BBM 103/05 Principles and Practice of Management

TMA 3

Semester 1 January 2011

Submission Date : 29th April 2011

Instructions:

1. This assessment covers topics you have learnt in Unit 2 and 3.

2. As this is an individual assignment, you are advised not to share your answers
with others.

3. Please answer all three questions. Do not copy the questions in the answers.
This will increase the percentage of your similarity index on Turnitin report.

4. Please write all your answers in essay format. Do not answer in point-form
unless the questions mention “List” or “State”. It is not necessary to precede
each answer with an introduction and end with a summary. Proceed directly with
the answer.

5. The total marks for TMA 3 is 100 and this contributes 20% towards the total
weight of this course.

6. Do remember to submit the online and by the deadline with the report from
turnitin.com.
Question 1

In terms of corporate social responsibility, explain the views taken by the

following parties:-
(a) The Malaysian government and the NGOs. (12 marks)
(b) The foreign multinational corporations. (12 marks)

Question 2

Two of the many functions of managers are planning and control.

(a) What is controlling, and why is it important? (10 marks)

(b) Describe the importance of planning from the perspectives of a junior
manager (or supervisor), middle manager and a senior management (such as a
general manager). Provide examples. (12 marks)

(Question 3 after CASE STUDY)

 Sinchuan Xuping Rabbit Industrial Corporation

The Challenge
Urban landscapes are so different from natural ones in that they have the potential to alter
regional and global climate, changing everything from temperature, to rainfall patterns, to
the chemistry of the atmosphere. The more humans urbanize the landscape, the greater
the possible impacts on climate will be. Since the late 1970s, Sichuan’s urbanization has
been developing rapidly creating core cities like Chengdu, the centre of the province’s
economy, culture, science and technology and education as well as transportation and
communication. Everything is extremely concentrated in Chengdu as it only takes up
2.6% of the province’s landmass but the population and GDP account for 15.48% and
31.64% respectively.

Urbanization is a natural occurrence as individuals and corporate want to reduce

expense in commuting and transportation while improving their opportunities for jobs,
education, housing, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to
take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition.
However in recent times as the government allowed greater freedom in the labour market,
they no longer took care to ensure full employment and the unemployment rate began to
rise. The ones who are affected the most are those who are poorly educated and unskilled
workers who would find it increasingly difficult to find new work.
The Entrepreneur and Solution
The owner and founder of the largest and strongest enterprise in animal husbandry
business, Sichuan Xuping Rabbit Industrial Corporation (Xuping Rabbit), is Mr. Ren
Xuping. He started out with two rabbits when he was 13 years old and they gave birth to
eight bunnies. Now at age 40, Mr. Xuping is known as the “Rabbit King of China”
because he is an animal specialist, a famous rabbit expert, an educationalist and an
entrepreneur.

As Mr. Xuping had been born into a poor farming family, he appreciates the
determination of others who are willing to pull themselves out of poverty or simply want
to make an honest living. He never stops teaching the rural youths, the poor families,
students, retired workers and laid-off workers how to raise rabbits in a scientific way
because his teachings have pulled over 300,000 trainees out of poverty already. The
Xuping Rabbit Training School usually does not charge the trainees who are from
disadvantaged backgrounds including poverty, handicapped, remotely located and
converted prisoners.

Of the 300,000 trainees over the past two decades, 80% of these trainees are successful
and become rich and 20% become large rabbit raisers with a handful of trainees acquiring
substantial wealth. Xuping Rabbit Training School has lead Sichuan to become China’s
second largest province in rabbit raising as almost all large rabbit raisers in Sichuan was
trained from the school.

With the growing popularity of rabbit raising, Xuping Rabbit is able to help those who
are unemployed in the urbanized cities return to the rural parts of the province almost
guaranteeing them a stable income. In recent years, Mr. Xuping has trained workers who
have been laid off, which has offered them an opportunity to find their way to make a
living.

End of case study

Reference: Social Edge Website – accessed 4th March 2011.

Question 3

Social enterprises are the growing trend on social change makers using business
methods. Have a read on the following case study of a social enterprise and
answer the following:

(a) Conduct a SWOT analysis for Sinchuan Xuping Rabbit Industrial

Corporation.
(25 marks)
(b) What are the three (3) entrepreneurial traits that Sinchuan Xuping has
shown in running the social enterprise? (15 marks)
(c) We can easily measure the performance of commercial ventures through
their financial performance (revenue/profits), how will you measure the
performance of a social enterprise? (answers are not limited to the
context of the case study- you can provide outside answers if you wish)
(14 marks)