Volume II Issue I March 2011

Innovation Consulting

War Strategies
Learning from history

Advising the Gods

Consultant for Team
India
 From the Editor’s Desk
Innovation Unplugged 3 Innovation today is increasingly being seen as a key business
Rahul Agarwal enabler. It helps solve some of the most fundamental
business problems from attracting customers through
Advising the Gods product/service offerings to lowering manufacturing costs,
Consultant for Team India 7 optimizing supply and distribution, etc. A key example in this
Vishnuram L. case is of course Apple which in the last 15 years has gone
from a near bankrupt corporation to becoming an industry
War Strategies leader and one of the most innovative companies globally.
Learning from History 12 More and more companies are looking towards building this
Aniket R Khare competency and are looking at engaging with innovation
consultants. In this context, our feature article on Innovation
Green Conclave @ IIFT 18
Unplugged is a must read as it takes you through the basics
Suneet Choudhury
of what innovation is all about and seeks to dispel many
misconceptions around innovation practices.
Consultant as a Stakeholder or
Service Provider This edition also features an article on Advising the Gods—
A Debate 20 Consultant for Team India which presents a detailed analysis
Aditi Nagpal of the Indian Cricket Team as well as analysis of some of its
Oojwal Manglik biggest threats in the World Cup. The article on War
Strategies takes you back to the third battle of Panipat and
Strategic Branding: does a analysis of the entire conflict with idea being to
All Cars Have Four Wheels 22
critically analyze the strategic aspects of the event.
Apoorv Dixit
There is also a featured debate on the evolving role of the
Socrates Roundup 25 consultant-client relationship with arguments in favour of
looking at the consultant as a stakeholder or a service
Funny Bone: provider.
Dilbert’s Desk 28
The edition also includes a roundup of all the happenings of
Volume II Issue I IIFT’s Green Conclave 2011 as well as a roundup of Socrates,
The Consulting Club’s year round activities. In case of any
Socrates, The Consulting Club feedback or contributions for the upcoming edition of the
Abhinav Varshney +91 9654438680 magazine, please do write into us.
Sudeep Deb +91 7838810091
Umang Chittlangia +91 8800221243 Wishing you a happy reading,

Email
socrates@iift.ac.in Oojwal Manglik
consultsocrates@gmail.com Chief Editor
Strategos, The Consulting Magazine
Visit Us At Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
www.iiftians.blogspot.com
www.iift.edu
 Innovation Unplugged
Rahul Agarwal

IN-novation is, very simply, IN. Every company talks about it, wants to do it. Policy
makers, governments and analysts alike all talk about innovation being the need of
the hour and the panacea to all ills.
Yet, as an Innovation practitioner I see that Innovation as a conceptual domain is
quite narrowly, may I say poorly, understood. In this short article, I will attempt to
put forth a holistic perspective on what innovation is and isn’t, busting some myths
and mis-perceptions along the way.
The biggest and most prevalent world-view about innovation is that it has to be
“that big-bang idea” that no one ever heard or figured out. This view is highly
misleading. The big insight about innovation is that it’s not about the idea, it’s
entirely about the value. If you can figure out a way to unleash big amounts of
‘new’ value, you have innovated. It doesn’t matter if you have leveraged something
that already existed. Some examples help clarify this. Was the iPod the first MP3
player in the market? No, Audio Highway of the US did it first, followed by Koreans,
five years before the iPod. Was iTunes the first digital music platform in the market?
No, Napster in 1999 and many others came before it. Yet it was Apple who figured
out how to put the ‘product’ and the ‘service’ together in a way that unleashed
huge new value for the consumer, and in fact ended up redefining the whole music
industry. Take another example. Was IPL the first to auction players? No. Football
Premier league has been buying and selling players for ages. Was IPL the first to
have cheerleaders? No, baseball has that all the time. But IPL brought these
elements together and did it the first time in ‘puritanical’, change-resistant cricket,
breaking many taboos indeed but in the process becoming the fastest growing
sports franchise ever in reaching $2 billion valuation within 2 years!
The second ‘problem’ with wannabe innovators is that they tend to jump to
finding the smart answer. The belief is “If we can crack the right answer, we are
home”. Not that this is surprising, given that our education system teaches,
measures and rewards the ability to get to the answer fast. The big insight here
is that innovation very often lies in asking the question one never asked before.
When S K Telecom of Korea asked the question “how can we monetize the hitherto
un-monetized parts of the network?”, it gave birth to the caller tune. When
Cavincare asked the question “why does a shampoo have to be sold in
minimum 250 ml bottle and cost a minimum Rs. 30?”, it gave birth to the sachet.
When Sunil Mittal at Bharti Airtel asked the question “why do we need to run all
operations ourselves?”, it gave birth to the now-famous “minutes factory” model
that made India the lowest cost mobile telephony market in the world in just
ten years. So if you can ask a lot of questions, seemingly naïve, stupid, child-like
questions, you have a good chance you will come up with a truly innovative,
value-creating answer.
The third misconception about innovation is that it can be done by only a
few – those bright, ‘sparky’, gifted people who ‘just get it’. In my experience, this is
simply not true. Humans are born creative, period. The problem is we let the
society put labels on us and over time we cement the same self-view by
reinforcing those labels. So we often say “I’m not good in creating, but I can
execute” or “I simply run out of ideas very quickly so it must mean I’m not very
creative”. As they say, perception is reality. You become your thoughts. To
innovate, first you must truly believe you are as gifted as the Steve Jobs out there.
Second, it’s about learning techniques that help you think smart and out-of-box.
The fourth problem with the way most innovation is attempted is that it is
“inside-out”. A company and its people tend often to get locked-in into their view
of the customer and the market. They believe they know everything about the
customer. They rely on part formulae that have clicked, while diligently avoiding
those that didn’t. In doing so, they miss out. Not only that, they end up doing
incremental stuff which they then label innovation. The trouble is that only they
can see their innovation, most times the customer can’t! You just need to walk
down the aisles of any retail mall and check out competing brands of toothpaste,
shampoo, refrigerator, TV or almost anything to see what I mean. Incremental
‘tweaks’ are not equal to innovation. Innovation’s power comes from the power of
breakthrough insight. Insight is that under-served or under-understood need that
no one has addressed before. The right way to attempt innovation is “Outside-in”,
that is, work back from market insight. When Ratan Tata goes on to produce the 1
lac Nano because India’s vast middle-class needs a safe, modern and affordable
means of transport, he is
being outside-in. When
Nintendo recognizes that
gaming is traditionally
patronized by the young,
single male and it’s
technically challenging for
most others, it came up
with the Wii console that
made gaming physically
closer to reality, fun and as
easy for a child or a
grandmother. It blew away
the competition and
expanded the size of the
market many-fold. That’s what insight-driven innovation is all about.
The fifth ‘graveyard’ of innovation is the notion that if we get a smart innovative
idea, the rest is easy. In my experience, the smart idea is a mere 20%, 80% is all
about the execution. And by the way, out-of-box ideas cannot be implemented
with a ‘business-as-usual’ execution mentality or process. It is a different recipe. It
needs people at the helm who are passionate, impatient, resourceful and don’t
easily “no” or “can’t do” for an answer – that’s not your typical corporate manager.
It needs side-stepping long bureaucratic mechanisms and tiring hierarchies and
political compulsions. It needs a razor-sharp focus on the end-goal and avoiding
dilution under the guise of ‘practicality’. Further, it needs a quick ‘rapid
prototyping’ approach instead of the oft-seen Excel-PPT fixation and
over-intellectualization. A great example here is the way Nandan Nilekani has gone
about executing the UID scheme. A bold, ambitious idea but fiendishly complex to
get right. No global precedent to benchmark and learn from. No proven
technology to adopt. No ready pool of talent to tap. Yet a true innovator like
Nandan is managing to do it, with meticulous planning, keeping an open mind,
doing prototypes to try out different approaches, enrolling scores of stakeholders,
and leveraging the power of collaboration.
To sum up, first, innovation is not necessarily about that big bang never-before
idea, it’s a lot about ‘connecting the dots’ that already exist, in a unique way that
unleashes huge new value. Second, innovation is firstly about asking a lot of very
fundamental questions that people either didn’t think of or were afraid to ask. This
uncovers many assumptions which when challenged lead to great innovations. So,
innovation starts with asking questions, then only finding a unique answer. Third,
innovation is not rocket science that can be attempted only by the gifted few.
Backed with a can-do belief and done with the right techniques, it can be done on
everyday basis by everybody, be it an individual, a team, an organization or an
entire ecosystem. Fourth, innovation always ought to be done working-back-
from-insight, and not working-forward-from-my worldview. If a unique and
powerful insight is uncovered, a successful innovation is much more likely. Last but
perhaps most important, innovation is meaningless with just a great idea, it has to
get converted to a working business proposition. In an innovation journey,
although the ‘high’ comes from reaching the insight and the breakthrough idea,
it’s the ‘perspiration’ or the execution part which makes the difference between
what makes it and what doesn’t. Innovation must be executed with a business-as
unusual mindset and process, else it may not succeed. They say America was built
on the foundation of finance and entrepreneurship, Japan was built on a
foundation of quality, China was built on a foundation of low cost manufacturing.
It is my firm conviction that if India is to become prosperous and a leading nation
of the world, it can only be built on a foundation of innovation.

The Author is Practice Head

Targeted Innovation in Operations
Erehwon Innovation Consulting
He is alumnus of IIFT’s MPIB 1997 program
 Advising the Gods
Consultant for Team India
Vishnuram L.
MBA(IB) 2010-12

After 15 years, we get to see a world cup

where there are no favorites. Team India
has the right blend of youth and
experience, where a veteran of 22 years of
international cricket shares dressing rooms
with people who were not born when he
first wore the colours of team India, and as
a bridge we have a set of 4-5 players, who
have played in excess of 200 international
matches.

Team Lineup—Analysis
We arguably have the best batting line up in the present tournament. Who can be
more destructive than the man who has scored two test trebles and almost scored
another one, who has scored against every opposition and in every condition, spin
pace, seam, bounce, you name it and he has hammered every bowler everywhere.
A casual statement expressing his intention to bat for fifty overs brought shivers
down the spine of every bowler worth his weight. Critics would point to his not so
great ODI record, especially in terms of his batting average (34+), but the strike
rate is an equally important measure in judging an ODI batsman. When we use
Strike rate multiplied by batting average as a measure Virender Sehwag is among
the very best. Moreover his average during the last two years, wherein he has
played 32 one day internationals is a handsome 43.31 scored at a phenomenal
strike rate of 125.22. Also, during the said period there is huge increase in the time
he has spent in the middle, A very popular commentator once said: One definite
way to know the result of any match that India plays is to find out the number of
overs Veeru spent at the crease.

To add calm to the fire, we have the maestro, giving the firebrand company, what
more needs to said about the man who has scored a staggering 30,000
international runs, 17,000 of those in this format of the game at an unbelievable
average of 45 and astonishing strike rate of 86.69, and like old wine he seems to
only get better with age, in the last two years he has shown the kind of form which
can only be termed phenomenal, the zenith being the double he scored at Gwalior
against Dale Steyn and company. He can contribute in every way, his cricketing
sense is part of folklore and a even the most underutilised of his skills- Bowling,
which can come handy. Who can forget his exploits with the ball, when as a 20
year old he was thrown the ball in the final over of the Hero cup at the mother of
all stadiums in India- The Eden Gardens, after the Great Kapil declined to bowl the
final over, with South Africa requiring just 6 runs with the reliable McMillan still at
the crease, and restricted the Marauding south Africans three runs short of their
target.

At number three we have Gautam Gambhir, who many experts have hailed as the
perfect mixture of Sachin and Sehwag, especially in terms of the approach of the
former and the aggression of the latter, he has been extremely consistent in both
forms of the game in the last three years and has also shown good leadership
qualities, evidence to the same being the calm manner in which he led the side
during the recently concluded bilateral series against New Zealand. With a no
clear weakness against any kind of bowling and an enviable record in the sub
continent, he is the ideal man at number 3.

At number four, we have the new kid on the block, the fearless rookie, who has
been India’s best batsman in the last year, Virat Kohli, who seems to revel under
pressure, testimony to his handling pressure is the brilliant century he scored
against the world champions, while chasing a difficult total. He mixes caution with
aggression and his strokes in the cover region, especially his cover drives are a
treat to the eye, sick of watching scoops and cross batted heaves.

Positions 5, 6 and 7 are not quite fixed and the order is determined purely by
situation rather than any prior strategy. The three warriors in question are the
Captain himself, the man hailed as the next Tendulkar- Yuvraj and the marauding
Yusuf Pathan. M.S. Dhoni possesses no great technique, but his cool head and his
accurate reading of the game compensates for the lack of technique, he has,
especially after assuming captaincy, radically changed his game, previously known
for its flamboyance and power hitting to a more sedate yet sensible approach.
Being a great player of spin, he should have no problem in batting in any position
or situation in any of the pitches in the sub continent.

Yuvraj Singh, his recent form notwithstanding, can change any match in a matter
of 10 deliveries, A certain Broad will stand testimony to the above statement,
Yuvraj’s skills with the ball has given the team the luxury of playing 7 batsmen,
which will help in setting or overhauling huge totals, and given the fact that most
of the teams have found it difficult playing against spin, one would not be
surprised if he is able to win matches purely on account of his bowling.

Yousuf Boom Boom Pathan, excuse the fact the middle name is borrowed from
that of another Pathan, who seems to captain another team. He can destroy
bowling attacks, reputation, and coaching manuals singlehandedly and in a matter
of minutes, the Kiwis and the Proteas faced the marauders wroth and will swear
by any holy book of this man’s hitting power, especially the bullets over the mid
wicket – long on region. If the T20 world cup 2007 was the trailer and the IPL is
first movie, this could be the magnum opus, the Oscar winner that most actors
wait for.

Spots 8,9,10 and 11 go to the bowlers, which has been the team’s weakest link,
especially in the shorter version for the last few years. This fact notwithstanding,
our bowlers have come with some remarkable performances over the last few
years. Led by the wily Zaheer Khan, whose opening burst and late reverse swing
has been the cause of a few nightmares, you can ask a certain Mr. Smith, who
seems to have no clue while facing the Baroda Express, and supported ably by
Nehra, whose death bowling seems to improve with every match. The Spin
department seems to be in safe hands, with Harbhajan controlling the flow of runs
and Chawla- A leg spinner is a wicket taker, capable of providing the break-
throughs.

Threat Analysis
Threat one: The mercurial Pakistanis, if at
all a team has 11 match winners, it is this
team. On their day, they can defeat the
West Indies of the 70’s and the
Australians of the last decade put
together, and as a succour to other
teams, the one area where this team has
made no progress is consistency,
evidence to it is the fact that in the world
cup which they won, they were also
bundled out for 74 in a group encounter
against a team they beat in the finals.
India must exploit this inconsistency and care should be taken to negotiate Shoaib
Akhtar in the early overs and Umar gul, especially his reverse swing towards the
end, another weak link is the dependence on Younis and Misbah and a relatively
inexperienced middle order, India must exploit this weakness in order to even
think of victory against a team capable of any miracle, which can be classified as
the rarest of rare.

Threat two: comes in the form of the world champions who are yet to lose a
match, in the quadrennial event since their 10 run loss to Pakistan 12 years back.
With a strong batting line up and a capable bowling attack, they surely are
contenders for the biggest prize in international cricket. Their only weakness
seems to be spin and the indifferent form of their skipper, the Talismanic
Tasmanian, exploiting his present lack of form and his weakness against Harbhajan
Singh, India must bowl Harbhajan Singh as long as the punter is at the crease.
Another threat is Watson, his attacking nature means a few chances will be
offered, India must be disciplined in the opening overs and maintain a tight line
and length, this might frustrate Watson and force him to go for his shots. The
team’s middle order seems to not have the big names, it once used to have,
Michael Hussey’s absence should be exploited to the hilt, and the easy singles
batsmen the world over have been able to score against us, due to our famous
inefficiency in the field, has to be prevented. The sub continent’s pitches will not
offer the bounce the Aussie speedsters are used to, but, we have to be cautious
and not throw our wickets away, negotiating the initial overs without losing
wickets will help us set competitive totals and we should exploit the lack of
experience in the Aussie middle order. With their exit from the world cup, Team
India has not only faced and overcome its biggest demon from the 2003 world cup
campaign, but also ensured that this year a new team will be crowned world
champions.

Threat three: The Consistent South Africans, they have always been contenders in
every event this game has offered. They have also consistently failed when under
the slightest of pressure, earning them the nickname the chokers. Led by a Giant
of man, in both the batting and in the field this team can challenge any team in the
world. India, particularly Zaheer has been successful against Smith and this must
be used in our favour, in the event of an encounter against the Proteas. Another
threat is the man hailed as the greatest cricketer ever, the ever reliable Jaques
kallis, the only strategy against him seems to be disciplined bowling and fielding,
with no perceived our real weakness against any kind of bowling, there seems to
be no other way to corner this warrior. Amla and De Villiers are serious threats too
and have demonstrated the ability to singlehandedly steer their team to victory,
here too disciplined bowling seems to be the key. South Africa’s defeat in the
quarter finals has only improved India’s chances of becoming world champions
this year.
 War Strategies
Learning from history
Aniket R Khare
MBA(IB) 2010-12

INTRODUCTION

One battlefield in India where victory has unfortunately always belonged to the
invader has been Panipat.

The Battles of Panipat

No Date Invader Home side Result

I 21st April 1526 Babur Ibrahim Khan Lodi Babur won
II 5th Nov 1556 Jalaluddin Akbar Hemraj Vikramaditya (Hemu) Akbar won
III 14th Jan 1761 Ahmed Shah Abdali Peshwas - Sadashiv Rao Bhau Abdali won

This article analyzes the third battle of Panipat. Often termed as one of the most
fiercely fought and decisive battles of the 18th century in India, it dealt a huge blow
to the strength of the Maratha empire under the Peshwas. The Peshwas never
really recovered from this blow. In a long term perspective it paved the way for the
British to gain control over the rest of India as till 1765 the British area of influence
was largely restricted to the states Bengal and Awadh.

Events leading to the Battle

The Maratha empire was at its peak around 1760. The reign of Peshwas extended
from Punjab in the North to Hyderabad in the south.

The part of the map shaded orange shows Maratha

empire around 1760. Raghunath Rao expanded the
Maratha empire till Attock in Afghanisthan in 1755.
Historical records show that Raghunath Rao
defeated Ahmed Shah Abdali’s son Timur Shah
during this period. The Nawab Najib-ud-Daulah of
Rohilla Khand, found these a convenient set of
circumstances to plan for two things:
1. Diminish the influence of Marathas in India, especially control over the
Mughal ruler in Delhi and
2. Give himself a controlling role in Delhi

He invited Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1759 on the pretext of religious commonality and
so that Abdali could avenge the defeat of his son. He also promised Abdali huge
gains both territorial as well as financial.

As Abdali entered the country in late 1759 Najib Ud Daulah also threatened and
convinced Shuja-Ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Avadh to support the Afghan forces.
Going against the advice of his mother, he joined the forces of Abdali and was one
of the biggest contributors to the expense account during the whole time.

In 1760, Abdali drew first blood by attacking a small Maratha army led by Dattaji
Scindhia at Murari Ghat. Dattaji fought with characteristic Maratha valour but was
soon defeated and killed by Abdali’s troops.

Alarmed by Dattaji’s death the Maratha supremacy in Pune vowed to take

revenge. Owing to differences between Raghunath Rao and the Peshwa ruler Balaji
Baji Rao the Peshwa decided to send Sadashiv Rao Bhau and his son Vishwas Rao
to lead the Marathas against the Afghans.

The Marathas army had 80,000 forces including 35,000 cavalry and 130 pieces of
French artillery. Since army ensured protection, a large number of civilians
exceeding 300,000 accompanied the army on a pilgrimage to the holy places in the
north. This was a huge liability for the Marathas as they were permanently bound
to provide safety, food and other arrangements for these people. Abdali had no
such constraints.

The Afghans army had over 100,000 warriors including 40,000 cavalry. It also had
80 pieces of artillery which was light, could be mounted upon camels and
transported easily.

Raja Surajmal Jat, the ruler of Bharatpur refused to involve himself in the battle
owing to differences with the Marathas over control over Delhi. The Marathas also
never got support from the other rulers in the North like the Sikhs of Punjab. They
were thus isolated.

Sometime in September 1760, the Maratha forces attacked Kunjpura fort routing
the Afghan garrison and looting the wealth that Abdali had kept in reserve at the
fort. Stuck on the other bank of the Yamuna, Abdali was extremely frustrated and
at a considerable cost and risk crossed the Yamuna on 17th October 1760 at
Baghpat. A weakened Abdali even considered truce with the Marathas. But Najib
Ud Daulah successfully steered him away from the path of peace in pursuit of his
own ambition.

Abdali’s Yamuna crossing was a decisive turn of events as it left the Marathas
stranded in the north isolated from their supply lines and Abdali to the south
isolated from his own supply lines. However Abdali could generate alternate
means of supplies because of his proximity to Rohilla Khand and availability of
Shuja Ud Daulah’s finances. An additional army led by Atai Khan also joined Abdali
in late December 1760 to compensate for the losses incurred while crossing the
Yamuna.

On the way they cut off Maratha

supplies by capturing and killing
Govind Pant Bundela, responsible for
Maratha supplies in a skirmish.
Because the Maratha army had a large
civilian population accompanying
them they delayed their attack on the
Afghans hoping for the restoration of
supplies and fearing their exposure to
the Afghans in a situation of battle.
The supplies were never restored. The ensuing period of starvation frustrated the
army and weakened the cavalry.

On 14th January 1761, the Maratha forces attacked. They positioned themselves
near the village of Kala Amb, with a clear battle plan to decimate Abdali’s right
flank by the afternoon so that the women and support staff could be transported
across the Yamuna to safety.

Hence Bhau placed Ibrahim Khan

on the left flank so that the
artillery could build pressure on
Abdali’s right flank. This strategy
proved effective to a limited
extent. The Maratha forces under
Bhau led a frontal attack which
nearly split the Afghan army in
two.

However the enthused Maratha army soon grew exhausted due to starvation in
the days preceding battle. This helped Afghan forces to regroup. Meanwhile Najib
successfully built pressure on Jankoji Scindhia’s flank. Vishwas Rao entered the
battle seeing the weakened position of the frontal forces. At this crucial juncture
Abdali introduced his camel mounted artillery who could fire over the Afghan
forces directly aiming at the Maratha cavalry at a short range. The Maratha cavalry
found it impossible to face up to this. Also since the Shaturnals were very mobile
in nature, the Maratha artillery could do little to counter them. This proved to be
another decisive turning point of the battle and the tide turned irreparably in
favour of the Afghans.

Towards the evening, Bhau himself finally entered battle. Not seeing him on his
elephant created confusion amongst Maratha soldiers and rumours of defeat
began to spread. Although majority of the forces were still fighting this proved to
be a big blow to the Maratha morale. Eventually Vishwas Rao fell to a bullet in the
head while Bhau faught on with his bodyguards till the end despite having three
horses shot out from under him. Malharrao Holkar retreated from the field to
escort the women and support staff to safety and proceeded to Gwalior.

Major Maratha generals like Jankoji Scindhia and Ibrahim Gardi were captured and
executed by the Afghans. Tukoji Scindhia, Damaji Gaekwad and Vittal Vinchurkar
apart from Vishwas Rao and Bhau too lost their lives. In all around 70,000 Maratha
soldiers lost their lives while Abdali himself lost around 35,000 of his soldiers and
two generals. Najib lost 15,000 Rohillas.

The aftermath of battle

A. The Maratha empire suffered an irreparable blow. Though they still controlled
a major part of North India in subsequent years, they were never as spirited
or as united as before Panipat.

B. The British started interfering in Maratha politics towards the 1770s. This
finally led to the Anglo-Maratha wars, the last of which was decisively won by
the British in 1818 bringing an end to the Maratha empire. Panipat was that
decisive result which gave the British a foot-in-the-door entry into the politics
of central India. It was thence that they became a major force.

C. Nawab Shuja Ud Daulah, repentant of his Afghan support at Panipat

eventually lost to the British in the Battle of Buxar in 1764.

D. Najib gained from the battle, but still never got as much control as he
wanted. Abdali refused to give him controlling powers at Delhi fearing a
Maratha revenge attack. After Najib’s death in 1770, the Rohillas were routed
by the British.

Lessons to be learnt

Strategic

A. Sadashiv Rao Bhau was much less aware of the political and military situa-
tions in North India than Malhar Rao Holkar or Raghunath Rao. Choice of
leadership had to be extremely judicious. As a leader, taking Malhar Rao
Holkar’s advice keenly should have been Bhau’s priority knowing his
experience in North India.

B. The shift of battle preference from guerrilla warfare to open battle went
directly against the Maratha core strength. The Afghan cavalry could never
have handled small skirmishes over a long duration of time because Abdali
never had the patience to stay on infinitely in India. His forces too were very
eager to return to Afghanistan.

C. The Marathas, owing to politics of superiority, never focused on any alliances

with critical people like Surajmal Jat and Nawab of Avadh. On the contrary,
because of their continuous demand for payment of tributes from these
territories they incurred their combined hostility which became too much to
 handle.

Tactical

A. The Maratha artillery was heavy and static. The Afghan artillery was light and
mobile. They had no plan to counter this advantage enjoyed by the Afghans.
B. The Maratha chiefs themselves were constantly at odds with each other with
many of them opposing the idea of an open battle against guerrilla warfare.
This diminished their confidence in battle.
C. The burden of pilgrims almost always drove the Maratha battle plan. This was
fatal. Normally pilgrims should have had zero stake in driving battle decisions.
The decision to delay the attack on Afghans resulted in severe starvation of
the Maratha forces eventually leading to the loss.

Operational

A. The Marathas fought with empty stomachs, terribly weak. Their mobility was
greatly restricted due to accompanying pilgrims.
B. The timing of introduction of Shaturnals by Abdali was very crucial. He
introduced them when a large chunk of the Maratha horses were exhausted
thus becoming easy targets for the Shaturnals.
C. Better intelligence of enemy forces helped Abdali mobilize his forces better.
D. Bhau, unlike Abdali maintained no reserve force with him. Once he found that
Vishwas Rao had disappeared into battle, he had only himself to rely upon. For
an army’s morale, this proced imprudent.
 Green Conclave @ IIFT
Suneet Choudhury
MBA(IB) 2010-12

In focus of promoting the Indian Carbon Consulting Industry, IIFT, India’s premier B
-school, took the initiative in focus with PAT: Perform Achieve and Trade by
organizing “GREEN CONCLAVE 2011”. The baton of this strategy lies with the
Carbon Consultant who would help the industries modify their processes to make
them energy efficient.

IIFT was witness to one of the

most contemporary debates in
International Business involving
the scope of carbon trading and
consulting from an international
as well as Indian Perspective.
Conducted by Socrates
(Consulting Club at IIFT DELHI) ,
this discussion had a healthy mix
of industry stalwarts , delegates
interested in carbon consulting , as well as the students who were curious to gain
insights about a field which is still in its budding years.
The discussion was between three different industry experts from a different
domain but with a common interest in PAT. It was moderated by a highly
experienced professional who has been involved in projects involving carbon
credits for several years now. Mr Tapan Chowdhury, Head, Fundraising, Care India
was the moderator for the event. The panellists included Mr Nitin Zamre MD India
ICF International (Climate Change Consultant), Mr Ajay Ahuja, General Manager
Sun Microsystems (IT Professional) and Mr Birjendra Sangwaiya, Principal
Consultant Emergent Ventures (Climate change Consultant).

The discussion started with the agenda from the moderator that the “Industry
needs to play a major role in developing a sustainable model for carbon credits in
India”.

Nitin Zamre focused on the fact there is no current climate related target as of yet
which has been stipulated by the government. He gave us a brief overview of the
PAT scheme and stressed on the fact that it is not a one size fits all model. Some of
his notable quote which came out were “If everybody overachieves in gaining
carbon credits, then there won’t be a market for carbon trading” which indicated
that it was theoretical possibility that everyone achieves equivalent emission cuts

Ajay Ahuja brought about the IT industry’s perspective into focus. He stressed on
the role that it industry had to play in reducing carbon emissions and make its
technologies more efficient. With in-
creased usage of it infrastructure
across industries it was imperative
that IT technologies should in corpo-
rate greater power savings, in order to
make it a green technology. His most
impact full quote was “The cost of op-
erating power of servers is more than
the cost to buy them” indicating the
need of the hour was to find energy
efficient solutions in order to make
business a sustainable and green
model.

Birjendra Sangwariya an IIFT alumnus principally discussed on the world carbon

trading market, whether they are linked to each other, and the existing standards
and registries. He discussed on the regulatory changes which might come into
factor in order to bring a unified model and a consultant’s role in the entire
scenario.

This discussion ended with questions on a few major issues like the scope of
unification of carbon credit schemes across the world, life cycle of these schemes
and costs of implementation, export –import of these credits in the international
market, role of cloud computing in reducing carbon emissions.

It was an eye opener in terms of how much crucial role controlling of carbon
emissions will play in the future of industrial sectors , and the role of the
consultant involved in climate change solutions.
 Consulting Debate
Consultant as a service provider or stake holder

Consultant as a Service Provider

Looking at the history of consulting which started in 1920s with the first marks that of Booze
and Company in 1914 and of McKinsey in 1923, one sees in retrospect that consulting emerged
as a domain for individuals having specialization in certain fields which were their forte. It
wasn’t much of an industry per se.

But with organizations getting bigger and their internal challenges aggravating it was perceived
extremely beneficial to have a third party perspective. This perspective was brought to the fore
through a consultant and that’s how a consultant got incorporated in the industry and
consultancy flourished as an industry. This saw the emergence of BCG in 1963 and Bain and
Company ten years later.

As this industry progressed all consultants fell into the trap of categorizing industry wide
problems. As a result they lost out on customization which led to implementation issues. Since
the consultant was a third party provider, for the independence of consultants to be maintained
they took the view that they should not be forced to have an implementation liability in their
contract as this would hamper the effectiveness of their independent view. This is where
consulting as a profession preferred to remain a service provider and not become a stakeholder
in its implementation.

This was often misconstrued as an escape clause by a client who did not derive sufficient benefit
from a consultant’s advice.

However, looking at the way the operational consulting is done which mostly includes
accounting and IT consulting firms the implementation liability in the contract is imposed by
default due to the nature of the work. It will not be long before these firms will actually be seen
entering the strategy consulting space. Examples like PWC, Deliotte and KPMG galore.

In a few cases companies like Accenture have been known to peg their revenues from a client
based on the increase in stock price of the client’s stock after they have begin engaging
Accenture for their services. One such deal was signed between Accenture and Best Buy a few
quarters ago. When such firms start competing in the strategy consulting space it then leads
clients to wonder whether an implementation liability makes sense or not in the contract.

To sum it up purely from a perspective of strategy in the best interest of a consultant a stake in
implementation is not advisable.

Aditi Nagpal
MBA (IB) 2010—12
 Consultant as a Stake Holder
A company’s stakeholder is defined by the business dictionary as a person, group or
organization that has a direct or indirect stake in an organization because it is (or can) be
affected by the organizations actions, objectives and policies. This definition traditionally
consisted of owners, customers, employees, etc. However, today the scope of this term is now
being broadened to include external consultants as well. The scope of a consultant’s role is
changing from being a billable resource that provides solutions to business problems to one that
is a stakeholder in the company and can make recommendations and also implement the
solutions.

The reason behind this is pretty straightforward. Every consulting assignment is a challenge and
investment for both the consultancy and the client. In addition to the financial investment, a
client opens up its internal operations and working to an external agency for analysis which puts
it at business risk. Despite the presence of well formulated non disclosure agreements, any
disputes and subsequent litigation is an expensive proposition for both parties. On the other
side, the consultancy invests by bringing not just highly skilled and trained (and paid)
consultants to the business problem, but also his professional reputation to the assignment. The
success of the assignment is the critical to both the client and the consultancy. Consulting is a
high stakes game after all. This is all the more the case since each consulting solution is
tailor-made to suit the values and business model of a client.

One of the classic examples of this is when McKinsey worked with GM in the 1980s. In the
mid-1980s, General Motors Corp. called in McKinsey for reorganization help. McKinsey's plan
called for the company to be divided into two divisions, instead of the five divisions into which it
was then divided. However, the move resulted in great inefficiency, according to critics, and the
company failed to realize any savings in costs or increase in productivity. For McKinsey, it meant
the departure Ron Daniel in 1988 as the company’s managing director. This example illustrates
how a mismatch between project recommendation and project implementation can have
disastrous consequences for both the client and the consultancy.

Learning from events such as these, the consultant client relationship has evolved in many cases
into a even higher involvement business and has led to an increase in expectations between the
two. In these cases clients today expect consultants to be more involved in their work and not
just provide solutions, but also oversee implementation and show results. Consultants expect
greater transparency and greater liberty as far as their work is concerned.

In the consultant as a stakeholder model, most of these concerns and expectations are
addressed. As stakeholders, consultants play a greater role in seeing the assignment through
the implementation stage which benefits the customer. The relationship not only provides the
consultancy with a stable source of future work and revenue. All this has led to a gradual
transition in the role of a consultant towards being a stakeholder, as many of these concerns
and expectations can now be addressed.

Oojwal Manglik
MBA (IB) 2010—12
 All Cars Have Four Wheels
Strategic Branding
Apoorv Dixit
MBA(IB) 2010-12

All cars have four wheels. Yet they manage to differentiate themselves by the way
they BRAND themselves. Powerful word these days isn’t it, yet the word brand
began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot
iron stamp. But today it is the personality with which the customer identifies a
product, service or company and it can be anything right from a name (Colgate) to
a symbol(McDonald’s) to a tagline (Nike, ‘Just do it’).

For a brand to be strong it should generate a strong identity in the minds of the
consumer, for instance, the brand ‘Volvo’ generates a sense of safety, ‘Mercedes’ a
sense of prestige while if we look at the Indian markets ‘Colgate’ means
toothpaste, ‘Maggi’ means noodles or ‘Parle-G’ biscuits. Building a brand is no
doubt a very big challenge and it can take years even if you have all the world’s
resources at your disposal (read ‘Nirma’ vs. HUL’s ‘Surf’ in the 80s) but maintaining
that image is an even bigger task (read Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke’ fiasco or Cadbury’s
worm controversy) and considering the ever changing global landscape, the task of
a brand consultant is getting complex day by day.

Branding is a very hot topic in boardroom meetings these days as most CEOs have
realized the value attached to these intangible assets called ‘brand’. And why
shouldn’t it be as shown by a McKinsey analysis which suggests that about half of
the market value of the Fortune 250 is tied to intangible assets; who knows this
figure for some of the world’s best known companies can be even higher. So let us
take a look at some of the complex issues a brand consultant faces today:

Brand leverage—why, when and how?

Branding is a very powerful tool for each and every one
involved in the process right from the companies (increased
revenue) to the shareholders (strong brands generate, on
average, TRS that are 1.9 percent above the industry
average, while weaker brands lag behind the average by 3.1
percent)1 to the customers from simplifying everyday
choices (when she buys Colgate she does not have to fret
daily over a simple toothpaste) to reducing the risk of complex buying decisions
(Maruti or Hero Honda). So if we look at it closely, a strong brand can be of two
types: a focused one (Dell, Maruti) or a diversified (Kingfisher, Tata) one. A strong
company can do both as research2 suggests that focused brands earn 0.9% higher
than average while diversified brands earn no less than 5% more.

Leveraging a brand means using the initial brand platform to move into other
opportunities. But, then what are the key factors required for a successful brand
leverage and when should the brand do it? Firstly, the brand must see itself from
the customer’s perspective i.e. it’s ‘personality’ and then leverage the core brand’s
characteristics, for instance, ‘Maggi’ noodles to ‘Maggi’ sauces or ‘Kingfisher’
beverages to ‘Kingfisher’ airlines. Obviously, some brands do it more quickly than
others to cash in on their wide recognition like ‘Google’ from search engine to
email in less than a decade while some take a tad longer than others like ‘Gillette’,
the razor makerwhich waited for almost 30-40 years before launching its shaving
cream. Hence, the key for the brand here is to realize that the consumers have to
understand the brand’s personality and the core offerings and that they are ready
for a much diversified offering.

Making brand portfolio strategies work

Marketing strategists say that brands should be run as a portfolio as this makes
them easier to manage and have a more efficient use of resources. But due to an
ever increasing competition, we are increasingly seeing brand extensions, line
extensions, sub brands and much more. So what then is the most effective
strategy for a brand? Firstly, one should adopt a flexible strategy for both
consumers and current brands alike, also with the ever increasing number of
mergers & acquisitions happening managing a portfolio can be quite a complex
task, for ex, when PepsiCo acquired Quaker Oats for ‘Gatorade’, it also got quite a
few popular brands like ‘Cap'nCrunch’ (breakfast cereal) to dinner favorites like
‘Rice-A-Roni’ which complicated the brand portfolio further.

Let us take a look at how viewing brands from the point of view of consumers can
be successful as shown by PepsiCo when it recognized that consumers choose not
just carbonated drinks to quench their thirst but other drinks like just plain
water!!! Hence it developed new products like Aquafina or made acquisitions like
Gatorade, Tropicana. Also, the above methodology can be quite useful when the
portfolio has to be restructured to meet the harsh economic realities as can be
seen from Procter & Gamble’s recent strategy to prune those brands that are not
top two performersin their category which is very easy if the company has a clear
understanding of the consumer’s needs.

Brand building in emerging markets

Due to stagnant demand at home, US & European firms are increasingly looking at
developing markets like SE Asia, Africa to fuel their growth. But understanding
these emerging markets may not be their cup of tea as we have numerous times
of brands successful in developed markets failing in emerging markets like India,
China, for ex, Oral-B, one of the most successful brands in the US failed to reach
the same heights in India due to the unique price sensitive nature of its market.

So, then, how can a foreign brand emulate its success in emerging markets like
India? Firstly they need to match their low cost competitors especially in the low
cost segment by matching to the local quality and price standards as was
successfully done by Hindustan Unilever in the 70s-80s, when its premium
product, Surf, could not even stand a chance against market leader ‘Nirma’, by
launching its own very low cost, similar looking product ‘Wheel’ which turned out
to be a very popular product (it had a market share of 38% at that time).

Also, companies can tweak their product offerings to garner to local needs as has
been done previously by McDonald’s or KFC when they introduced vegetarian food
in their menu or Nokia when it introduced unconventional features like torchlight
in its mobile phones.

Alternatively, there have been examples in Indian markets when foreign firms
having failed to compete against a local product have taken over them as was seen
by the capture of ‘Thums-up’ (which had a near monopoly at that time) by
American giant Coca Cola from Parle Agro in the early 90s. Also, foreign firms
unable to successfully market their products can outsource some of the functions
to local manufactures through JVs like that of Renault & Mahindra or through
other agreements like the one between Tata (distribution channel) and Fiat (petrol
engine technology). At the end, howsoever successful a brand may be in its home
market, the companies need to learn a harsh lesson, i.e. to flourish in the
emerging markets they have to adapt to local needs and tastes.
 Socrates Roundup

Consulting Symposium 2010

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
hosted a day long National Consulting
symposium on 28th of October 2010. The
symposium focused on the changing
roles of consultants over the years. The
symposium was attended by various
professionals in the field of consultancy,
CIOs, CTOs, Business Heads and
entrepreneurs along with students and faculty. The theme of the sympo-
sium was 'Changing role of consultants: From Service to a stakeholder.'
Speaking on the occasion, KT Chako, Director, IIFT said, 'Consulting today
is not only about advising and sharing insights, but about being a stake-
holder in the overall interests.' He further added, 'Consultants cannot be
third party advisers but equally accountable partners in knowledge shar-
ing and future growth.'

The symposium focused on three main

issues: Managing Innovation in
Consultation, Risk Sharing between the
company and consulting firm and Modern
Consulting. The symposium was attended
by MDs and directors of various
companies such as HP, Honeywell, Ernst &
Young, IBM, Tata etc. Guest of Honor,
Arijit Ghosh, Country Head, Honeywell said, 'The most important thing
in Consulting today is the alignment of client's interest with that of the
consultant's to achieve optimal results.' Speaking about consulting in
e- governance, Jaijit Bhattacharya, Director, HP said, 'Consulting is about
asking the right questions first, having a clear vision and then
implementing that vision.'
 Events @ Quo Vadis
Ranniti
The business simulation on the
application of management an
opportunity to use all those arcane
finance, marketing, operations and
strategy theorems that they have
been taught, along with those
supreme ingredients of common
sense and wit that separate the
best from the rest, in a simulation
of real time business
Round 1 : Startegy Caselet
Round 2 : Simulation Game

Tomorrows Consulting group Challenge

This event focused on playing the role of a consultant to solve real problems and
leverage on real business opportunities.
“India’s unmet energy demand: Business model to increase oil supply by 10 %”
Assume you have been hired by the Government of India to provide a series of
recommendations on developing a business model to increase India’s oil
production potential by 10 %

Industry Interactions
Deloitte
Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services(ERS) India Head Mr.
S Parthasarthy came down to IIFT Delhi to deliver a
guest session on "Risk management for Financial
Institutions after the Crisis". The session was highly
informative in nature and dealt with various frameworks and paradigms in-
volved in estimating and mitigating the enterprise risks.

QAI
A lecture on 'Innovation Management - Trends and
Practices was taken by Mr. Aditya Bhalla, of QAI
Global . Mr Bhalla discusses real life case studies
involving the use of innovation in problem solving.
Ernst & Young
Mr. Amit Misra (2001-03 batch), AVP, Transaction
Advisory Services, Ernst&Young, came to down to the
IIFT campus for an guest session. The session covered
a whole lot of issues right from what is consulting and
what exactly is a consultants role to more specific
areas like governmental consulting.

Accenture
A guest lecture was conducted by Mr Amit Bhatia and
Mr Saurabh Agrawal , IIFT alumni currently working in
Accenture Business Consulting as a consultant. The
session was based on the format of a boot camp for
future consultants and revolved around clearing their
doubts about consulting industry.

Dexter Consulting
Live Project floated by Dexter Consulting : To map the
perceptions of the influencers(Architects/Interior
Designers/Facade Consultants) and the channel
partners (Retailers) about Glass Mosaic
Dilbert’s Desk