• Dr. Brahm Sharma

This is a comprehensive general management case and discusses all aspect of management such as marketing, operations, finance and HR. The case deals with early growth phase of washing machines industry in India . The case is written to fulfil the theme "Management education : connecting the dots" . The case ensures that MBA students gets the simulated market scenario covering all aspect of business management . This case will help MBA students to enhance their decision making ability in a difficult market situations. The case is written purely for teaching purpose and has no relevance to any company as Wash Right Ltd is a nonexistent company. Wash Right Limited is a company promoted by a large industry house of south India with no prior experience in consumer durable industry and was fighting tough battle with national and international players. The company had acquired a superior technology through the JV, and its sales were expected to grow at 20 to 30 per cent per annum. The company experienced a significant growth in its sales during the first three years of its operations, and its actual growth rate aver¬aged about 30 per cent per annum. Over this period, the company established its name, and its products became well-known in the market. As the competition intensified in the 'washing machine market,-and the general market slow-down conditions engulfed the entire economy, WRL started experi¬encing a decline in its sales and profits. This started happening from the beginning of 2008. One of the main reasons for the declining profits was a huge interest liability which had doubled during the last one and half years. This had happened because of the large amount of short-term borrowings. The continuous increase in inventory levels was identified as the reason for significant increase in short-term borrowings. Given the group's standing in the market, it did not face any problem in borrowing from its bankers. Accounts receivable does not indicate any significant increase since most of the distributors are paying in time to a very large extent. Account receivable and cash requirements of the company are about 12 % of sales. Accounts payable constitute about five per cent of sales. The management of the company identified inventory level major issue causing financial problems. It was suggested by VP (production) that WRL should convert to “Just in time” inventory model but management was not sure if it can be implemented given vendor's attitude. Cutting down production was a difficult proposition in view of the fact that the company had already entered into an agreement with its suppliers to supply the raw material. The VP (Marketing) suggested several promotion strategies and options to reduce the inventory levels of the company .It was found that one of the reasons for over-stocking the raw material has been the foreign exchange fluctuations on which WRL has no control. After analyzing the past trends obtained from the order processing system, the management of WRL has observed that 5 percent of orders are partially delivered. The order processing system does not have the provision of monitoring the partially fulfilled orders. The management was of opinion that a 2 month credit period allowed to big retailers such as big bazaar, next, reliance etc. should be reduced to one month but could not work out due to buying power of these big retailers. It was pointed out by CEO that there is urgent need for training of staff at all levels and in all divisions of the company. He suggested that divisional heads must collect details for training needs before training program can be initiated. Top management confirmed that in recent times, there has also been mounting pressure on the company to introduce new product models in the market. CEO was not convinced about the viability of WRL and made the report to MD to sell the plant to an American multinational which had shown interest . CEO believed that consumer durable segment is not their core competence areas and they will stick to industrial goods for which the company is known for. The MD was not sure if the CEO observations are correct and wanted your opinion what he should recommend to board.

Marketing, JIT, promotion, washing machine

"Wash Right Ltd", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no.402-407, December-2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1812454.pdf

"Wash Right Ltd", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no. pp402-407, December-2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1812454.pdf