Case Study
Case Study
Case Study
Fortune Furnitech is a state-of-art modular furniture manufacturer, started with an initial ` 500
crores investment, by raising a term loan from different financial institution and about 65 percent
contribution from the traditional family business. The group has a traditional family history of
woodcraft manufacturing. Leveraging the family trend, the present owner Asim singh and his
wife Ragini ventured into this business. Asim Singh has toured extensively all over the world
with his father, right from his childhood. According to Mr.singh, India has top quality berg
woods in its North-eastern states, which are imported by countries such as the USA. However,
Indian use them as firewood, because of lack of awareness. The company launched an ambitious
plan to manufacture and sell hardwood furniture worldwide, as their study indicated that the
Indian market for furniture is still unorganized, and the affluent class used imported furniture
made out of concentrated wood dust or waste products. To achieve this goal, the company
recruited the best designers, business heads, and production people worldwide. Many designers
were either Italian-born or trained in Italy. The biggest challenge the company faced was in
designing managerial compensation. Management compensation received attention primarily
because of its performance implication and strategic fit in Fortune Furnitech. The HR manager
claimed that it had a positive effect on the company’s financial performance and recommended
the appropriateness of different compensation for specific strategic situations. However, he could
not convince the top management of the need to formulate an executive compensation package
accordingly. Asim Singh only considered such alignment for executives on the board, arguing
that their achievements was traceable. The HR manager argued that compensation cost in the
company was the second largest expense category, the first being the cost of raw materials 111
and other implements (excepting labour). Hence, it has to be managed strategically, aligning with
the performance of the organization and its fit with overall organizational strategy. He supplied
extensive literature to sell his argument. He complained that the organization did not have a well-
documented compensation philosophy, despite this evidence. Some incentives were also counter
productive. He argued that it is time to develop executive compensation, de-emphasizing the
immediate financial gains and tagging it with long range strategy of the organization. After
listening to the HR head’s argument, the CEO directed him to develop a model that may work in
the organization.
Roll Number 1-3: will brief the case and share their viewpoint about the case
Roll Number 4-5 Question 1. Imagine you are the HR Manager. Design the appropriate
pay model for executives of the organization.
Roshans Limited-Transport Facility The personnel Manager of Roshans Limited have received
an application for the introduction of company conveyance for employees staying in town.
Although Roshans Limited has provided living facilities to its employees about 60 percent of its
1000 employees still have to commute an average of 10 km to come to work. The union and
some of the employee s living on campus have supported the demand . Though the management
might favour such a move some sections of the work force are concerned that the introduction of
the company conveyance facility may cut down their wages .the company under disguise of
compensation allowance pays Rs.20/- per month for traveling to employees staying more than 8
km away from the company premises. 1. What factors would you take into account in evaluation
of this demand from the workers? 2. Provide the rationale for implementing or not implementing
this demand.
Brief Case Eastman Kodak is a nonunionized firm with approximately 60,000 employees. With
more leisure activities than in the rest of Rochester, New York, it has the largest company-
sponsored recreation program in the United States. About 35,000 employees pay 51 per year for
membership in Kodak Camera Clubs, which makes available free use of 40 dark rooms, discount
purchase of film, and free loan of photographic equipment. In one building, 300,000 square feet
of space is allocated to recreation, including movie :heaters, bowling alleys, and meeting places.
First-run films are shown at lunch time. Employees can shop at a company general store and do
their banking at Eastman Savings and Loan. There are free eye examinations, 11 softball fields,
amateur vaudeville shows, square dancing, ice fishing, and table tennis tournaments. Kodak has
paid annual bonuses to all employees through the form of a “wage dividend” profit sharing plan.
Many Kodak production areas are decorated with hand-lettered signs that show pride in work
groups. For most of the past 100 years, Kodak had dominated the U.S. market with 90 percent of
the sales for conventional color film. Questions 1. Do you think that Kodak has a large benefit
program because it is rich or because it pays an economic return to the company? 2. What
specific values can issue from a recreational program?
Ian Renton is the newly appointed sales manager at Denham Pharmaceuticals, a medium sized
company (small by comparison to competitor) in the are of over-the counter drugs and
proprietary medicines prescription. In its early years, the company grew rapidly, marketing
several related drugs developed by the founders of the business and a highly motivated and
innovative research team. Selling by five or six representatives concentrated on wholesalers and
larger chemist outlets. The importance of specifies, namely, general practitioners and hospitals,
had always been recognized but the company did not have the resources to call personally on all
UK doctors and pharmacists. The current sales force is 18 in number, some of whom have been
seeking out specifies in response to leads and inquiries. These calls have been proving very
effective in sales terms, although the link between specifying, stocking and end users has been
hard to identify. Ian wants to encourage more detail calling as well as improving sales effort on
existing accounts. A new remuneration package seems to be required to achieve these objectives.
Questions 1. Design a suitable remuneration package 2. Point out the possible advantages and
disadvantages in your own plan.
Case: SEC E
The case discusses the compensation management practices at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
(TCS), one of the leading Indian IT companies. TCS’ compensation management system was
based on the EVA model. With the implementation of Economic Value Added (EVA)-based
compensation, the salary of employees comprised of two parts – fixed and variable. The variable
part of the salary was arrived after considering business unit EVA, corporate EVA, and also
individual performance EVA. During the fourth quarter of the financial year (FY) 2007-2008,
TCS announced its plans to slash 1.5 percent of the variable component of employee salaries
since its EVA targets for the third quarter of FY 2007-2008 were not met The announcement
came as s jolt not only to TCS employees but also to the entire Indian IT industry. The company
came in for severe criticism and it was accused of not being transparent with respect to EVA
calculation. However, some analysts felt that the pay cuts were a result of the macroeconomic
challenges that the Indian IT companies were facing — rapid appreciation of the rupee against
the US dollar and the recession in the US economy (USA was the largest market for the Indian
IT companies)
Roll Number 1-2 : will brief the case and share their viewpoint about the case
Questions
Roll Number 3-5 1. Analyze TCS’ HR practices with respect to its policy related to
compensation of its employees.
Roll Number 6-8 2. Discuss various concepts related to compensation management.
Roll Number 9-11. Discuss the importance of variable compensation in light of its ability to
motivate employees and enhance organizational productivity.
Roll Number 12-14 4. Discuss the pros and cons of the EVA-based compensation management
system and also analyze EVA as a performance measurement tool.
Roll Number 15-17 5. Understand the rationale behind the cut in the compensation of the
employees at TCS.
Roll Number 18-19 6. Understand how macroeconomic variables could affect a company’s HR
policies.
Roll Number 20-22 7. Appreciate the importance of HR goals and strategies in the success of an
organization