Strategic ManagementGroup-9, Section-D

Presented By:15P189 – Arijit Nayak15P192 – Aviral Jain15P198 – Devesh Aggarwal

15P202 – Harsharan Singh15P208 – Kashish Narula15P211 – Ankita Sharan

Genre: Epic/MythologyChakravyuh: The Military Strategy Juggernaut

Formation created by Drona appeared on the Battlefield on the 13th day of the battle of

Kurukshetra

Formation was designed as a spinning wheel and a puzzle in a

constant state of rotation

Only 4 people knew the art of breaching the

vyuh including Krishna and Arjun. This was meant to capture

Yudhisthira

Abhimanyu entered the maze but was killed

unethically. This led to war of mini vengeance

between Arjuna and Kauravas

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Have a clear goal and vision to pursue: Drona’s Goal was to capture Yudhisthira

Analyze industry landscape and forces:

Chakravyuh was tactically chosen after analayzing the strength and weaknesses of Pandavas

Leverage and Diversify your Core Competencies: Chakravyuh had all kinds of warriors to ensure no enemy can leave the Vyuh

Know your competitor and their Strategy: Drona knew only Arjuna &Krishna knew

how to breach the Vuyh and hence they were kept away

As Kids, Pandavas called Kauravas Widow’s sons in a fight

Bhishma Pitamah investigated in the matter and found that due to a curse Gandhari was married to a goat first

He got furious and imprisoned the whole family of Gandhari and made them starve to death

Gandhari’s father Saubala made a strategy to save Shakuni who could take revenge from Kauravas

Genre: Epic/MythologyMahabharatha: Circumstances shaping strategic intent & focus

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Don’t fall victim to Circumstances: In his anger,

Bhishma Pitamah took a decision which led to downfall of Kauravas

Do Not underestimate your rivals: Saubala strategized to save the

life of his son and gave him Dice made from his bones to avenge Kauravas

He also ensured that strength of each player is utilized at the right time and

this led to India’s Victory in the

World Championship

Genre: Movie/TV SeriesChak De India

Lessons In Strategy Learnt:It is important to study internal

environment and identify strengths to develop core competencies

Studying the external environment is necessary for developing a

competitive advantage against rivals

With his resilience and strict discipline he helps each player identify their strength and develop a

team spirit

He faces huge resistance from the

players who are fixated on

playing the same

positions as in their state

teams

Kabir Khan, ex-Captain of

National Mens’ Hockey team is appointed the

coach of Women’s

Hockey Team

Genre: Movie/TV SeriesSeinField- The Rye

George Costanza goes to meet his prospective in laws with his parents

who take along a marble rye bread as a

gift

His in-laws forget to serve the bread at

dinner. This angers his father who steals the bread while leaving

In order to save his face, George concocts a plan with his friends to replace the stolen

bread

What follows is series of chaotic incidents,

ending in an embarrassing situation for George in front of

his in laws

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

A goods strategy also needs a proper implementation

Studying the external environment is necessary for developing a

competitive advantage against rivals

Genre: SportsOakland Athetics

Oakland Athletics is an American Baseball

team, who lost 3 of its key players during 2001-02 to bigger

teams

Billy Beane was appointed the manager

of the team and he challenged the norms

followed earlier

He used data analytics to select players who were undervalued by

other teams

His strategy worked and he was able to build a formidable

team which won 20 games straight

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Strategy is also about bold leadership and taking chance to do something

unique

Strategy requires that you keep challenging the status quo and

rediscovering yourself

Genre: MusicN.W.A- Revolution in the hip-hop industry

N.W.A was an American hip hop group- early

popularizers of Gangsta Rap and West Coast Hip Hop Sub-genres

They faced controversy due to their lyrics that

were viewed as disrespectful of women

and glorification of drugs and crime

Despite being banned from all mainstream Radio Stations, they sold over 10 million

copies in USA

Their strategy was to use the anger of black

community due to oppression and thus

appeal to them

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Strategy is about doing right things at right time

Innovating constantly and being ahead of competitors is an important

lesson in strategy

Genre: PoliticsNarendra Modi’s Digital Success Story

Modi’s success in 2014 elections was a result of a long time vision of ‘Developed India’ and a

mission statement of ‘Collaborative Growth’

He created the domain narendramodi.in early

in 2005 and joined Twitter and Facebook in

2009 to increase his reach in mass

He also launched his campaign “Narendra

Modi for PM” in January 2010 for a

competitive edge over his rivals

His campaign revolved around 3 key

strategies- leveraging his popularity,

highlighting the negatives of UPA and sowing the seeds of hope among people

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:Communicating vision and mission statement clearly is imperative for

success

Strategy involves proper planning and adapting according to changing

trends to stay ahead of competitors

Genre: PoliticsDonald Trump’s Presidential Campaign

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:There needs to be one key factor on

which the strategy needs to be based on

Always have a strong backup plan to fall back on in case one plan doesn’t

work

Core of campaign revolves around his BRAND- Business Success and Personality

Adapted to Social Media much earlier than Rivals and has huge number of followers

Exploits his competitive advantage over rivals who have no backup to fall back on

Genre: FolkloreBaital Pachisi

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

One should know his weaknesses and rivals strengths during any

transaction

If Vikram kept quiet his head on knowing the answer his head would burst and if he revealed, Baital would go back to tree

Genre: ParablesDavid and Goliath

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Agility and Speed are important factors in success of a strategy and

for beating the rivals

Goliath challenged the Israelites to send their best warrior to fight him in and reclaim their land in a

single combat. No one dared to face Goliath except David

David had a simple strategy, i.e to find out the weak spot of Goliath and hit him there

He came only with a sling and a pouch full of stones- His precise throw hit Goliath in the head

and knocked him out, thus leading to David’s victory.

Challenging the status quo and Innovative Disruption helps ensure

victory

Genre: Work ExperienceProfessional

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

Proper understanding of the environment helps strategize better

Involving strong channel partners goes a long way in ensuring success

of the strategy

Being the biggest branch in the region,

brunt of implementing govt.initiatives fell on

our branch

One such inititive was giving loans to

Womens’ SHGs with which we had a very

bad experience

To solve the problem we came up with the plan to enlist a local NGO to help educate

the SHGs and concept of loan was made clear

to them

NGO also helped educate and train

women to run their business, thus helping ensure that they could

pay back the loan

Genre: Personal Experience

Lesson In Strategy Learnt:

A good strategy requires clarity of short term and long terms goals

There should always be a Plan B to fall back on

With a clarity of short term and long term

goal, I made a strategy to prepare for

management entrance exams

Meanwhile, I also prepared well for placements and

succeeded in getting placed at L&T as Plan B

This plan B helped me decide to drop a year

and not compromise on the B-school selection

Our Learnings• Having a clear vision and mission is the first step towards formulating a strategy• It is good to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, but it is better to know the strengths and weaknesses

of your rivals• Building on your core competencies is imperative in order to beat the competition• Analyzing both internal and external environments is important as it provides a picture of where we stand • Think twice before formulating any strategy as it can have serious repercussions in future• It is not enough to have a good strategy- you also need smart partners and proper planning to implement the

strategy successfully• A good strategy is the one which is implemented at the right time and takes into consideration the needs of

the stakeholders• It is not necessary to follow the status quo- focus on being innovative and creating a place for yourself• Being quick to learn from failures and adapting your strategy according to changing circumstances is the key

to success• Always have a Plan B while formulating s strategy so that you have something to fall back on in case one plan

fails• To be successful, a business needs to update its fundamental assumptions

Application of These Learnings

• Concept of core competencies is applicable in case competitions

• The group can have good marks in the term if they understand each other and also work out smartly

• If we loose in competitions, its important we learn for the next rather than repent on that one

• Not all the professors are same, so we need a different strategy for each subject

• We might keep focusing on live projects but we must have a Plan B in case live projects aren’t interesting to the interviewer and he wants something else

What classmates can learn

• There is a strategy in everything around us- be it the movies, politics, music/dance or folktales

• It is important to notice and adopt the learnings we can derive from these in our life as they help us in developing strategies for our business

• Also, we come across many incidents in our personal and professional life which teach us lessons in strategies, we should be cognitive of such incidents and try to learn from them

• It is important that we try to apply the fundamentals and frameworks of strategy learnt in class in daily life

• This will also makes us more aware as a professional when we enter the industry- we would be able to understand the need of the people and formulate right strategies at right time

• And yet, if nothing works out at the end, we now know that there needs to be a Plan B, and that makes us better prepared to face the challenges that lays ahead