Table of Contents

Contents Page
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………01
Rahimafrooz Batteries…………………………………………………………………...02
Vision 2010……………………………………………………………………………....02
Plant capacity………………………………………………………………………….....02
External environment of Rahimafrooz …………………………………………………..03
Suppliers ……………………………………………………………………....03
Distributors…………………………………………………………………….03
Competitors………………………………………………………………….…04
Customers………………………………………………………………..…….05
Opportunities…………………………………………………………………..................05
Threats………………………………………………………………….……………..….05
Internal environment …………………………………………………………….………06
Strengths…………………………………………………………………...…..06
Weakness………………………………………………………………………06
TOWS Matrix…………………………………………………………………….……...07
Planning process…………………………………………………………………..……..08
Organizing process ………………………………………………………….……..…….08
Leading process………………………………………………………………..………...09
Legal, political and technological forces…………………………………………..…….09
Organizational chart…………………………………………………….………………..10
Social responsibility ……………………………………………………………………..10
Awards received by Rahimafrooz ……………………………………………………….11

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Introduction:

Rahimafrooz is one of the respected and reputed business houses in Bangladesh. It has

just crossed 50 years of operation. Rahimafrooz has endured turbulences of the last 50

years and has been able to transform itself from a small trading company into a leading

diversified business house. This is, indeed, a milestone, which Rahimafrooz has achieved

with trust, support and dedication of all stakeholders, past and present, most importantly,

its customers. Today Rahimafrooz is the market leader with covering eighty percent of

the battery market share. Moreover it is also gaining market in IPS, UPS, home

appliances, tyres, lubricants, solar energy and CNG conversion.

In our report we are going to focus on the Rahimafrooz batteries and discuss about the

external and internal environment, managerial hierarchy, decision making process,

human resource management activities, and organizational structure and planning

process.

Rahimafrooz Batteries :

Rahimafrooz Batteries Limited (RBL) is the pioneers in manufacturing batteries in

Bangladesh.They are also the largest and lead-acid battery manufacturer in Bangladesh

and offers an extensive range of automotive & specialized industrial battery. It

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manufactures over 300 different types of automotive and industrial batteries. It is one of

the key players in South Asia in its field.

RBL has also extended its product line to secure power solution with UPS, Rectifier and

VRLA Batteries with collaboration of Enersys-USA, Eltek-Norway, AEES-France.

Rahimafrooz produces all kinds of automotive and industrial batteries and one of the

largest battery manufacturers in the SAARC region; exports batteries in more than 19

countries. RBL has a successful story of installing solar power in the remote rural areas

of Bangladesh. It has successfully installed more than 10,000 home solar systems in the

remote rural areas of Bangladesh.

Vision 2010:

The main target of Rahimafrooz is to satisfy the customers by giving the best quality and

services. There vision is to be one of the top two storage power companies in SAARC by

the year 2010.

Plant Capacity:

Rahimafrooz has state of the art manufacturing plant. It is equipped with all latest

technologies with complete air treatment and lead-recycling management. RBL produces

different types of batteries to meet the local and international market.

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Its capacity in Automotive Battery is 660,000 (N50) units per annum and 15 million AH

of Industrial Battery per annum. All the products are manufactured under strict quality

control and ensured by international certifications. RDL markets three major brands of

automotive batteries: LUCAS, VOLTA, VOLTA MF (Maintenance Free) and SPARK.

Types of batteries :Rahimafrooz has provided a wide range of batteries. They are:

• Automative batteries
• Motorcycle batteries
• Appliances batteries
• Industrial tubular batteries
• Deep cycle –flat plate batteries
• UPS batteries
• VRS batteries
• Solar system batteries

External environment of Rahimafrooz:

Suppliers: Rahimafrooz imports its raw materials from Australia. Rahimafrooz imports

its raw materials for batteries such as the acids, leads and other accessories from

Australia. Then the products are assembled in its local factories.

Distributers: Rahimafrooz Distribution Limited (RDL) involves in the marketing and

distribution of a wide range of products through its nation-wide distribution network. It

deals mainly with tires, automotive batteries, Instant Power system (IPS), UPS and

lubricants. Its batteries are produced in Rahimafrooz Batteries Limited (RBL).

Rahimafrooz Maintains nationwide distribution network with more than 400 outlets

covering entire Bangladesh; distributes mainly automotive and appliance battery, tire,

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IPS, UPS and lubricants. RDL markets three major brands of automotive batteries:

LUCAS, VOLTA, VOLTA MF (Maintenance Free) and SPARK.It has seven corporate

offices over Bangladesh. In Dhaka its offices are at Motijhil, Mohakhali and Uttara.

Rahimafrooz also has outlets in Chittagong, Bogura, Joshore and Rajshahi. For

distribution purpose Rahimafrooz the container made by Rahimafrooz itself.

Competitors:

The competitors of Rahimafrooz are Navana, Rangs, NGS, General and Hamko. Though

Rahimafrooz is the market leader in battery business it has been faced with threat from its

competitors. Both Navana and Rangs have gained market over the last 5 years on battery

business. But Rahimafrooz still has a competitive advantage over its competitors because

of its low price.

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Customers:

As like all other businesses, customers are the main concern for Rahimafrooz batteries.

Rahimafrooz provides customer service to the customers sincerely. It has a call center

where the calls from customers are being received and according to the complains or the

problem of the customer steps are being taken to solve them out. Rahimafrooz promises

to solve any customer related problem within 24 hours of the complain. They also have a

customer relations officer in all the seven corporate offices to attend the customers in

case of problems or to help them choose the best option available to them.

Opportunities:

Day by day opportunities are rising for Rahimafrooz. They are entering into new market

segments by exporting batteries in India and Srilanka. They are widening their product

range like they introduced new battery “Volta” in market. They diversified into new

growth businesses like superstore business as for example “Agora”. They are also trying

to do business in pharmaceuticals as it is proving a good profitable business in

Bangladesh.

Threats:

As in every other business there is a threat of the competitors. Rahimafrooz faces the

threat from it’s competitors Navana ,Rangs ,NGS and Hamko.Often because of the legal

procedures there is problem with supply of raw materials. The uplift of foreign currency

is another problem for Rahimafrooz as the uplift of currency is making the import of raw

materials more and more costly.

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Internal environment of Rahimafrooz:

Strength:

The most important strength for any company is high quality skills in managing, in

research and in development. Rahimafrooz has high quality skills in managing, they

manage their organization in such way that everyone can be involved in every managerial

process. They have a strong product line. They also cover broad market they have four

hundred outlets covering whole Bangladesh. They have well established brand name

“Lucas” that everyone can trust. They have decentralized organization system in which

everyone can participate in decision making. They also have efficient customer service

they give eighteen hours customer service per day. And most of all they are the pioneer

of Bangladeshi battery industry this is the biggest strength over other competitors. They

have a call center which is a relatively new idea in the context of Bangladesh.

Weaknesses:

There are strengths there is weaknesses. Rahimafrooz greatest weakness is lacking of

fulfilling customer demand. Say market demand is one thousand batteries but they are

producing just seven hundred batteries, so they are lacking behind to produce enough

battery to fulfill customer demand. As Rahimafrooz is a big organization it is often

difficult to control all the areas. Another problem that. Rahimafrooz is facing is that it’s

distribution channel is being used sometimes to distribute products of it’s competitors.

Rahimafrooz has another problem in customer services as it is not always possible for

them to attend the customers in time.

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TWOS matrix:

ST Strategy: Though Rahimafrooz has eighty percent share in the market but they have

the threat of competitors. Day by day market is becoming more and more competitive. So

to outperform these competitors Rahimafrooz can use their greatest strength which is

quality battery. They also came with new brand Spark, Volta MF (maintenance free).

SO Strategy: As Rahimafrooz business is expanding more and more opportunities are

arises such as they exporting their battery in India, Srilanka, Bhutan :mostly in SAARC

countries. They are also expanding their business in pharmaceuticals, super store, solar

energy. They use their well developed human resource as strength for this business.

WT Strategy: The high cost of the batteries has bees a major weakness for Rahimafrooz

and they also face the threat of competitor’s using their product distribution channel. So,

in near future they should focus on minimizing the costs and be more strict in guarding

their distribution channel.

WO Strategy: Rahimafrooz can use the opportunities of entering into diversifying

business to overcome the weaknesses of their business.

In our view the SO strategy would be the best appropriate for Rahimafrooz.

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The planning process:

In Rahimafrooz the planning is mainly done by the top level managers In Rahimafrooz

they have product manager for every product .As for example they have different

product manager for battery, for CNG conversion unit and for tires. There are product

managers in all the seven corporate offices and these managers cover all the production

and distribution function of their areas. However these managers also take part in

planning process. Whenever there is a major decision to be taken all the managers from

different division gather in the head office and they share their view about the issue with

other product managers of different areas and with the top level managers and CEO’s.

So, all the managers get a chance to state what his ideas are and from discussion they

come to a conclusion about the issue. Moreover, all the lower level employees are also

encouraged in planning as there is a yearly advising system when all the employees are

welcomed to share their ideas with the top level management. On that day if anyone

comes up with an innovative idea he or she is to reward. As a result all the employees are

always encouraged to think about the company’s welfare.

The organizing process:

Rahimafrooz follows a decentralized decision making process in the organizing process.

The product managers of different areas are given the authority make decision of their

own in the time of need. Rahimafrooz uses different teams for different segments of the

business. As for example there is a team for the battery division and a different team for

the tire business or for the lubricants. They also uses the cross functional teams for

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problem solving. In this case they select employees from different divisions to function as

a team and come up with a possible solution. The product managers are the regional head

and all the employees under a division reports to the corresponding product manager.

There is separate human resource department in Rahimafrooz for managing human

resource. The HR department is in the head office in Motijhil and the HR department

decides who is to work under whose supervision. There is a HR manager in the head

office who conducts all kind of decision regarding human resources.

Leading process:

The top management of Rahimafrooz influences the lower level employees and workers

to accomplish the organizational goal. They give the employees reward according to their

job performance.

Legal, political, social, economic and technological forces:

Rahimafrooz claims that they are 100 percent legal company from the view point of tax

paying. Rahimafrooz expects the competition to grow higher in future as govt. is

allowing many foreign company to enter the market such as Rangs .As far as political

forces are to be concerned they assume that there will be at least twenty-five hartals in a

year and they make their plans according to the political problems they might have to

face. They also claim that political problems has never hampered their business. From

technological point of view Rahimafrooz uses advanced technological facilities in it’s

production. It has different technical collaboration agreements with Lucas Battery

Company, U.K, Technical support Group (TSG), Hawker Batteries, UK, Invensys, UK,

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Hawker Batteries, UK, Eltek – Norway, AEES – France to ensure the quality of battery.

So, it is quiet sure that customers in Bangladesh are receiving the quality products at a

reasonable price.

Organizational chart:

CEO

CFO GENERAL MANAGER HR MANAGER

TYRE BATTERY SOLAR ENERGY CNG CONVERSION

PRODUCTION FINANACE MARKETING

MANAGER MANAGER MANAGER

EMPLOYEE 1 EMPLOYEE 2 EMPLOYEE 3 EMPLOYEE 4

Social responsibility by Rahimafrooz:

Rahimafrooz has always been charitable and sincere to perform its social responsibilities

in Bangladesh. Rahimafrooz has recently donated Tk. 2,500,000 for expansion of

Haemodialysis Unit at BIRDEM to help patients suffering from kidney diseases.

Recently Rahimafrooz and Agora launched a program to collect winter clothes from the

customers in order to help the needy and the poor. RDL received an overwhelming

support from its customers in collecting a good number of winter cloths for the poor &

needy. The cloths were distributed among needy people of Kurigram through Kirara No

Kai & Women’s Federation. RDL distributed winter cloths to the needy people in

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Rangpur. Rahimafrooz also offers the customers and the general public to give them the

used acid batteries for proper dumping rather than throwing them here and there to help

protecting the environment. In this way Rahimafrooz is helping the environment to be

safe and clean out of their own pocket.

Awards received by Rahimafrooz:

Rahimafrooz was Awarded Enterprise of the Year in 2001 for best management

performance. Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. (RBL) has been awarded National Export

Trophy (Silver) 2001-2002 for it’s success in battery export in the international market.

Rahimafrooz received McGraw-Hill Platt Award in 2004 under Renewable Energy

category for solar projects in the remote rural areas of Bangladesh

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