Assignment Brief

MBA International Business & Finance

Academic Year 2018-19
Module Information:
Qualification: MBA International Business & Finance

Module Code & Title: MBAIBF 110001 BUSINESS INTEGRATION

Assignment Title: Individual Report

Component Weighting: 30%

Date of Issue:14 Nov 2018 Due date:21 Nov 2018, 2 PM

To be filled by the student:

Student ID: 5678MBA18

Date of Submission: 21/11/2018

*All work must be submitted on or before the due date. If an extension of time to submit work is required, a Mitigating
Circumstance Form must be submitted.

Has an extension been approved? Yes No

If yes, please provide the new submission date ….…/.…./……., and affix appropriate evidence.

First Marker: Second Marker:

Agreed Mark: Refer: Yes / No

General Guidelines
1. A Cover page or title page – You should always attach a title page to your assignment. Use
previous page as your cover sheet and be sure to fill the details correctly.
2. This entire brief should be attached in first before you start answering.
3. All the assignments should be prepared using word processing software.
4. All the assignments should print in A4 sized paper, and make sure to only use one side
printing.
5. Allow 1” margin on each side of the paper. But on the left side you will need to leave room for
binding.
6. Ensure that your assignment is stapled or secured together in a binder of some sort and send
the Softcopy of your final document to [email protected].
7. The submission of your work assessment should be organized and clearly structured.

Word Processing Rules

1. Use a font type that will make easy for your examiner to read. The font size should be 12
point, and should be in the style of Times New Roman.
2. Use 1.5-line word-processing. Left justify all paragraphs.
3. Ensure that all headings are consistent in terms of size and font style.
4. Use footer function on the word processor to insert Your Student ID, Name, Subject, Module
code, and Page Number on each page. This is useful if individual sheets become detached
for any reason.
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your entire assignment.

Important Points:
1. Check carefully the hand in date and the instructions given with the assignment. Late
submissions will not be accepted.
2. Ensure that you give yourself enough time to complete the assignment by the due date.
3. Don’t leave things such as printing to the last minute – excuses of this nature will not be
accepted for failure to hand in the work on time.
4. A printed version of the assignment needs to be submitted physically along with ansoft
copymailed to the email mentioned above on or before the stated deadline.
5. You must take responsibility for managing your own time effectively.
6. If you are unable to hand in your assignment on time and have valid reasons such as illness,
you may apply (in writing) for an extension.
7. Non-submission of work without valid reasons will lead to an automatic REFERRAL. You will
then be asked to complete an alternative assignment.
8. Take great care that if you use other people’s work or ideas in your assignment, you properly
reference them in your text and any bibliography, otherwise you may be guilty of plagiarism.

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 Statement of Originality and Student Declaration

I hereby, declare that I know what plagiarism entails, namely to use another’s work and to present it
as my own without attributing the sources in the correct way. I further understand what it means to
copy another’s work.
1. I know that plagiarism is a punishable offence because it constitutes theft.
2. I understand the plagiarism and copying policy of the University of the West of Scotland.
3. I know what the consequences will be if I plagiaries or copy another’s work in any of the
assignments for this program.
4. I declare therefore that all work presented by me for every aspect of my program, will be my
own, and where I have made use of another’s work, I will attribute the source in the correct
way.
5. I acknowledge that the attachment of this document signed or not, constitutes my agreement
on it.
6. I understand that my assignment will not be considered as submitted if this document is not
attached to the attached.

Student’s Signature: Nirmal Britty Joseph Date: 21/11/2018

TASK

For an organization of your choice analyze the governance structures, the organization
structure and the marketing strategies pursued by companies towards growth

Word limit 1500-2000 words.

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MBAIBF 110001 Business Integration
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 ANALYSIS ON THE GOVERNANCE
STRUCTURE,

THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE,

AND

THE MARKETING STRATEGIES

PURSUED BY THE COMPANY.

INTRODUCTION

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This assignment provides information on analysis on the governance structure, the
organization structure and the marketing strategies adopted by the company towards its
growth. This assignment shows the company’s corporate governance policies and company’s
compliance with corporate governance code. It provides information on the organizational
structure followed by the company. It also provides information on the different marketing
strategies followed by the company in order to grow.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

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Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology
(IT) service, consulting company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. TCS was launched
as a division of Tata Sons on April 1, 1968, as a management and technology consultancy that
would create demand for downstream computer services. TCS has 284 offices across 46
countries and 147 delivery centers in 21countries.

TCS and its 67 subsidiaries provide a wide range of information technology-related products
and services including application development, business process outsourcing, capacity
planning, consulting, enterprise software, hardware sizing, payment processing, software
management and technology education services. The firm’s established software products are
TCSBaNCS and TCS MasterCraft.

TCS is one of the largest Indian companies by market capitalization. It is the world’s 2nd
largest IT service provider. In April 2018, TCS became the first Indian company to breach
$100 billion market capitalization. Natarajan Chandrasekaran is the Chairman of TCS. The
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of TCS is Rajesh Gopinathan.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

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As defined by Sir Adrian Cadbury, widely acknowledged as the father of the UK Combined
Code on corporate governance, it is “…the system by which corporations are directed and
controlled…” (Barger, 2004).It is a set of relations between the shareholders, the directors
and other stakeholders. The Anglo-Saxon view of corporate governance as held by the United
States and the United Kingdom is that corporate “…managers have a fiduciary duty to act in
the interests of shareholders” (Allen et al, 2002). The shareholders appoint the directors to
run the company on their behalf. Some of the directors would take executive positions are
known as Executive Directors (EDs). The Non-Executive Directors (NEDS) are independent
people who provide expertise and experience to the board. The EDs, NEDs and other
directors together form the board. The board elects a Chairman and appoints a CEO.

TCS’s philosophy on corporate governance oversees business strategies and ensures fiscal
accountability, ethical corporate behaviour and fairness to all stakeholders comprising
regulators, employees, customers, vendors, investors and society at large. Strong leadership
and effective corporate governance practices have been the company’s hallmark inherited
from Tata culture and ethos.

The company has a strong legacy of fair, transparent and ethical governance practices. TCS
has adopted a code of conduct for its employees including the MD and the EDs and they also
adopted a code of conduct for the NEDs which include code of conduct for Independent
Directors which suitably incorporates their duties as laid down in the Companies Act, 2013.
The company’s corporate governance is has been further strengthened through the Tata
Business Excellence Model and TCS Code of Conduct for prevention of Insider Trading and
the Code of Corporate Disclosure Practices (‘Insider Trading Code”). The company has in
place an Information Security Policy that ensures proper utilization of IT resources.

As per the company’s Corporate Governance Report, 2018, TCS is in compliance with the
requirements stipulated under Regulations 17 to 27 read with Schedule V and clauses (b) to
(i) of sub-regulation (2) of Regulation 46 of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
Regulations, 2015, as applicable with regard to corporate governance.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

1. The company has ten Directors, of the ten Directors 8 are NEDs out of which 6 are
Independent Directors.
2. None of the Directors are related to each other except Mr. N. Ganapathy
Subramaniam and Mr. N. Chandrasekaran.

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 3. Six board meetings were held during the year and the gap between two meetings did
not exceed 120 days.
4. The names and categories of directors on the board and the committees they involve is
as follows:

Name of the Director Category Name of the committees

Mr. N. Non-Independent, Nomination and remuneration, CSR, Risk
Chandrasekaran Non-Executive management, Executive
(Chairman)
Mr. Rajesh Non-Independent, Stakeholder’s relationship, CSR, Risk
Gopinathan Executive management, Ethics and compliance,
(CEO and MD) Executive, Bank account
Mr. N. Ganapathy Non-Independent, Stakeholder’s relationship, Health, safety and
Subramaniam Executive sustainability, STPI/SEZ
(Chief Operating
Officer and
Executive Director)
Mr. Aman Mehta Independent, Non- Audit, Nomination and remuneration, Bank
Executive account
Mr. V. Thyagarajan Independent, Non- Audit, Nomination and remuneration,
Executive Stakeholder’s relationship, Ethics and
compliance, STPI/SEZ
Prof. Clayton M. Independent, Non- Executive
Christensen Executive
Dr. Ron Sommer Independent, Non- Audit, Health, safety and sustainability,
Executive Executive
Dr. Vijay Kelkar Independent, Non- Audit, Health, safety and sustainability
Executive
Mr. Ishaat Hussain Non-Independent, Audit, Nomination and remuneration, Risk
Non-Executive management
Mr. O. P. Bhatt Independent, Non- Audit, Stakeholder’s relationship, CSR, Risk
Executive management, Ethics and compliance
Name of the Director Category Name of the Committees
Ms. Aarthi Non-Independent, Audit, CSR, Risk management, Ethics and
Subramanian Non-Executive compliance
Dr. Pradeep Kumar Independent, Non-
Khosla Executive

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 5. Dr. Vijay Kelkar and Mr. Ishaat Hussain retired during the financial year 2017-2018.
6. The Independent Directors, have reviewed the performance of Non-Independent
Directors, Chairman of the company and the Board as a whole.
7. The Board periodically reviews the compliance reports of all laws applicable to the
company.

COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD

There are 10 board committees as on March 31, 2018, which comprise of 5 statutory
committees and 5 other committees that have been formed considering the needs of the
company and the best practices in Corporate Governance.

The following are the details of the committees of the board;

1. Audit Committee
 Oversight of financial reporting process, review of annual financial statements and
auditor’s report.
 Evaluation of internal financial control and risk management system.
 Recommendation for appointment, remuneration and terms of appointment of
auditors.
2. Nomination and Remuneration Committee
 Recommend to the board the appointment/re-appointment of Directors and key
managerial personnel.
 Carry out evaluation of every director’s performance and support the board and
independent Directors in evaluation of the performance e of the board, its
committees and individual directors.
 Recommend the board the remuneration policy for directors, executive team, key
managerial personnel and rest of the employees.

3. Stakeholder’s Relationship Committee

 Consider and resolve the grievances of security holders, approve issue of share
certificates, transfer and transmission of securities etc.
4. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee
 Formulate and recommend CSR policy, recommend the amount of expenditure to
be incurred on CSR policy.
 Monitor the CSR policy.
5. Risk Management Committee
 Frame, implement and monitor the risk management plan of the company.
6. Ethics and Compliance Committee
 Consider matters relating to the company’s code of conduct.
 Monitoring of anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy and gifts policy.

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 7. Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee
 Framing and implementation of broad guidelines/policies with regard to health,
safety and sustainability.
8. Executive Committee
 Business and strategy review, long-term financial projections and cash flows.
 Acquisitions, divestments and business restructuring proposals.
 Senior management succession planning.
9. Software Technology Park of India (STPI) / Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
Committee
 Registration/renewal of registration/de-registration of various offices under
STPI/SEZ schemes and other related matters.
10. Bank Account Committee
 Responsible for approval of the opening and closing of and authorize persons to
operate bank accounts of the company.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE POLICIES OF TCS

 Tata code of conduct

 Whistle blower policy
 Policy on related party transactions
 Policy on material subsidiaries
 Code of corporate disclosure practices
 Policy on determination of materiality for disclosures
 Authorized key managerial personnel for determination of materiality of an event/
information
 Policy on archival of documents
 Memorandum and articles of association
 Terms and conditions of appointment of independent directors
 Familiarization program for independent directors
 United kingdom: Tax strategy
 Nomination form for shareholders
 Terms of reference for committees of board of directors

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

An organizational structure defines hoe activities such as task allocation, coordination and
supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. The structure of an
organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs. Organizational
structure affects organizational action in two ways:

1. It provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest.
2. It determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes,
and thus to what extend their views shape the organization’s actions.

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ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF TCS

The structure of the organization determines the placement of power and authority in the
organization. TCS has a mechanistic structure wherein there is a formal structure control is
imposed on employees. Rules, procedures and a hierarchy of authority help in getting work
done in time and with minimum cost. TCS has a matrix structure where is departments exists
based on specialization. Decision making is centralized.

A mechanistic organization is characterized by the following structural factors:

 Degree of work specialization is high

 Departmentalization is rigid
 Managerial hierarchy has many layers
 Span of control is narrow
 Decision making is centralized
 Chain of command is long
 Organizational structure is very tall

COO AND
EXECUTIVE
OFFICER

HEAD EXECUTIVE
GOVERNMENT ISU ASSISTANT

HEAD-GLOBAL CHIEF TECHNICAL

HEAD-PMO
PRESALES SUPPORT ARCHITECT/HEAD

HEAD BUSINESS
FINANCE

HEAD PROCESS

HEAD HR

RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
LEAD

The above figure depicts the organization structure of TCS which clearly demonstrates it has
many layers of hierarchy and decision making is centralized. While in an organic structure
it’s a flat organization.

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TCS as an organization is decentralized as there are many functional groups and the main
head/corporate office does not have the entire ownership of various processes. When it comes
to different functional the process is centralized within this functional. For process
standardization, TCS used industry standards to define fundamental governance processes for
centralized services to be implemented across locations.

DEPARTMENTS IN TCS

Departments in TCS can be broadly classified into:

Functional departments: Technical, Sales, Marketing, Development and Operations.

Support departments: Administration, IDM and HR.

DIVISIONS

The divisions in TCS are referred to as ISUs or Industry Solutions Units. Different ISUs are
mentioned below:

 Manufacturing
 Hi-Tech
 BFS
 NGM-India
 Retail
 Travel, Transportation and Hospitality

MARKETING STRATEGY

Marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach to planning with the

fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. At its most basic level,
strategic marketing addresses 3 deceptively simple questions:

1. Where are we now?

2. Where are we going?
3. How are we going to get there?

The 4P’s (Price, Product, Place and Promotion), also known as the marketing mix or
marketing program represent the tools that marketers can use in day-to-day operational
planning. TCS follows a cost leadership strategy. The focus for TCS is to attain competitive
advantage is to reduce the per employee cost and attain economies of scale.

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MARKETING MIX OF TCS

Product

TCS continuously strives to provide the best solutions to its clients from a global perspective.
The products in the marketing mix of TCS are the solutions it provides to enterprises and
clients. TCS has a diversified service portfolio focusing on IT services, consulting, IT
infrastructure, enterprise solutions, enterprise security and risk management, engineering and
industrial services eco sustainability services, business intelligence and performance
management, business process services, digital enterprise, platform solutions and iON small
and medium sized business.

Price

TCS has a diverse offering and hence have a variable pricing policy. Through its different
pricing models and policies, TCS promises its clients – process improvement, cost reduction,
revenue enhancement and timely deliverables. TCS follows success based pricing model in
some of its total outsourcing contracts and differential pricing model for its iON services,
wherein the prices differ as per different clients. Hence, the pricing strategy in the marketing
mix of TCS is basically based on the client requirements, projects and the scale of operations.

Place

The place strategy in the marketing mix of TCS covers all its presence in India and abroad as
well. Not only in India but TCS has conquered global market as well through its diversified
employee base, updated technology and business models. It operates in 46 countries across
the world. TCS employees people from 120+ nationalities.

Promotion

Through various community initiatives TCS makes its presence felt everywhere. TCS has got
a well-defined set of programs for each geography. For example in India TCS runs ALP_
adult literacy program, BPS employability program, advanced computer training centre – to
promote employability for visually impaired youth, InsighT – for school children, etc.
Internationally it has programs like STEM education and technology inclusion, Pro Bono,
ENABLE and goiT to name few. TCS also volunteers and organizes various marathons
worldwide every year. Also, through its purpose 4 life program, TCS encourages its
employees to contribute towards social wellbeing.

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In addition to 4P’s TCS have other 3 Ps to make it 7Ps marketing mix of TCS. They are:

People

The people strategy in the marketing mix of TCS basically focuses on training employees to
fulfill the needs of the clients. TCS also encourages female employees and avoids gender bias
in any form through policies like POSH, which promotes utmost safety to all its employees.

Physical Evidence

TCS provides best in house facilities with up to date infrastructure and global environment in
all its offices. This helps the employees the best work environment.

Process

TCS have strong processes in place for ease of business. Through the various initiatives, TCS
strongly focus on the fact that employees are pillars of an organization. Also, TCS maintains
strong bond with customers by providing and customizing solutions as per their requirement
which in turn helps in customer relationship and global recognition of organization.

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CONCLUSION
From the analysis on the governance structure, the organizational structure and the marketing
strategies followed by the company, we can conclude that
 TCS follows corporate governance policies.
 TCS follows their code of conduct – Tata Code of Conduct.
 The organizational structure of TCS is mechanistic structure.
 TCS follows 7Ps of marketing strategies.

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REFERENCE
 https://www.tcs.com
 Annual report 2018 of TCS
 Corporate Governance Report 2018 of TCS
 https://www.mbaskool.com
 https://www.academia.edu

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