Corporate Strategy

Congratulations to all the winners! 

1st Place- Pan 26- Rahul & Hitesh

1st Runner Up- Pan 23-Anusha & Harshit

2nd Runner Up- Pan 04- Aditya & Arushi

A special mention to teams PAN 18 & PAN 28, who also worked equally hard and put in a lot of effort. 

Reaching the stage itself is not an easy job, being in the Top 5 among 40 odd teams is a big deal.  You guys have already won, if you enjoyed the overall experience, the atmosphere, if you could really take back something from the event. 

We hope to see the same level of interest and enthusiasm from you in Vistas 2017.

“It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done”.

Best of Luck Guys!

This is Prashanth, Shruti, Piyush & Niharika signing off.

We hope you have given your best more than your best. You will be tested to the best of your ability. We asked you this question before you began on this journey, and we ask you again, Do you have what it takes? 

May the odds be forever in your favour.

We will see you tomorrow at 7:15 hours, prepared for battle. Do not begin the day with tardiness.

Every Champion was once a contender who refused to give up. If you know what you’re worth, go out and get what you’re worth. 

A revision of your presentation time on stage tomorrow: 2.5 minutes for presentation ( 30 seconds video + 2 minutes pitch ) 2 minutes rebuttal Duly prepare your pitch, PPT and points accordingly. Time yourselves, you will get enough time in the morning to do so.  Prepare a ppt of not more than 8-9 slides (excluding your introductory slide). Have your best strategies in them, they must not exceed 6-7 lines, and don’t make them vague.  When you come tomorrow at 7, we will review everything once again. If anything is out of place, you are not going on stage. 

The future of Corporate Strategy rests on your shoulders. Make us proud.

The land of opportunity lies under your hat and it’s upto you how you make the best use of the opportunity given to you.

With this, we declare our TOP 5:

PAN 04 PAN 18 PAN 23 PAN 26 PAN 28

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOP 5! All that you should know now is that you can’t win any game unless you’re committed to winning. So, tie up your shoe laces and brace yourselves, for its a long and a very important day tomorrow.

Please recheck the updated task.

This task will have an extended deliverable.

You need to prepare a promotional video of 30 seconds, representing the business model of your chosen start up, its services, and of how it would benefit Venezuela.

You can use other existing videos to compile, or you can portray it in an original manner. DO NOT stuff your video with text slides. Teams who submit videos full of text will be asked to re-do the task. Kindly follow instructions, and do not take it lightly.

We expect you all to give it your all this night, for the report and the video. You can submit the video by 9pm tomorrow. Late submissions will have high negative marking. (Each point counts at this stage).

Submit your soft copies and hard copies of your report by 4pm tomorrow.

Your videos need to be uploaded on youtube. Mail the links by 9pm tomorrow, 23rd November ‘16.

We really hope you enjoyed our ‘special on-spot’ today!

You cannot afford to lose points now. Make sure all the hard work and effort you put it does not go waste. You have only 2 more days to go, so give it all you got.

Here is some motivation-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR6FXpaECY8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C_3eYj-pOM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ADh8Fs3YdU

If you have any doubts, please call us. 

Rocket is a Germany-based Internet conglomerate that copies business models proven in the US or China and adapts them to high-potential markets outside those two countries. Rocket Internet is one of the most hated yet successful tech companies in the world.

The idea is simple: copy the original, hire young, hungry consultants and finance professionals as so-called founders to run the company, deploy massive amounts of capital to grow fast and overtake incumbents in two years or so, and sell at an attractive price.

Copy, adapt, hire (founders), overtake, sell. Repeat.

 Founded in 2007 by three German brothers – Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer – their portfolio companies employ more than 30,000 people. They have a market cap north of $3 billion, which at times has risen above $6 billion.

Lead by Oliver (the middle brother), Rocket Internet is famous for its aggressive growth tactics, taking businesses from idea to billions of dollars in revenue in under three years. This is due, in part, to their cutthroat hiring practices, a team of ex-bankers, and massive amounts of funding they pour into each venture.

Rocket Internet focuses on five industry sectors of online and mobile retail services that make up a significant share of consumer spending: Food & Groceries, Fashion, General Merchandise, Home & Living and Travel. Its network of companies conducts business in a large number of countries around the globe with more than 36,000 employees at the end of 2015.

“… We are running a marathon in a Ferrari,” Oliver Samwer said while addressing the teams at Rocket Internet’s portfolio companies in 2012.

Samwer was known for his inspiring speeches and the aggression with which he pushed all Rocket Internet companies to grow business by three times every month in their first year of operation. The first year was all about over-achieving GMV (or gross merchandise value, which refers to the value of goods sold on a site, but does not account for discounts or sales returns) and order volume targets. Only those founders who achieved these had a shot at surviving. Rocket was ruthless if its targets were not met; founders were replaced without prior warning, just like any other employee.

In its six years in India, at least 10 founders have left Rocket Internet companies. Foodpanda has seen the most churn.

Rocket was anticipating mega exits in India within three to five years of launching operations. It was used to quick exits. In the company’s measure, four or five years was a good time-frame for an exit. It exited CityDeal in four, Lazada in five.

But the Indian market evolved differently. It ended up being more capital-intensive than Rocket had anticipated. Amazon decided it would do its own thing. Till 2015, Alibaba showed no serious intent to enter the market. Jabong’s early discussions with Amazon for a potential sale at $700-$800 million went nowhere. FabFurnish failed to click with the customer, especially in the face of competition from well-funded rivals Urban Ladder and Pepperfry. Foodpanda, once a clear winner in the market, suddenly faced competition from new entrants Swiggy and TinyOwl, which were burning money to grab market share. Amid allegations of corruption and lack of corporate governance, Foodpanda saw its top leadership being changed thrice.

 Keeping in mind the mission and vision of Rocket Internet, you are required to select any failed Indian startup’s business model and set it up in Venezuela, South America which can actually be successful in the country.

Same startups cannot be selected by any of the teams. Please call us and inform us about the start-up you are selecting. (First Come First Serve)

 Prepare a report of 15-20 pages including the following-

-Select a failed Indian Start-Up & Identify the problems that led to failure (Situational Analysis)

-Due Diligence of the Start-up; Which should include-

1.     Technology/Intellectual Property (what they specialised in, i.e. their core product)

2.     Existing Performance (Sales & Market Share, if available)

3.     Strategic Fit & Compatibility (the extent to which the company will fit strategically within Rocket and the target country)

4.     Litigation faced (any pending, threatened, or settled, arbitration, or regulatory proceedings involving the target organisation)

5.     Competitive Landscape (competition landscape in Venezuela)

- The New Startup to be launched in Venezuela, based on the business model of the failed Indian startup you selected  (Name, Vision, Mission, Logo, Executive Summary,  & Business Model )

- Growth Strategy (based on your due diligence, develop strategies/solutions to ensure you’re your new start-up doesn’t face the same challenges in the new location (Venezuela)

-Differentiation Strategy (Unique and new adaptability features according to regional conditions)

- STP, Porters Five Force, TOWS Analysis

- Marketing Strategies

- One viral guerrilla marketing campaign  (to generate top of the mind awareness in the required country, and create rapid brand awareness)

- Exit Strategy

- Fund Requirement, Revenue Model, Break-Even Analysis

 You are required to submit your hard copies as well as your soft copies by 4 PM tomorrow (23rd November 2016).

First things first, some of you did well for today’s tasks, but you need to work on a lot of things. Contact us regarding where you need to work on, as these last few days matter the most.

Here are a few words of advice that are imperative: For today’s over night, please clarify any possible doubts that you may have. This task requires great amount of accuracy and research. So to ensure that you do not make any costly mistakes, clear any doubt, no matter how small.

Formatting is not a request. Its a pre-requisite. Badly formatted reports have a very negative impact and will affect your points.

We’ve mentioned this time and again, late submissions, attract you know what. This is one place you don’t want to come late

IMPORTANT:

Your rounds will be held in Audi Block, 1st Floor tom. They start at 4pm sharp, do not be late.

In 2003, a coalition led by the U.S. invaded Iraq to depose Saddam, in which U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused him of possessing weapons of mass destruction and having ties to al-Qaeda. Saddam's Ba'ath party was disbanded and elections were held. Following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. The 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq created the pre-conditions for radical Sunni groups, like ISIS, to take root. America, rather unwisely, destroyed Saddam Hussein’s secular state machinery and replaced it with a predominantly Shiite administration. 

The U.S. occupation caused vast unemployment in Sunni areas, by rejecting socialism and closing down factories in the naive hope that the magical hand of the free market would create jobs. Under the new U.S.-backed Shiite regime, working class Sunni’s lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Upper class Sunni’s were systematically dispossessed of their assets and lost their political influence. Rather than promoting religious integration and unity, American policy in Iraq exacerbated sectarian divisions and created a fertile breeding ground for Sunni discontent, from which Al Qaeda in Iraq took root. Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath party were strongly secular and nationalistic. During this period, tens of thousands of private security personnel—many from abroad—provided protection of infrastructure, facilities and personnel.

 Efforts toward the reconstruction of Iraq after the damage of the invasion were slowed when coalition and allied Iraqi forces fought a stronger-than-expected militant Iraqi insurgency, leading to difficult living conditions for the population of Iraq throughout the period. Sunnis (minority) complained of being treated as second class citizens by Iraq’s new Shia-dominated government, alleging that they were subject to mass arrests by the security forces and barred from government jobs because of pasts in Saddam’s Baath party. 

Instead of living safely in poor conditions, Iraqis became somewhat wealthy, but lost all measures of personal safety. Where once they just had one tyrant to be afraid of, now they have hundreds more. Even keeping their mouths shut, which used to keep them safe, didn't help anymore. People were dying for having the wrong religion, place of birth, or even the wrong name! The year 2006 was worse than 1991 and 2003 combined. Militias took over the streets, and it was chaos. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 377 A, the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, states that in any cases where the Security Council, because of a lack of unanimity amongst its five permanent members, fails to act as required to maintain international peace and security, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately and may issue any recommendations it deems necessary in order to restore international peace and security.

The year is 2004, and as the strategic head of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq prepare a plan (of 17-20 pages) including-

-Analyse the situation in Iraq (pre and post US Invasion) -Intentions of the USA in the invasion

-Political Restructuring (towards setting up the transitional government & its type)

-Social Restructuring (Campaigns to reduce rift between Shias and Sunnis)

-Security Measures to prevent uprising of extremist groups

-Military Composition

-PESTLE Analysis of IRAQ during 2003-04 

-Strategic Alliances with any Country (for economical & military ties)

- Phase wise Action Plan

-Contingency Plan

You are required to submit your hardcopies as well as soft-copies by 1:00 pm at L Desk, Audi Block, 1st floor. LATE SUBMISSIONS SHALL NOT BE ENTERTAINED- 22nd November 2016.

We have our top 7!  

They are, (in no particular order)

PAN 04 PAN 09 PAN 18 PAN 21 PAN 23 PAN 26 PAN 28

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer Maragua is a town in the Muranga County, Kenya. It was previously the capital of the former Maragua District. The town is located along Thika-Sagana road just 10 km south of Muranga.

Government of Kenya plans to establish open a medicinal botanical garden in Maragua Town to promote health and tourism at the same time. Since it already has limited resources, it plans to import exotic medicinal plants from North America (mainly), to increase the tourism in this small town, and promote the botanical garden. 

Amongst all the plants, the medicinal plants have to be taken care of the most. Catnip, Alfalfa and Wild Quinine are the three plants that need to imported into the town of Maragua, for medicinal purposes, and for its cultivation in the botanical garden.

As a strategic planner for the Government of Kenya, come up with a plan to set up a supply chain for these exotic plants in the town of Maragua. Prepare a report of 10-15 pages including:

Location of the botanical garden

Which locations in North America you are importing from (Mention the entity)

The permits required for: 

the export of exotic plants from US, and 

the import of exotic plants into Kenya

Phase wise implementation of plan (Show the entire process, from dispatch till the plants reach the town of Maragua, to the very location of the botanical garden)

Quality Control, and Material Handling while plants are in transit, in storage, and in the garden.

Monitoring plan for the plants to acclimatise them to the climate in Maragua

Lead Time (time from production to consumption, in a sentence)

Contingency Plan

Be detailed, and specific. Mention the transportation facility you will be using to import those plants, and all handling methods must ascertain to the laws applicable in the town, the number of units to import, the approximate fee of this process etc etc. The more detailed, the better.

This is a very important task, so do not hesitate to call us if you have any doubts. 

Good afternoon! 
Your next task is here.

Advertising is one of the primary markets for graphic designers. Companies around the world rely on the talented and creative minds of designers to create visually impactful and memorable product advertisements. Advertising differs from other forms of design, as you often have to incorporate a product, a logo, a company image and other details to meet the client needs. Therefore, being able to manipulate results to match the subject matter and target market are essential skills for any designer, especially for a disclaimer for Anti-smoking.

Your task is:


to create a 30 second video, for anti-smoking, that would be previewed in movie halls, and other television channels, as an advertisement/disclaimer.

Now, the catch here is, that there has been a plea filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the rules of the Cigarettes and Tobacco Products Act, that one cannot show smoking, or a cigarette in the anti-smoking disclaimer at any cost.


Your video:

• 
Must be audible, and of decent quality • 70% of it must be original content Brownie points if you are in the video yourself!  
Please do not fill the video with only text, or do not make a compilation of pictures. These videos will be previewed on television channels and movie halls, and hence the quality and content must be as good.

Here are examples of two videos to give you an idea of what we are looking for, in terms of creativity and content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uFmqynVSxE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C74m6aeaGYs

Upload your videos on youtube, and send us the link, NOT the video, to [email protected].

The top 10 have been announced, and a very big congratulations to those who have made it! 

The task for tonight is: 

The gaming industry is one of the rising stars of technology, worth more than $16 billion. As many developers and game studios fight it out to gain competitive advantage, the industry is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions. As of today, the big name under the axe of being acquired, is none other than Ubisoft.

Ubisoft Entertainment SA  is a French multinational video game publisher, headquartered in France. It is known for developing games for several acclaimed video game franchises including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Just Dance, Rainbow Six, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Watch Dogs and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.

French media company Vivendi has been making moves to take control of Assassin's Creed maker Ubisoft for the better part of a year now. Despite clear signals from Ubisoft that it wishes to remain independent, Vivendi has continued its acquisition of shares in the company. Vivendi announced in a brief press release today that it now owns more than 24 % of shares in the game publisher.

Coming Friday (18th November 206) Ubisoft has called for an annual general meeting of it’s shareholders. (Which now include Vivendi). According to the Wall Street Journal, a Vivendi spokesperson wouldn't comment on whether it intends to seek board representation at Friday's meeting. Sources speaking with the WSJ said Vivendi doesn't plan to do so. However, rumours indicated that not seeking board seats would suggest it plans to attempt a hostile takeover.

Tomorrow may prove to be a significant day in that process, as Ubisoft will hold its annual shareholders meeting where Vivendi could attempt to make its move for a hostile takeover of Ubisoft.

Your task, is to assume the role of:

·      Financial Advisors to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, and prepare  DEFENCE strategies to prevent hostile takeover of their company by Vivendi

·      Financial Advisors to Vivendi’s top management, and prepare ATTACK strategies to carry out the hostile takeover.

Prepare a report of 7-10 pages, comprising of the following:

1.     Situation Analysis (current scenario between Ubisoft & Vivendi, before tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting)

2.     Defence Strategies on behalf of Ubisoft to prevent the hostile takeover

3.     Attack Strategies on behalf of Vivendi, to acquire Ubisoft

 For this task, you need to keep in mind the size and capital structure of both the companies. Also, keep in mind that Ubisoft is publicly listed in France, hence French Laws and Business Regulations apply in case of takeover bids.

Research on mergers and acquisitions, their types and the cut throat strategies employed by companies for that very purpose. Keeping all these in mind, formulate your strategies.

Your criteria for this report is not limited to these deliverables. You have to provide valid justifications for the means you will use. (And what if your strategies are met with equal counter strategies?)

Be smart. Be successful. You have billions of dollars and thousands of employees at stake

Deadline: Submit your soft copies by 11am, 20th November

 Call us if you have any doubts! 

“Its not the will to win , but the will to prepare to win that makes a difference “. With this , our TOP 10 are as follows:

PAN 02 PAN 03 PAN 04 PAN 09 PAN 11 PAN 18 PAN 21 PAN 23 PAN 26 PAN 28

Congratulations to those who made it to Top 10. Your hard work and consistency paid off and you’re on step closer to the coveted title of Ares.

You represent your start up, and each product you are coming up with, must cater to one OR both the generations that you choose.   Please research on what Multi-generation marketing is, to get a clearer picture.

Innovation and creativity will be rewarded. Think out of the box!

The team pairing for your collab task are:  file:///Users/ShrutiDalmia/Desktop/Finance%20CS%20pairings.pdf

Contact them, you have to work with them for this task. 

Call your respective event heads if there are any problems, regarding your teams, or the task.  CS Participants have to report to Audi Block, Room 909 for your rounds tom, at 1.20pm.