Hetal Brahmbhatt

(B-07)

AMSOM

Summary IIsco - Indian iron and steel company

Short term Plan:

Market Research Market Research should be done to identify the areas in which reduction of operation cost should be done. What should be done to reduce manufacturing and overheads cost should be clearly identified. The reason behind doing this research is that company is facing high cost in operations as well as overheads.

Identify Weakness Marketing Manager needs to know the weaknesses of the firm related to technical /technology aspects, pricing, quality, company image, after sale service etc.

Demand Forecast Firm should forecast the demand of cast iron pipes as demand is changing and has stagnated over the time.

Segmentation Firm should do product wise segmentation in order to differentiate its offering and their target market should be market for 250-500 mm pipes because its preference is high and less substitutes has taped the market.

Formation of separate corporate planning department Formation of separate corporate planning department should be done as for every decision company has to involve the department heads of all the three departments that is production, materials and marketing.

Hetal Brahmbhatt

(B-07)

AMSOM

Analyze consumer preferences Analysis of consumer preferences is necessary because for the pipes between 80- 200 mm and 600-1500 mm, lot of substitutes are available and consumers prefer the substitutes. This will help the firm to decide on which product it should focus.

Analyze the competitors strategy- Competitors are hiring agents and get orders through unethical practices. Thus Firm should know competitors strategy and should counter attack to their strategy.

Medium term Plan:

As it is a make-to-order product, the company should not hold the inventory and should make the production of 250- 500 mm pipes. Company should drop the production of 80-100 mm pipes as lots of substitutes are available and consumer preferences are not for cast iron. It should try to identify extraordinary events, arrival of substitutes and product life cycle to know about the stagnant growth in demand that will help to forecast the demand.

Long term Plan:

Upgrade the technology As the firm has high production costs because of the old technology and funds from government are easily available to the firm (because of PSU advantage), firm should have long overdue technological up gradation. Diversify horizontally (600 1050 mm pipes) Firm should do the research to identify the market for substitute or whether cast iron can be attached to other products like steel or other which are preferred by consumers. Become an autonomous body- Firm should put less emphasis on human resources and do automation to reduce the operations cost.

Hetal Brahmbhatt

(B-07)

AMSOM