Case Study

Mr Muthu Swamy, the chairman of S K Pharma Company had set up its plant at Mysore (Karnataka state) in the year 2002 and kept the corporate office at state capital, Bangalore. The plant is manufacturing and marketing drugs, medicines and glucose water. The company has met severe competition from large pharma companies with foreign collaboration. Mr K V Nayak, Vice- president marketing, has been with the company, for the last two years. He has ambitious plans for capturing a sizable share of the markets in Karnataka, Kerala and south Andhra Pradesh. As the company is medium-sized, Mr Nayak has kept his marketing department and team lean and trim. The medical representatives were given aggressive targets and were pushed to reach their respective targets. The representatives as well as Mr Nayak worked very hard to complete their respective targets. However, there was no formal appraisal and reward system in S K Pharma. During the last year, more than 25 medical representatives had left the company due to unsatisfactory increments, no proper promotion policy and poor HR practices. Those who left the company were excellent workers. Mr Nayak did not care for this high turnover. He was overconfident that he would be able to hire freshers since S K Pharma had enjoyed a reputation of being a good employer, who paid the highest salary in the industry with many attractive perks/ privileges. Mr Nayak also felt that he could select candidates who were not happy with their remunerations in other companies. Mr Nayak had never communicated to the medical representatives about their performance or reasons for not recognising their outstanding performance.

Question 1: High turrnover of medical representatives was not due to ___________

a. Unsatisfactory increments and promotions

b. Non recognition of outstanding performance

c. Poor HR practices

d. Highest salary package in the industry

Question 2: How old is S K Pharma Company?

a. Less than 5 years old

b. 5 to 10 years old

c. 10 to 15 years old

d. More than 20 years old

Question 3: The ambitious plan of the company to capture sizable market share does not include ______

a. South Andhra Pradesh

b. North Tamil Nadu

c. Kerala

d. Karnataka

Question 4: The manufacturing plant of S K Pharma is located at ______

a. Bangalore

b. Belgaon

c. Karnataka

d. Mysore

Question 5: What is not the product line of S K Pharma company?

a. Drugs

b. Medicines

c. Fruit juices

d. Glucose water

Question 6: What strategy was not adopted to get maximum work from the medical representatives?

a. Given aggressive targets

b. Pushed to achieve their targets

c. Left to their own whims and fancies and working styles

d. Made to work hard along with Vice -president marketing

Question 7: What was the appraisal and reward system like in the company?

a. Excellent

b. Fair

c. Poor

d. No system existed

Question 8: Which one was not the reason for over confidence of Mr K V Nayak that he will be able to hire fresh medical representatives?

a. S K Pharma paid highest salary in the industry

b. S K Pharma enjoyed a good reputation as an employer

c. S K Pharma had attractive perks and privileges for their employees

d. Newly employeed team of medicl representatives will produce wonders from their very starting day

Question 9: Who is the Vice-president Marketing of S K Pharma?

a. Mr Muthu Swamy

b. Mr Namo Narain

c. Mr R K Pillai

d. Mr K V Nayak

Question 10: Who were the real competitors of S K Pharma?

a. Large pharma companies with foreign collaboration

b. Local drugs and medicines companies

c. Ayurvedic and Unani medicines manufaturers in India

d. No competitors existed at all