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BHARATHIAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND

ENTREPRENEUR DEVELOPMENT
BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY

Masters in Business Administration

PROJECT WORK GUIDELINES

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1. THE REPORT:
After collecting the necessary information from primary and secondary sources,
substantial number of visits to select companies / organizations and administering questionnaire
/ Interview schedules, if any, the students are advised to discuss with their Project Guides for
necessary directions on how to analyze the data. Based on the PROJECT GUIDE’S advice,
carryout necessary tabulation of data, application of statistical tools, testing of hypotheses if
any, and then prepare a plan of chapterization to prepare a PROJECT REPORT. The project
Report generally consists of three main parts, viz., Introductory chapters, Analysis and
Interpretation Chapters, Concluding chapters.

1.1 Introductory Chapters: First one or two chapters are called Introductory Chapters. The
student should provide the setting of the problem of study in these chapters. While first chapter
is to give brief background of the problem, review of different studies, objectives and
methodology adopted, sample drawn, data sources, tools of analysis, hypothesis formulated for
testing and broad limitations of the study, the second chapter concentrates on the brief profile of
the sample units / respondents and likely influence of these characteristics on the problem under
study.

1.2 The third and fourth chapters naturally have to concentrate on data analysis, interpretation
of results, discussion based on observations made, results of hypotheses tested.

1.3 The last chapter i.e., summary and conclusions is to start with a brief summary of the
problem understudy, sample and methodology, objectives and then summarize the observations
made in earlier analysis chapter. A brief summary of discussion on the basis of results and
major implications are to be listed out. Then the report should go for making major suggestions
for any improvement required in the policies and procedures followed by the enterprise under
study.
1.4 Bibliography:
The Bibliography refers to the reference material consulted by the student in
connection with the Project Work. Published studies conducted by different authors, Text
books dealing with the subject of study, Industry Reports, Business Magazines, Government
Reports and Websites generally constitute the reference material. Students are expected to
give the details of all sources referred for conducting the present study.
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1.5 Annexure:
Every Project Report should contain necessary annexure wherein the Proforma of
Questionnaire / Interview Schedule should be enclosed. Further, the annual reports, research
reports, used as supporting documents, if any, may also be enclosed here.
2. PROFORMA

Students are advised to follow the following Proforma while finalizing and Printing of
their Project work reports. The project adapts the following order and the sample pages are
given below:
1. Title Page
2. Bonafide Certificate
3. Declaration by the Student
4. Certificate from the company
5. Acknowledgement
6. Executive Summary
7. Table of Contents
8. List of Tables
9. List of Charts
10. Chapters (1-5)
11. Bibliography
12. Appendices

2.1. Title Page:

The Cover Page of the Project Report as well as the first inner page of the Report
should contain the details regarding the Main Title of the topic, the name of the company /
industry where the work has been carried out, Name of the Student, Registration Number,
Guide Name etc. A sample of the title page is given below.
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Sample title page:

PROJECT TITLE
<Font Size 14> <1.5 line spacing>
<Bold - Capital>

Submitted By
<Font Size 12>
STUDENT NAME
<Font Size 12> <Bold - Capital>
Reg. No. ####
<Font Size 12>

Under the guidance of

<Font Size 12>
SUPERVISOR,
<Font Size 12> <Bold - Capital>
Designation, BSMED
<Font Size 12>

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements of

Bharathiar University for the Award of the Degree in
Masters of Business Administration

BHARATHIAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

AND ENTREPRENEUR DEVELOPMENT
BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY
COIMBATORE – 641 046
<Font Size 14> <Bold - Capital>
MONTH,
YEAR <Font
Size 12>
<Bold - Capital>
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2.2 Bonafide Certificate:

The guide will certify that the Project work is a bonafide work and not copied
from other works. Such certification increases the authenticity of the work done. The
Bonafide Certificate shall be in double line spacing using Font Style Times New Roman
Font Size 12. A sample of such certificate of the Guide is given below:
Sample Certificate

BHARATHIAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

AND ENTREPRENEUR DEVELOPMENT

BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY
COIMBATORE – 641 046

PROJECT REPORT CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled

“……………………………………………”

Submitted to
Bharathiar University in partial fulfillment for the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
is a bonafide record of the project work carried out by
Name of the Student
(Reg. No. ###)

-------------------------- ---------------
Faculty Guide (Name) Director (Name)

Submitted for Viva-Voce Examination held on -----------

---------------------- --------------------
Internal Examiner External Examiner
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2.3 Student’s Declaration:

In addition to the Guide’s certification, student should also give a declaration

stating that the said work is original. The Proforma of such declaration is as follows:

DECLARATION

I ___________ (STUDENT NAME) hereby declare that the project entitled

“(Uppercase-Bold)_______________” submitted to Bharathiar University in partial
fulfillment for the award of the degree in MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
is a record of original research submitted by me during the period of my study in Bharathiar
School of Management and Entrepreneur Development, Bharathiar University, under the
supervision and guidance of __________ (GUIDE NAME), Designation, Bharathiar
University, Coimbatore and it has not formed the basis of any degree / diploma / associate
fellowship /or other similar title to any candidate of the University.

DATE: Signature of the Candidate

PLACE: Coimbatore

2.4 Certificate from the company:

The certificate of project completion, with Student Name, Registration Number, Title
of the study and period of the study, duly signed and sealed by the concerned authority at the
company should be enclosed in original here. (In 1 copy of the Project)
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2.5. Acknowledgement:

This is the place where the students can express thanks to different persons who
helped them in carrying out their work. The acknowledgement should be brief and
should not exceed one page when typed in double spacing. The candidate’s signature
shall be made at the bottom end above his / her name typed in capitals. A sample
acknowledgment is given below:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am greatly indebted and convey my most sincere thanks to our Director of

Bharathiar School of Management and Entrepreneur Development (BSMED)
Dr. K. VIVEKANANDHAN, and my project guide DR. --------------, Associate Professor,
BSMED, Bharathiar University for their valuable guidance and encouragement to complete
this project successfully.
I am extremely grateful to Mr. RAMAMURTHI, Team Lead, Sakthi Sugars who
had granted permission to carry out my work.
I am thankful to all the people who have given their precious time and provided me
with requisite data without which this project would not have completed. I would not forget
to thank other members who treated me with respect and helped me in the best of their
capacity.
I also thank almighty God, all my friends, relatives and family for their
encouragement and support extended to me during the course of my project.
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2.6 Executive Summary:

It is preferable to have one to two pages write up about the work, objectives,
sample, broad observations made by the candidates in a summarized form. This
executive summary should be comprehensive and able to reflect the entire work in a
capsule form. The executive summary includes the following:
a. The problem statement
b. The Sampling Design
c. Data Collection Method used
d. Results of Data Analysis
e. Findings
f. Recommendations
g. Suggestions

2.7 Table of Contents:

Table of contents gives an index of major chapters of the thesis; the introduction,
different chapters with sub sections, bibliography and appendices along with their page
numbers in the report. The initial pages (title page, Acknowledgement, Certificate) will
not find a place among the items listed in the Table of Contents but the page numbers in
lower case Roman letters are to be accounted for them. The initial pages like List of
tables, List of Figures, Bibliography and Appendices are numbered in lower case
Roman letters and the Page numbers of all Chapters are given in regular numbers. It
is customary to specify the Chapter numbers with Roman Capitals. One and a half
spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head. A sample of table of
contents is given below:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE

Executive Summary ii
List of Tables iii
List of Figures iv
I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Operational Definition 3

1.2 Theoretical concept 5

1.3 Literature relevant to the topic 15
1.4 Problem of Study 22
1.5 Need for the study 22
1.6 Objectives of the Study 23
1.7 Limitations of the study 24
1.8 Chapter Plan 25
II ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE 27
2.1 Industry Profile 27
2.1.1 Global context 28
2.1.2 National 29
2.1.3 Regional 30
2.2 Origin of the company 31
2.3 Organizational structure 32
2.4 Functional Areas of the Company 33
2.4.1 Human Resources 33
2.4.2 Marketing 34
2.4.3 Production 35
2.4.4 Finance 35
2.4.5 System 35
2.5 Recent Development of the company 36
2.6 Future Plan 36
2.7 Product / Service Details 36
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2.8 SWOT Analysis 36

2.9 Competitor Based Analysis 36
III METHODOLOGY 37
3.1 Introduction 37
3.2 Hypotheses (if Applicable) 38
3.3 Research Design 39
3.3 Population of the study 40
3.4 Sampling Frame 40
3.5 Sampling Method 41
3.6 Sample Size 41
3.7 Data Collection 41
3.7.1. Primary Data 41
3.7.2 Secondary Data
3.8 Period of the Study 41
3.9 Pilot Survey 42
3.10 Framework of Analysis 43

IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 45

4.1 Analysis (Statistical Tools) and Interpretation 45
4.2 Discussions, Inferences 65
4.5 Significance of Observations 68
V SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND
CONCLUSION 70
5.1 Introduction 70
5.2 Summary of Findings 73
5.3 Results of Hypotheses Testing (if Applicable)
5.4 Suggestions / Recommendations 78
5.5 Policy Implications if any 80
5.6 Conclusion 83

APPENDICES 85
Questionnaire / Secondary Data

BIBLIOGRAPHY 84
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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO

1.1 Reliability Statistics 37

1.2 Sample Distribution 54

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO

1.1 Tamil Nadu Map 34

5.5 List of Table - The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear above the
tables in the text. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this
head.

5.6 List of Figures - The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear below
figures in the text. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this
head.
3. GENERAL GUIDELINES:
1. No. of Copies: Students should submit 2 copies
2. Size of the Project: The size of project report should not exceed 100 pages of typed
matter reckoned from the first page of Chapter 1 to the last page of the last chapter.
3. Page Dimensions and Margin: The dimensions of the final bound copies of the
project report should be 290mm x 205mm. Standard A4 size (297mm x 210mm) paper may
be used for preparing the copies. The project report (at the time of submission) should have
the following page margins:
Top edge: 30 to 35 mm
Bottom edge: 25 to 30 mm
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Left side: 35 to 40 mm
Right side: 20 to 25 mm
The project report should be prepared on good quality white paper preferably not
lower than 80 gsm/sq.m. Tables and figures should conform to the margin specifications.
4. Arrangement of Contents of Project Report: The sequence in which the thesis
material should be arranged and bound should be as given in the PROFORMA (1-12), in
page no. 4
5. Manuscript Preparation: The headings of all items 2 to 12 listed in section 4 should be
typed in capital letters without punctuation and centered 50mm below the top of the page.
The text should commence 4 spaces below this heading. The page numbering for all items 1
to 9 should be done using lower case Roman numerals and the pages thereafter should be
numbered using Arabic numerals.
6. Chapters:
6.1 Chapter 1 – Introduction
An introduction should be written with considerable care, having two major aims in
view. Introducing the problem in suitable context and arousing and stimulating the reader’s
interest. An introduction explains why the project so that it will bring all the dimensions in
the project. The introductory chapter usually contains the following:
1 Theoretical Background
2 Review of Literature (Example given below)
3 Statement of the Problem
4 Scope of the Study
5 Need for the study
6 Objectives of the study
7 Limitations
8 Chapter Scheme
Example: Sushma (2007) stated that, women are found to be
under-represented in terms of positions and power. Women workers undergo
occupational and industrial segregation and wage disparities based on gender. The
author proposes the reasons for inequality in women’s employment as deficit in
women’s themselves such as lack of skills, lack of interest in promotion or choices of
women like difficulty in balancing work and personal life or circumstances such as trends
in rational labour market needs.
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6.2 Chapter 2 – Organizational Profile

This chapter should provide a brief note of the industry, the organizational profile,
various functional areas, and specific data pertaining to all the departments, the competitors,
market share, SWOT Analysis and such. The contents of this chapter shall not exceed 10
pages.
6.3 Chapter 3 – Methodology
Technical procedures must be explained in an appropriate way in this chapter. This
section should address the following areas:
 Hypotheses
 Research Design
 Sample Design (Population, Sample size, Sampling
method)
 Data Collection Methods (Primary, Secondary)
 Data Analysis (Outline of Statistical tools to be used)
6.4 Chapter 4 – Data Analysis and Interpretation
1 Analysis (Statistical Tools) and Interpretation
2 Discussion, Inferences
6.5 Chapter 5 – Conclusion
1 Summary of Findings
2 Suggestions and Recommendations
3 Conclusions
4 Scope for Future Research

6.6 References
Any works of other researchers, if used either directly or indirectly, the origin of the
material thus referred to an appropriate places in the project report should be indicated.
The listing should be typed 4 spaces below the heading "REFERENCES" in
alphabetical order in single spacing left-justified. The reference material should be listed in
the alphabetical order of the first author. The name of the author/authors should be
immediately followed by the year and other details.
The presentation of such reference material often referred as Bibliography. Each
reference should give the details regarding the author(s), the title of paper / book, details
regarding its year of publication, place of publication, name of the publishers / name of the
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Journal in case of a research article, etc. Sample of bibliography are given below:
How to cite a Journal:
Hughes, J. C., Brestan, E. V., & Valle, L. A. (2004). Problem-solving interactions
between mothers and children. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 26(1), 1-16.
How to cite a Book:
Rowling, J.K. (2001). Harry Potter and the socerer's stone. London: Bloomsburg Children's.

6.7 Appendix
Appendices are provided to give supplementary information, which if included in the main
text may serve as a distraction and cloud the central theme under discussion.
* Appendices should be numbered using Arabic numerals, e.g. Appendix 1, Appendix 2
* Appendices shall carry the title of the work reported and the same title shall be made in
the contents page also. This section usually consists of:
1 Copy of Questionnaire/Interview Schedule
2 Any Other related documents
7. Typing Instructions
7.1 General

One and a half spacing should be used for typing the general text. The general text
shall be typed in Font Style Times New Roman and Font Size 12. Type only one side of the
page. Use only A4 size paper.
Single spacing should be used for typing:
(i) Long Tables
(ii)Long quotations
(iii)References
7.2 Chapters
The format for typing Chapter headings, Divisions headings and Sub-division
headings are explained through the following illustrative examples.
Chapter heading: CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
Division heading: 1.1 OUTLINE OF PROJECT WORK
Sub-division heading: 1.1.2 Literature review.
The word CHAPTER without punctuation should be centred 50mm down from the
top of the page. Two spaces below, the title of the chapter should be typed centrally in
capital letters. The text should commence 4 spaces below this title, the first letter of the text
starting 20mm, inside from the left hand margin.
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The division and sub-division captions along with their numberings should be left-
justified. The typed material directly below division or sub-division heading should
commence 2 spaces below it and should be offset 20mm from the left hand margin. Within
a division or sub-division paragraphs are permitted.
8. Numbering Instructions
8.1 Page Numbering

All pages numbers (whether it is in Roman or Arabic numbers) should be typed

without punctuation on the bottom of the page in the center. The preliminary pages of the
project report (such as Title page, Acknowledgement, Table of Contents etc.) should be
numbered in lower case Roman numerals. The title page will be numbered as (i) but this
should not be typed. The page immediately following the title page shall be numbered (ii)
and it should appear at the top right hand corner as already specified. Pages of main text,
starting with Chapter 1 should be consecutively numbered using Arabic numerals.
8.2 Numbering of Chapters, Divisions and Sub-Divisions

The numbering of chapters, divisions and sub-divisions should be done using

Arabic numerals only and further decimal notation should be used for numbering the
divisions and sub-divisions within a chapter. For example sub-division 4 under division 3
belonging to chapter 2 should be numbered as 2.3.4. The caption for the sub-division
should immediately follow the number assigned to it.

Every chapter beginning with the first chapter should be serially numbered using Arabic
numerals. Appendices included should also be numbered in an identical manner starting
with Appendix 1.

8.3 Numbering of Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures appearing anywhere in the thesis should bear appropriate
numbers. The rule for assigning such numbers is illustrated through an example. Thus, if a
figure in Chapter 3, happens to be the fourth then assign 3.4 to that figure. Identical rules
apply for tables except that the word Figure is replaced by the word Table.
9. Binding Specifications
Project report submitted (2 copies) should be bound in silver soft binding. The cover
should be printed in black letters and the text for printing should be identical to what has
been prescribed for the title page.