Business Communication

Xaviers Institute of Business Management Studies MARKS: 80 SUB: Business Communication N. B. : 1) Attempt any Four Case studies 2) All case studies carry equal marks. No: 1 A REPLY SENT TO AN ERRING CUSTOMER Dear Sir, Your letter of the 23rd, with a cheque for Rs. 25,000/- on account, is to hand. We note what you say as to the difficulty you experience in collecting your outstanding accounts, but we are compelled to remark that we do not think you are treating us with the consideration we have a right to expect. It is true that small remittances have been forwarded from time to time, but the debit balance against you has been steadily increasing during the past twelve months until it now stands at the considerable total of Rs. 85,000/- Having regard to the many years during which you have been a customer of this house and the, generally speaking, satisfactory character of your account, we are reluctant to resort to harsh measures. We must, however, insist that the existing balance should be cleared off by regular installments of say Rs. 10,000/- per month, the first installment to reach us by the 7th. In the meantime you shall pay cash for all further goods; we are allowing you an extra 3% discount in lieu of credit. We shall be glad to hear from you about this arrangement, as otherwise we shall have no alternative but definitely to close your account and place the matter in other hands. Yours truly, Questions: 1. Comment on the appropriateness of the sender’s tone to a customer. 2. Point out the old – fashioned phrases and expressions. 3. Rewrite the reply according to the principles of effective writing in business. NO. 2 WAVE (ATV : Advertising Radio FM Brand) A young, gorgeous woman is standing in front of her apartment window dancing to the 1970s tune, “All Right Now” by the one – hit band free. Across the street a young man looks out of his apartment window and notices her. He moves closer to the window, taking interest. She cranks up the volume and continues dancing, looking out the window at the fellow, who smiles hopefully and waves meekly. He holds up a bottle of wine and waves it, apparently inviting her over for a drink. The lady waves back. He kisses the bottle and excitedly says, “Yesss.” Then, he gazes around his apartment and realizes that it is a mess. “No !” he exclaims in a worried tone of voice. Frantically, he does his best to quickly clean up the place, stuffing papers under the sofa and putting old food back in the refrigerator, He slips on a black shirt, slicks back his hair, sniffs his armpit, and lets out an excited , “Yeahhh!” in eager anticipation of entertaining the young lady. He goes back to the window and sees the woman still dancing away. He points to his watch, as if to say “ Come on. It is getting late.” As she just continues dancing, he looks confused. Then a look of sudden insight appears on his face, “Five,” he says to himself. He turns on his radio, and it too is playing “All Right Now.” The man goes to his window and starts dancing as he watches his lady friend continue stepping. “Five, yeah,” he says as he makes the “okay” sign with his thumb and forefinger. He waves again. Everyone in the apartment building is dancing by their window to “All Right Now.” A super appears on the screen: “Are you on the right wavelength ?” Questions : 1. What is non – verbal communication ? Why do you suppose that this commercial relies primarily on non-verbal communication between a young man and a gorgeous woman ? What types of non – verbal communication are being used in this case ? 2. Would any of the non-verbal communications in this spot (ad) not work well in another culture ? 3. What role does music play in this spot ? Who is the target market ? 4. Is the music at all distracting from the message ? 5. How else are radio stations advertised on TV ? NO. 3 ARVIND PANDEY CAUGHT IN BUSINESS WEB Arvind Pandey is a project manager at Al Saba Construction Company in Muscat. It s a flourishing company with several construction projects in Muscat and abroad. It is known for completing projects on time and with high quantity construction. The company’s Chairman is a rich and a highly educated Omani. A German engineer is Arvind’s Vice – President for urban and foreign construction projects. Three months ago, Al Saba had submitted a tender for a major construction project in Kuwait. Its quotation was for $ 25 million. In Kuwait the project was sponsored and announced by a US – based construction company called Fuma. According to Al Saba, their bid of $ 25 million was modest but had included a high margin of profit. On 25 April, Arvind was asked to go to Kuwait to find out from the Fuma project manager the status of their construction proposal. Arvind was delighted to know that Fuma had decided to give his company. (Al Saba) the construction project work. The project meant a lot of effort and money in planning the proposed construction in Kuwait. But before Arvind could tank the Fuma project manager, he was told that their bird should be raised to $ 28 million. Arvind was surprised. He tried to convince the Fuma project manager that his (Arvind company had the bast reputation for doing construction work in a cost effective way . However, he could always raise the bid by $ 3 million. But he wanted to know why he was required to do so. The Fuma manager’s reply was, “That’s the way we do our business in this part of the world, $ 1 million will go to our Managing Director in the US, I shall get $ 1 million, you, Mr. Pandey, will get $ 1 million in a specified account in Swiss Bank. Arvind asked, “ But why me ?” “ So that you never talk about it to any one.” The Fuma Project Manager said. Arvind promised never to leak it out to any one else. And he tried to bargain to raise the bid by $ 2 million. For. Arvind was familiar with the practice of “ pay – offs” involved in any such thing. He thought it was against his loyalty to his company and his personal ethics. Arvind promised the Fuma project manager that the bid would be raised to $ 28 million and fresh papers would be put in. He did not want to lose the job. He came back to Muscat and kept trying to figure out how he should place the whole thing before his German Vice President. He obviously was at a loss. Questions : 1. Analyse the reasons for Arvind Pandey’s dilemma. 2. Does Arvind Pandey really face a dilemma ? 3. In your view what should Arvind Pandey do ? Should he disclose it to his German Vice President ? NO. 4. COMPANY ACCEPTING A CONTRACT A computer company was negotiating a very large order with a large size corporation. They had a very good track record with this client. In this corporation, five different departments had pooled their requirements and budgets. A committee was formed which had representation from all the departments. The corporation wanted the equipment on a long lease and not outright purchase. Further, they wanted all the hardware and software form one supplier. This meant that there should be bought – out items from many suppliers since no one supplier could meet all the requirements of supply from its range of products. The corporation provided an exhaustive list of very difficult terms and conditions and pressurized the vendors to accept. The computer company who was finally awarded the contract had agreed to overall terms that were fine as far as their own products were concerned but had also accepted the same terms for the brought – out items. In this case, the bought – out items were to be imported through a letter of credit. The percentage of the bought – out items versus their own manufacture was also very high. One of the terms accepted was that the “system” would be accepted over a period of 10 days after all the hardware had been linked up and software loaded. The computer company started facing trouble immediately on supply. There were over 100 computers over a distance connected with one another with software on it. For the acceptance tests, it had been agreed that the computer company would demonstrate as a pre-requisite the features they had claimed during technical discussions. Now, as you are aware, if a Hero Honda motorcycle claims 80 km to a litre of petrol, it is under ideal test conditions and if a motorcycle from the showroom were to be tried for this test before being accepted, it would never pass the test. In corporation’s case, due to internal politics, the corporation persons from one department – who insisted on going exactly by the contract – did not sign acceptance since the “ system” could not meet the ideal test conditions. Further, in a classic case of, “ for want of a horse – shoe, payment for the horse was held up”, the computer company tried to get the system accepted and payment released. The system was so large that at any point of time over a period of 10 days something small or the other always gave problems. But the corporation took the stand that as far as they were concerned the contract clearly were concerned the contract clearly mentioned that the “system” had to be tested as a whole and not module by module. Questions : 1. Comment on the terms and conditions placed by the corporation. 2. What factors influenced the computer company’s decision to accept the contract ? 3. Was it a win – win agreement ? Discuss ? NO. 5 EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW OF R P SINHA Mr. R P Sinha is a MBA. He is being interviewed for the position of Management Trainee at a reputed company. The selection committee’s is chaired by a lady Vice – President. Mr. Sinha’s interview was as follows : Committee : Good morning ! Mr. Sinha : Good morning to Sirs and Madam ! Chairperson : Please, sit down. Mr. Sinha : Thank you (sits down at the edge of the chair, keeps his portfolio on the table) Q. Chairperson : You are Mr. R. P. Sinha A Sinha : Yes, Madam. This is how I am called. Q. Chairperson : You have passed MBA with 1st Division. A. Sinha : Yes, Madam. Q. Chairperson : Why do you want to work in our organization ? A Sinha : It is just like that. Also, because it has good reputation. Q. Member A : This job is considered to be quite stressful. Do you think you can manage the stress involved. A. Sinha : I think there is too much talk about stress these days. Sir, would you tell clearly what you mean by stress ? I am very strong for any stress. Q. Member B : What are your strengths ? A. Sinha : Sir, who am I talk boastfully about my strengths. You should tell me my strengths. Q. Member C : What are your weaknesses ? A. Sinha : I become angry very fast. Q. Member A : Do you want to ask us any questions ? A Sinha : Yes Sir ! What are the future chances for one who starts as a management trainee ? The member tells M. Sinha the typical career path for those starting as Management Trainee. The Chairperson thanks Mr. Sinha. Mr. Sinha promptly says in reply, “you are welcome,” and comes out. Questions : 1. Do you find Mr. Sinha’s responses to various questions effective ? Give reasons for your view on each answer given by Mr. Sinha. 2. Rewrite the responses that you consider most effective to the above questions in a job interview. 3. Mr. Sinha has observed the norm of respectful behaviour and polite conversation. But, do you think there is something gone wrong in his case ? Account for your general impression of Mr. Sinha’s performance at the interview. NO. 6 Comment on the form and structure of the Report.