Responding to a Pandemic

This attitude is clear to see in the company’s response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic. “I think we were amongst the first few companies that recognized the rapid spread of COVID-19 virus as a potentially serious threat. We practically pivoted from a purely offline retailer who also did a bit of online sales to a total e-commerce company. We relaunched a completely refurbished website and moved our entire marketing investment to e-commerce. All our social media posts focused on driving customers to our ecommerce website. In order to keep our front-line staff motivated, we started an affiliate program where the staff would get a commission on sales to drive consumers to our ecommerce website. As a result of that, our daily transactions grew nine-fold during the 48 days of Covid-19 lock-down. The management team used technology extensively to stay connected daily, while the operations team connected weekly to discuss the business situation. The company then embarked on a 3 scenario business plan for 2020: pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. The first goal for any company during this difficult period is to ensure that we survive the storm and protect our cash reserves. This means we need to practice what is known as a “zero-based budgeting” – this requires a tremendous amount of discipline and a hawk-like focus on every single line-item within our P&L, balance sheet and cash flow – something that I have learnt from the best in business. I think all businesses need to build in a way where, given a reasonable runway, we should be able to take-off no matter what the weather. I see a lot of business leaders using Covid-19 as a reason, almost an excuse to justify the “inefficiencies and incompetencies” within their respective organizations. I, on the other hand, take a view that as a business leader I cannot control the outside weather- today its Covid-19, tomorrow it could be something else! Therefore we have tried to use this Covid-19 situation as a pit-stop, a break in our journey to brainstorm and come up with more efficient processes and work on some of our process gaps so that when we started, we were able to get on to a track of recovery as soon as possible” Vach Pillutla signs off by saying” Al-Ikhsan sports has always been part of Malaysian sports lover’s everyday life but I think because of Covid-19, we have got even closer to our consumers than ever before”

Question 3 (30 marks)
Apart from key element of the strategy to drive a private label and licensed business, Al-Ikhsan is also promoting its own lifestyle brand AL. Evaluate Al-Ikhsan competitive strategy in comparison with its closest competitor JD sports and Decathlon Malaysia in terms of PoD (Point of Differences) and PoP (Point of Parity). Use perceptual mapping to help you explain the current position of Al-Ikhsan. Should Al-Ikhsan reposition itself. Why and why not.

52. To succeed in the Bottom of Pyramid market, organizations should be

• A. ecology conscious.
• B. able to offer extremely low price
• C. able to do direct marketing
• D. all of the above.
• E. a and b only.

55.Mark the correct statement.

• A. Our brain is like a river, not like a rock.
• B. Stress alters our blood chemistry.
• C. Stress can age us before our time.
• D. all of the above.
• E. b and c only.

56. Mark the correct statement.

• A. Culture rarely entails a knee-jerk response.
• B. Culture constitutes a distribution of behavior.
• C. Tight cultures have more dispersion than loose cultures.
• D. all of the above.
• E. a and b.

57.Senior managers are involved in

• A. strategic planning
• B. tactical planning
• C. operational planning
• D. a and c
• E. b and c.

58.

An organic design of organization uses

• A. enabling social structures and low level of bureaucracy.
• B. enabling social structures and high level of bureaucracy.
• C. coercive social structures and high level of bureaucracy.
• D. none of the above.