Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
This section consists of Caselets.
Answer all the questions.
Each caselet carries 20 marks.
Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).
Caselet 1
In mid-1984, Kartik, the general manager of Western Exports Ltd, Karachi, Pakistan was striving to implement a management information system. He was facing resistance from; his most senior supervisor
Kartik wondered what he could do to overcome this resistance. Western Exports was an exporter of ladies’ cotton cloth garments. It was private company established from, his most senior supervisor Kartik wondered what he could do to overcome this resistance. Over the past 14 years, the exports of the company had grown from Rs. 0.71 million in 1972-73 to Rs. 59.76 million in 1984. Almost 90 percent of the exports went to the USA. It owned no manufacturing facility of any kind. It purchased cotton cloth from six different textile mills and had the cloth dyed and printed. This fabric was then passed on to 138 stitching subcontractors. The company had been expanding the product line over the years, and by 1983 it was exporting about one million garments in over 100 basic designs. The 100 designs were presented in range of fabric types, shades, designs and sizes. When seen in the context that the company got all these things done through subcontractors, the managerial control of the operations became quite challenging.
The directors, who had always been actively involved in each and every aspect of the business, and made all the decisions themselves, felt the heat o the changing situation. The appreciated the problem, and decided to hire some professional assistance to bring more control to their operations. Kartik was hired in late 1983 to be the new general manager. He was an agricultural graduate who
