Accenture Strategy - The Strategists League

8/10/2019 Accenture Strategy - The Strategists League

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Experience strategic thinking as yousolve real-life business problems

Don your thinking hats and unravel astrategy conundrum

The Strategists League


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THE CASE IN BRIEFThree friends who were alumni of B-School, Alco, Kavi and Noser, and who are all now in the age groupof late forties/early fifties and who are all holding senior roles meet after a long gap in mid-Novemberin the 2014 B-School Alumni meet. One of them is a CEO-in waiting at an India Auto OEM, the other is apromoter-managing director of a Pharma major and the third is the India head of a consumer goodsfocused company.

Their discussions soon turn to their business problems. They are overheard by their ex- StrategicManagement professor, a sharp and well respected business thinker, who asks them to summarize theirindividual business problems. He encourages them to think innovatively to solve their problems.

There is also a much younger Alumni group that is also listening. In this group many people are a digitalentrepreneurs and they are keen to work alongside the 3 friends to challenge their thinking for businessmodel innovation. Jointly, they take up the challenge to treat the business problems discussed by the 3friends like a B-School case and come up with a B-School style case presentation to their professor. Theprofessor leaves suddenly and promises to email a few points that the groups should think about whilestructuring the business problems and brainstorming solutions. The professor also promises to meetup with individual groups in a month or two for a concluding discussion.

THE COMPLETE CASEThis case consists of 4 chapters: Chapter 1 is The curio us discussions at the Alumni Meet, Chapter 2 isthe first email from Professor Srini, Chapter 3 is the second email from Professor Srini, and, Chapter 4is Note from Alco on behalf of himself, Kavi and Noser What we expect you to do.

Chapter 1: The curious discussions at the Alumni Meet The annual alumni meet of a leading Business School is known to be a forum not only for meeting oldbuddies, but, also for creative interactions between alumni, many of whom are in very senior positionsin the corporate world, and faculty, most of whom are in the cutting edge of management thinking andalso in advisory roles in the private, public and social sectors.

This years meet happened in mid -November and saw a disproportionate turnout from the classes ofthe mid- nineties (94, 95,96) and the classes of the mid-two- thousands (05, 06, 07 and 09). It wasalso graced by the now-retired and much revered, but reclusive, Strategic Management ex ProfessorSrinivasan (Srini to students) .This was a key reason why the classes of the mid-nineties turned up insuch high numbers. Srini was a legend: author of numerous widely quoted articles in respected businessjournals. He was also on the boards of quite a few well-known companies and notorious for his acerbicwit and his quick turn-of-phrase. In addition, quite a few alumni from the mid-two- thousands batcheswere now digital entrepreneurs, and creators of a number of well- known competing .coms andapp lication s. The alumni meet was informally acknowledged as a neutral territory where they couldcatch up as friends and exchange ideas.

Amit Anand (otherwise known as Alco to his close friends because his initials reminded his friends,not without reason, of Alcoholics Anonymous) from the Class of 94 walked into the gathering hall andimmediately recognized Kavi and Noser chatting a mong themselves. It took him a while to recollecttheir full names: Kavi was actually Kavita Sinha (who had also had a penchant for writing atrociouspoetry), and, Noser was actually Farzaan Ali . After the mandatory greetings, they had and formalintroductions about what they had been up to, since they graduated from B-School.


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This is what some of them were doing currently:

Alco, an Engineer by training prior to his MBA, was now the national sales and marketing head at a large IndianAutomotive company which was number 2 company in its industry. He was widely dubbed by business mediato be the CEO-in-waiting (and from what was being reported in the press over the past few weeks, he probablywould not have to wait too long). Alco had spent time in multiple industries, and though he kept a low profile,he was clearly recognized as the architect of quite a few game changing business model innovations over thepast decade

Kavi, a Commerce graduate prior to her MBA, was from a now-prominent Indian business family that hadheavily invested in the Pharma space and was in the news a few years ago for an audacious buy-out of a muchlarger competitor. She was now the MD of the company and formed a formidable team with her father, aPharmacist by training who functioned as the executive director for R&D. She was widely acknowledged to bethe commercial brain behind the success of her family venture, which was now among the top 5 Pharmacompanies in India.

Noser, a Chartered Accountant by training prior to MBA, was the Head of Private Equity operations for aprominent international fund that had allocated just under a billion dollars towards India. His investmentrecord demonstrated his firm belief in the value creating potential of consumer goods. He had multiplesuccessful exits and had a philosophy of getting involved in the active management of his investments andhelping drive business initiatives that unlocked value. He was also a prominent speaker at industry forums

After a few rounds of drinks and personal conversations, the topics became more serious and businessfocused. Meeting trusted friends in a cordial environment allowed them to talk frankly among eachother. So absorbed were they in chatting with each other that they hardly seemed to notice that another,much younger, group within earshot, which was clearly in awe of them and was overhearing what theywere saying with great interest. Towards the fringes was an elderly gentleman with twinkling eyes whowore a bemused smile and was nursing a drink. Suddenly he stepped forward with one of his trademarklines Why are you trying to solve for the symptoms and not the problem? Have you learnt nothing frommy classes?

Then the penny dropped and it became apparent to everyone that Srini wa s indeed in the house andthey were about to be treated to real life problem solving. Quick introductions and greetings followed.But Srini quickly got to the point. I have a doctors appointment for which I need to leave in 15 min,but, your conversation is interesting. Could you summarize your situations in minute each?. He lookedaround at the younger group and said And I hope the 3 of you have not lost your touch for theatrics .Lets also make this as interesting as possible for the rest of the group. Suddenly the alumni meet hadbeen transformed into a Strategic Management class - This was vintage Srini.

Alco went first More demanding customer s who want more value irrespective of the segment, newmodels after every 6 months, world class featur es and thinks my customers talk of my products usinga vocabulary that includes words more suited to the digital space, like download, skin, activate, on-

demand, customize, web enabled, connected and others. It feels like I am selling mobile phones andapplications, not cars. On the supply side, I have plants, materials, suppliers and methods etc. that havenot changed much over the past decade. No matter what I do, the consumers always want more. Thereis a limit to what I can do. After all I cannot make it possible to download fuel into your car or air intoyour tyres. At least not yet observed Srini with a smirk.

Then it was Kavis turn I am in an industry where I am doomed to sell products to customers, andthat too commodity products - there is no service component possible in this industry due to increasingregulatory requirements that disrupt the supply chain, pricing restrictions, rising costs of new drugdiscovery and others. Also, my product is just one part of the overall solution of curing a disease customers neither think about my products when they need them, nor do they attribute their gettingbetter to the product. It is basically an sales game. most profitable players have found ways and meansof using their sales teams more efficiently and effectively through the use of IT. In fact, in my industrythere is no consensus on who the customer actually is the patient or the prescriber. Maybe you havegone overboard with the theatrics, Srini said with a chuckle, but there is an element of truth in whatyou say.


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Noser went next There is so much opportunity for consumer goods in India the growth of this sectorrides on the overall growth in well-being of individual Indians. But, challenges predominate. Highdependency of manufacturers on skilled manpower, high risk for companies to invest in infrastructurefor high quality products, over capacity in the industry, rising costs of channels especially rentals andmanpower, flooding of inexpensive goods from SE Asian markets which limit pricing power. To add toit all, suddenly customers want to purchase using their mobile phones instead of walking to the nearbyoutlet. Rampant price cutting on-line is resulting in a back-lash by the physical channel and a propensityof the consumer to always shop around for deals. Customers have also started talking of the internet ofthings and want increasingly integrated products and this is creating technological barriers forproducers. It seems that despite having products that the customer wants, anyone who has a businessmodel that involves d igital has a greater chance of making money at the expense of traditional players.Maybe Darwin knew what he was talking about, said Srini sarcastically, Survival of the fittest.

Now it was Srini s opportunity to summarize I must say that you guys have framed the basicchallenges that you face rather well. I would have liked you to have used more facts and figures to makeyour points, and knowing each of your companies rather well, I also believe that you have purposelykept things a little vague and have also left out a few pertinent issues specific to your firms. But, I dare-

say that all that you have left out is freely available on the web these days. I also feel that you guys haveover exaggerated a few points because you had an audience and you also wanted to muddy the watersa bit for the audience, but, thats alright. I propose that we meet again in a few weeks for a fullerdiscussion and try to learn something out of these discussions . He turned to leave, but, then looked athis wrist- watch and paused. But, I think it would be useful to you if I were to give you a few pointsstraight out of my fresh- man lectures that you may want to use. Before he could continue, his voicewas drowned out by murmurs and side conversations of the mid-two-thousands alumni around him. Itwas not possible to completely follow the different conversations all at once, but some phrases couldbe discerned: d ifferentiation is the key, consumer needs, use the power of digital in strategyformulation, business model innovation, outdated thinking, leverage social media, increaseservices in the offer, collaborate with d igital retailers, back to basics, re -invent the business, theera of strat egy formulation is over, every business is a digital business and everything is changingtoo fast. Alco, Kavi and Noser smiled as Srini tried to bring order to the gathering.

Soon it became apparent that the wider group wanted to be involved in, and to contribute to, the followup discussions that Alco, Kavi and Noser would be having with Srini. It was also apparent that many ofthem wanted to support the 3 friends in, creating new business models and strategy formulation. Kaviproposed that she would nominate a few members from her f irms strategy teams to work with thosewho wanted to help her and that they could plan follow up discussion sessions so that they couldprepare appropriately for the follow-up meeting with Srini. Alco and Noser also agreed to do the same.Even as Alco and Noser were speaking, people started creating lists with names and email ids so thatthey could keep in touch and come together in smaller groups. Things were coming together veryquickly.

Increasingly pressed for time f or his doctors appointment, Srini agreed to email a set of questions andsuggestions to the group. Alco, Kavi and Noser jumped up in respect as they saw Srini rise from his seatand promised to co- ordinate between Srini and the wider group. Srinis eyes t winkled as he deliveredhis Parthian shot Watch out for my email! And then he was gone.


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Chapter 2: Professor Srinis first email

Srini sent his email 3 days after the curios discussion at the Alumni Meet to Alco, Kavi and Noser andasked them to use their offices to forward his thoughts to the larger group of interested Alumni. Hismail is pasted here for your reference (with some specific parts anonymized to protect personalinformation).

From: [email protected]

Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 4:41 AMTo: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected] Subject: Cogito Ergo Sum

Hi Amit, Kavita and Farzaan Or should I say PGP-10149, PGP-10151 and PGP-10152

I must begin by thanking the Alumni Committee for inviting me. Considering that I am neither an alumni of your Schoolnor an existing faculty member, this may have been an error. But, I must confess that I had a very interesting eveninglistening to what my students (no matter how many steps of the corporate ladder you climb, you were, and will continueto be, my students!) and a much younger group of alumni were thinking. While you were engrossed in your discussionsthere was a similar group of much-younger alumni who were talking on a separate theme. Without going into thespecifics, let me lay out a synthesis of what I understood:

Digital technology is a fundamental force that is sweeping the economic and business landscape When in its infancy, digital technology was viewed as a fad or a shiny new tool that was viewed as a hot

trend. However, it is now clear that it is as fundamental to economics and business as labor or capital These are exciting times as the power of digital increases exponentially with increasing number of digital

devices (computers, tablets, mobile devices, intelligent machines etc.), while at the same time businessesare figuring out how digital can be used to create more value. Digital is not only being used for obtainingbetter efficiencies in current business operations, but is proving to be a means to fundamentally changingthe way companies do business

History shows us that when steam engines revolutionized industry, those businesses that did not ridethat wave disappeared forever. Similar scenarios were observed when mass production based on divisionof labor and powered by the electric motor changed the industrial scenario completely. History repeateditself yet again when automation powered by electronics and information technology changed rules onceagain. Now we are a similar cusp: Could it be that those companies do not know how to ride the wave ofdigital will disappear?

I heard the buzz word business model innovation multiple times and heard well -known names like Uber, Netflix, Airbnb,iTunes and many others. I also heard some interesting ways on which these companies were causing disruptions intheir domains (somehow the word industry does not apply since many of these are at the boundaries and intersectionsof what we understand as industries). And then I moved towards the bar to refill my glass and saw you folks with abunch of groupies it seemed that you are well known people in the corporate world. Some may even call you corporatecelebrities.

To my mind, I saw first- hand a collision between the new world and the old world, and a possibility for a mash -up of

traditional micro -economics and new age digital -economics. This led me down interesting lines of thinking : Whatwere the conditions in which each was applicable? Was a coming together possible? Was it possible for traditionalcompanies to learn from and leverage digital economics and the vice versa? I was thinking to myself that this would bean interesting topic for my next paper or even a book.

However, till I think through these questions myself, let me come to what I had promised you I shall organize mythoughts by answering 3 key questions I hope that these answers will provide clarity to one and all.

1. What are we trying to do here?a. We are trying to use this opportunity that has presented itself to us to study deeply 3 industries Auto,

Pharma and Consumer Goods. This is not an attempt to solve the problems that the companies of Amit,Kavita and Farzaan face. We are fortunate that we can use inputs from the 3 companies in order tounderstand problems more deeply

b. We are trying to help each of them (Amit, Kavita and Farzaan) understand their own industries moredeeply so that they can use these inputs to strategize: Strategizing for our friends is the main objectiveof this exercise

c. You should make the assumption that your recommendations will be implemented by the number 2 ornumber 3 company in the industry, which has the objective of disrupting the industry. and taking overthe number 1 spot decisively and comprehensively.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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2. How do we begin to think about this?

a. In my view, we should try to understand the problem more precisely. I dont think that the problem hasbeen articulated crisply and precisely. In fact I would challenge you to think what the problem is. Is therea real problem at all, or is it that what is being heard is arising from the pressures of business as usual?

b. In my view the dividing line between a problem and an opportunity is blurry. Indeed an opportunity thatyou do not take, and which your competitor capitalizes on suddenly becomes a threat. Conversely, ifyou take that opportunity, then this results in competitive advantage. In which case the key question toask is whether or not this is sustainable, and if so, for how long?

c. In my mind, this is also a business model problem. We have an opportunity to quickly and disruptivelychange business models digital has allowed us to do so. The key question is where do we take thisthinking?

3. What am I looking forward to in this case?a. Clarity of thought about the problem/opportunity and its implicationsb. Ideas on how the areas identified above can be solved/leveragedc. Your unique way of thinking about what cross industry examples/ learning/parallels can be brought to

playd. I am looking for recommendations that are practical and can be implemented to realize business value.

This is not a study report. The intent is to able to deliver the value that emerges from your thinkinge. I expect you to indulge in thought experiments think a bout what may happen in a real life situation I

do not want you to submit a ceteris paribus solution. Again, the focus is on translating clarity of thought,and strategizing into superior performance that can be implemented.

I hope this is useful. Let me know what you think and I shall respond. I expect this to be exciting and I hope you areprepared to appropriately incentivize people who give you valuable insights and suggestions.

Best regards,

Srini

(+91-9810504505)

Chapter 3: Professor Srinis second email (The mysterious affair of the missing email) Kavi bumped into Srini the week after he sent his first email In Goa! He had gone there for payinghis respects at the Church of St. Francis Xavier while Kavi had gone to Goa on a Corporate Off-Site withher top leadership team. Somehow they met by chance at a coffee-shop. Kavi remembers that shespecifically requested Srini for some support in structuring the problems at hand and Srini assured herthat he would send another email with his thoughts.

Srinis second email is yet to reach Alco, Kavi or Noser. On being reminded of it, Srini claims to have sentit. No one knows what happened to it. The 3 friends privately believe that the mail is still in Srinis Draftsfolder or Outbox. Meanwhile, S rinis computer crashed. Noser has asked one of his IT support guys tohelp recover Srinis computer and has specifically instructed to him to make sure that Srinis secondemail is sent as soon as possible.


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Chapter 4 - NOTE FROM ALCO ON BEHALF OF HIMSELF, KAVI and NOSER: WHAT WE EXPECT YOUTO DO:You are to assume that you were present at the Alumni and help solve the case. Detailed instructionswill make sense only after you have gone through the complete case! You can form a group of 4 and canpick up the business problem of any one of the 3 friends Alco for Automotive, Kavi for Pharma andNoser for Consumer Goods. It is mandatory that there are at least 2 teams presenting their response tosupport each of the 3 friends. There are then 3 rounds that will follow:

The Qualification Do -You-Have-What-It- Takes Round Teams are to submit a 4 slider with some selectinformation about themselves that will be used by the 3 friends to separate the men from the boys. This willbe done on the basis of the 4 slide presentation submitted.

Round 1 Alco will hear out responses from each of the teams that want to support him. He will then pick awinner for his category - Auto. Similarly Kavi and Noser will also select a winner out of the teams that havechosen to help them. For initiating Round 1, teams will have to submit their final presentation slides a weekin advance. At the end of Round 1, there will be 3 winner teams 1 each for Also, Kavi and Noser. Judgmentof Round 1 may be done virtually or in a face to face presentation in your Campus. Judges will include each ofthe 3 friends or their nominees, which may be some of your faculty members.

Round 2 After completion of Round 1, winning teams are free to change their submissions within a week, ifthey choose to. In case revised submissions are not received within a week after conclusion of Round 1, theninitial submission will be treated as final. In Round 2, the winning teams from your Campus will compete withwinning teams from 4 other Campuses in each of the 3 categories Auto (for Alco), Pharma (for Kavi) andConsumer Goods (for Noser). At the end of Round 2, your Campus may end up being the winner or loser ineach of the 3 categories. Again, winning teams may choose to ask the 3 friends for help in order to help withthe preparation. Judgment of Round 2 may be done virtually or in a face to face presentation in your Campus.

Round 3 This is the final round and detailed logistics for this will be announced at a later stage. Alco, Kaviand Noser will themselves coach you so that you can maximize your chances of winning in this round. Srini willhimself be present at this round, and, it is rumored that he may be inviting a few of his friends to help withthe final judgment.

Professor Srini has kindly agreed to answer any questions that you may have. You can send him an emailand he will be happy to send you a short answer that he thinks will help you in thinking about thequestion that you have asked. However, he uses very old word processing software which has a fewpeculiarities. Also, we have been alerted by his Executive Assistant that Prof Srini has a fewidiosyncrasies which you should know about. All of these have been summarized in the form of thefollowing guidelines

a. Due to a limitation with the Word Processor Professor Srinia. Cannot see anything apart from text in his emailsb. Does not get to see anything beyond the first 100 words because the word processor automatically

deletes all text beyond 100 wordsb. You may send him as may emails as you want, but, he has a habit of

a. checking his emails once a week on Wednesdaysb. sorting all emails by sender and responding to the latest email that has been sent in the week. He

simply deletes all the other emails by that senderc. He does not respond to any email unless it has the following format

a. A clearly and precisely written subject lineb. The following Sender details mentioned at the beginning of any email

i. Name, Address, Mobile phone numberii. Name of Organization / Company / Institute / Agency

iii. What do you expect him to do after reading your emaild. Please remember that writing Professor Srini an email does not guarantee a response in return. However, if

your email interests him, he may get in touch with you on your mobile phone as well to have a quickconversation.

e. If you have an emergency and want to reach him, you may send him an SMS at +91-9810504505 with yourname, organization and a brief message. He checks his SMSs twice a week and responds to those that he findsinteresting. Please do not attempt to call him at this number. He finds this irritating and it is best not to gethim in this mood!

f. You need to be advised that Professor Srini can be quite cryptic and unpredictable in his responses


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Please also note that Kavita, Farzaan and I have agreed that we find this exercise being run by ProfessorSrinivasan very useful for our companies. Hence we have decided to devote our own resources to thisexercise. Each of us have briefed our Strategy Teams on this exercise and have asked them to devotesome time to help coach you or even provide some inputs that you may need. However, this is subjectto the following conditions

1. Our strategy resources will get in touch with you over phone call, video conference, chat or some form ofvideo chat (Skype, Google Hangouts etc.). The time that they spend with you depends on their schedules butthey have agreed spend at least 45 min with each team

2. My Strategy resources will speak only to those teams that have chosen to help my company clarify its thinking.Similarly Kavitas and Farzaans resources will speak only t o those teams that are going to be helping theircompanies respectively

3. We have strategy teams of 5 to 8 people. Different teams may have different people taking to them andanswering any questions that they may have

4. At no point will our resources give you company specific data, however, you are encouraged to use publiclyavailable data

5. In order to protect our interests, our teams may give indicative and not precise responses to your questions6. Please remember that discussions with our resources should be driven by you and your team members. There

is no standard communication package that we have to give all teams. Depending on the questions that youask, different teams may have different levels of information. This is pretty much what happens in the real

world and you should get used to this!

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Accenture Strategy - The Strategists League