-priced and under-priced securities. Arbitrage pricing theory (APT): The law of one price, two factor arbitrage pricing, Equilibrium risk-return relations. A synthesis of CAPM and APT.

Portfolio Evaluation and Management: Mutual funds: genesis, features, types and schemes. NAV’s, costs, loads and return of mutual funds - geometric mean return, dollar weighted return, and time weighted returns. Mutual funds in India – Problems and prospects, Regulation of mutual funds and investor’s protection in India. Formulation of investment policy, capital market expectations, developing and implementing investment strategies, rebalancing the portfolio, performance measurement - Sharpe’s reward to variability index, Treyner’s reward to volatility index, Jensen’s differential index, Fama’s decomposition of returns.

Suggested Books:

1. Alexander. G. J, Sharpe. W. F, and Bailey. J. V, 2007, Fundamentals of Investments Pearson Education, PHI.
2. Zvi Bodie, Alex Kane, Marcus. A. J, Pitabas Mohanty, 2006, Investments, TMH.
3. Prasanna Chandra, 2006, Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, TMH.
4. Charles. P.Jones, Investments: Analysis and Management, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
5. Francis. J. C. & Taylor, R. W., Theory and Problems of Investments. Schaum’s Outline Series, McGraw Hill
6. Herbert. B. Mayo, Investments: an Introduction.. Thompson – South western.
7. David G. Luenberger, 1997, Investment Science, , Oxford University Press.
8. Raghunatham. M., Madhumathi.R., 2006, Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, Pearson Education.

Services and Retail Marketing

Service marketing Mix: Product, Pricing ,Place , Promotion, People, Physical evidence and process. Service Quality - Dimensions of quality. Understanding Quality Management. Measuring service Quality.

Strategies for Marketing: Overview, strategies for dealing with intangibility, inventory, inconsistency and inseparability. Building customer Relationship through Segmentation and retention strategies. Service Marketing Triangle- External Marketing, Internal Marketing, Relationship Marketing and Interactive Marketing.

Introduction to Retailing: Types, Franchising in retail, Technology in retail, Factors affecting retail, Retailing process. Retailing in India and emerging trends and Policy imparatives.

Merchandise management: Sources of merchandise, Logistic Management, Category Management, Store Layout, Design and Visual Merchandising, Retailing Strategy and Customer Service.

Suggested Books:

1. Hoffman, 2007, “Services Marketing”, Thomson.
2. Lovelock, Chatterjee, 2006, Services Marketing People, Technology Strategy, 5th edition, Pearson Education.
3. David Gilbert, 2003, Retail Marketing Management, 2nd edition, Pearson Education.
4. Zeithaml Valorie A. and Bitner Mary , 2000, Services Marketing TMH.
5. Rampal M.K. and Gupta S.L, 2000, Service Marketing, Concepts, application and cases, Galgotia Publishing Company, New Delhi.
6. Levy & Weitz, 2005, Retailing, TMH
7. A J Lamba, 2006, The Art of Retailing, TMH
8. Patrick M. Dunne and Robert F. Lusch ,2005, Retailing, Thomson Learning
9. Fernie & Sparks, 2005, Logistics & Retail Management, Viva Books
10. Gilmore, 2005, Services marketing and Management, Response Books
11. Gronroos, 2005, Services Management & Marketing, John Wiley
12. Cullen & Newman, 2007, “Retailing, environment and operations”, Thomson

Empowerment and Leadership Development

Leadership and management: Leadership behaviours – leadership styles – transactional and transformational leadership -servant leadership – ethical leadership – women leaders – visionary leaders – Cultural differences in leadership – Contribution of Jim Collins, John Kotter and John Adair to leadership theory

The leader as a social architect: Creating Vision and strategic direction – Designing and leading a learning organization –Leading change – Learning to Change – Leadership Challenges in Managing Transformational Change in a Strategic Organisation.

Leadership development: Leadership through self awareness and self discipline – Leadership development programs – Characteristics of leadership program –Types of leadership development program – evaluation of leadership development efforts – Traditional approach to evaluation – Domains of impact of a leadership program – Leadership Succession

Developing an engaged workforce: Engagement drivers - The employee lifecycle - Meaning and significance of company culture –Shaping a high performance culture -Managing performance: the key to execution -Creating a culture of recognition and celebration. Trends impacting the employer-employee relationship – Likely impact of the emergent trends – Best employer theory – people value index model – The best employer model

Suggested books:

1. Daft, Richard: The Leadership Experience, Thomson
2. Gary Yukul, 2006, Leadership, Pearson Education.
3. Richard L. Hughes, Robert C. Ginnett, Gordon J. Curphy, 2006, 5th Edition, TMH.
4. Dubrin, Andrew, ‘ Leadership’, Biztantra.
5. Lussier, Robert and Christopher Fachua ‘Leadership’ Thomson
6. Murrell, Kenneth and Mimi Meredith, ‘Empowering Employees’ Tata McGraw-Hill
7. Bennett, Mick and Andrew Bell,’ Leadership and Talent in Asia’, John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pvt. Ltd.
8. Charan, Ram, Stephen Drotter and James Noel : ‘The Leadership Pipeline’, Jossey Bass Publishers
9. B.R. Virmani, 2006, Challenges in Indian Management, Response Books.
10. Northouse, 2006, Leadership, Response Books.
11. Uma Jain, Udai Pareek, Madhukar Shukla(Ed.), 2006, Developing Leadership for the Global Era, Mcmillan.

Information Systems Audit & Control

Other Management Controls: Programming Management Controls - Program development life cycle, Organizing Programming Teams, Managing the systems programming group. Data Resource Management Controls- Motivation towards the DA and DBA Rules, Functions of the DA and DBA, Data Repository Systems. Security Management Controls- Conducting a Security Program – Major Security Threats and Remedial Measures, Controls of Last Resort. Operations Management Controls – Computer Operations, Network Operations, Data Preparation and Entry, Production Control, Documentation and Program Library- Capacity Planning and Performance Monitoring, Quality Assurance Functions - Organizational Considerations- Relationship between Quality Assurance and Auditing.

Application Control Framework: Boundary Controls: Cryptography controls, Access Controls, PIN, Digital Signatures, Plastic Cards, Audit Trial Controls. Input Controls- Data Input Methods – Data Code Controls- Check Designs- Data Entry Screen Design- Batch Controls- Validation of Data Input- Instruction Input. Communication controls, Processing controls, Database controls and Output controls.

Evidence Collection: Audit Software: Generalized Audit software- Utility Software- Expert Systems, Neural Network Software, Specialized Audit Software. Code Review, Test Data and Code Comparison. Concurrent Auditing Techniques, Interviews, Questionnaires and Control Flow Charts. Performance Measurement Tools.

Evidence Evaluation: Evaluating Asset Safeguarding and Data Integrity, Evaluating Systems Effectiveness and Efficiency. Information Systems Audit Management: Functions of Information systems Audit, IS Auditor, Future of
Information Systems Auditing

Suggested Books:

1. Ron Weber, 2002, Information Systems Control and Audit, Pearson Education.
2. Paul Docji, Dave Chaffey, Andrew Greasley & Simon Hickie, 1999, Business Information: Technology Systems and Management, Hyderabad, Allied Publishers Ltd.
3. Mark Merkow, Jun Brcethoupt, 2007, Information Security, Principles and Practices, Low Price Edition, Pearson Education.
4. Case study/Project : Study on Information System (CBIS). Audit IT based on audit checklist. Identify problem areas, risks and non-conformities, prepare an audit report.
5. CISA Material, Information Systems Audit and Control Association, USA.
6. Revathy Sriram M Systems Audit, TMH.
7. Srivastava R M., Management Policy and Strategic Management – Concept Skills and Practice, 2000, Himalaya Publishers.
8. Hall, 2006, Information Technology Auditing and Assurance, Thomson.