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Cases in Strategic Management:
Creativity and Innovation Perspective

Sanjay Dhir
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About the Authors
Sanjay Dhir is the Chairman and Assistant Professor in Strategic Management Area at
Department of Management Studies (DMS), IIT Delhi. He is a Fellow (PhD) from the Indian
Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow. He has been involved in several consulting proj-
ects that include - Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS, Bihar); Bihar Prashashnik
Sudhaar Mission (BPSM, Bihar) and Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D,
GoI, New Delhi). He has been awarded 2014 AGBA Fellow (by Academy for Global Business
Advancement, USA). He is also a core committee member of Government of India’s
project – ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan’. He has published several research papers in leading
international journals and also published case studies in Ivey, jointly distributed by Harvard
Business Studies.
Swati Dhir is working as Assistant Professor in OB/HRM area at Indian Institute of
Management Ranchi. She is a Fellow from IIM Lucknow, specializing in Human Resource
Management and BTech from Uttar Pradesh Textile Technology Institute, Kanpur in Textile
Technology. She has published many research papers in national and international journals
and presented in prestigious conferences. She is passionate about teaching and research has
been actively involved in designing and execution of different training programs, MDPs and
consulting projects.
Sushil is Deputy Director (Operations) and Abdulaziz Alsagar Chair Professor (Professor
of Strategic, Flexible Systems and Technology Management), Indian Institute of Technology
Delhi. He has served as visiting professor and delivered seminars in many leading universities,
such as University of Minnesota, Stevens Institute of Technology, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-
Sorbonne, etc. He has served as Independent Director on the Boards of RINL, HSCC, and River
Engineering. He has acted as consultant to both governmental and industrial organizations.
He is the Founder President of the professional body, ‘Global Institute of Flexible Systems
Management’. He has been awarded 2014 AGBA Fellow (by Academy for Global Business
Advancement, US) and Mindshare Human Rights Award 2015.
Sanjay Dhir
Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
Swati Dhir
Assistant Professor
Indian Institute of Management Ranchi
Sushil
Professor
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited

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Preface
The significance of ‘Strategic Management’ is widely acknowledged by academicians,

practitioners and policy makers. The well-established foundations of strategy can build
competitive advantage of firms, which needs to be sustainable. And yet numerous firms find
the formulation and execution of strategy difficult to articulate. In the past decade, the focus of
strategic management has shifted to emerging markets especially China and India. Particularly,
the corporates and businesses are constantly evolving. The reason is quite simple – India is
one of the fastest growing economies of the world and a very unique and challenging market.
Managing businesses in India requires an unconventional approach, which has been a lacuna
in the majority of extant casebooks on Strategic Management.
It is in this light that this book provides a collection of cases aimed to provide students with
the unique Indian context of Strategic Management from established corporates to startups.
The book also presents the creativity and innovation aspects of strategic management, which
has been the focus of companies lately.
A student of business with tact

Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The above ballad by the renowned poet Charles Gragg is very famous for its characteriza-
tion of the demerits of business students who are not exposed to the pedagogy of case study.
Strategic skills are merely not developed by lectures and sound advices. Moreover, the wisdom
of strategy, creativity and innovation cannot be passed on by lectures and readings alone. The
diagnosis, analysis, judgment and situation-specific actions are always unique for different
contexts and situations. This is achieved by case studies and thus has been a powerful peda-
gogy to teach strategy to business students in learning by doing. The two-pronged benefits of
case study is to enhance the analytical skills of students as well as provide various means by
which firms and managers actually face situations and respond them. Thus, a case study not
only provides detailed information about the firms but also the problems in different indus-
tries, which firms have to tackle.
The cases in this book include a wide spectrum of industries from hotel, online food
ordering, pharmaceutical, social media, telecommunications, logistics, automotive, mobile,
gaming, consumer electronics, coffee, FMCG, e-commerce, sports, job portals to travel portal,
vi Preface
which have been chosen to provide a wide purview of understanding of strategic manage-
ment concepts to students. Moreover, of the 19 cases in this book, 9 cases are on start-ups.
These include Zostel, Zomato, Moovo, Shipsy, Smartivity, Flipkart, AutoNCab, Greymeter, and
Routofy.
All the 19 cases illustrate the varied concepts of strategic management from – vision/mission,
general environment analysis, industry analysis, competitive advantages, cost leadership,
differentiation, business level strategy, corporate level strategy, strategic implementation,
international strategy, strategic control, change management, and innovations and creativity.
The cases are not disguised to provide the students the realisation of the company as well as
industry. The information on all cases has been from secondary sources, which are available
in public domain. The research includes in-depth analysis of industry reports, annual reports,
financial data, government reports, news articles and information from databases to provide
an eclectic picture of the cases chosen.
In addition to above, teaching notes for all the 19 cases have been provided as comprehensive
supplementary resource for instructors. They include the questions for classroom discussion
along with detailed analyses of those questions. The cases as well as teaching notes have been
tested in the classes of strategic management with IIM and IIT students.
The target audience of this casebook includes students of MBA and Executive MBA who
specialize in strategy. This book can be used in Strategic Management classes as a primary
case text. Entrepreneurship, New Venture Planning and Innovation/Creativity classes can
use this book either as a secondary text or as a principal text to focus on start-ups and their
strategy. In addition, Macro Organisational Behaviour classes can use this book as secondary
text for design, system and structure related issues. Finally, professionals, entrepreneurs and
consultants will find this book useful as a resource to better understand the unique Indian
context of strategic management and gain insights in their respective fields.
We hope that you would find this book developed using the above approach useful. We thank
you for using this book and invite your valuable feedback, suggestions and reviews of cases
based on your experience in the classrooms. Please write to us at sanjaydhir.iitd@gmail.com.
Sanjay Dhir
Swati Dhir
Sushil
Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,

and Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi, for providing the necessary resources to write
this book. We also specially thank the team of McGraw-Hill Education – Hemant K Jha and
Parimala Ravikiran – for their patience and support with utmost grace and professionalism.
In addition, we thank our academic colleagues as well as industry friends for providing their
valuable suggestions to enrich the cases. We also appreciate the efforts and inputs from our
students of MBA at DMS, IIT Delhi and IIM Ranchi without whom these cases would not
have been possible.
Last but not the least, we also thank our family members, who have provided constant
support and motivated us to complete this case book.
Sanjay Dhir
Swati Dhir
Sushil
Contents
About the Authors ii

Preface v
Acknowledgements vii
Theme I Vision / Mission

Case 1. Backpacker’s Hostel 3
Theme II General Environment Analysis

Case 2. Passionate Zomans 15
Case 3. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories: Entry in German Market 27
Theme III Industry Analysis

Case 4. Linking the World’s Professionals 39
Case 5. Airtel Zero 54
Theme IV Competitive Advantage of Resource and Capability

Case 6. Button Dabao, Truck Bulao 65
Case 7. M&M: Logan and International Expansion 72
Theme V Cost Leadership

Case 8. Micromax: Leveraging Scales 93
Theme VI Differentiation
Case 9. On-Demand Logistics: Shipsy 103
Theme VII Business Level Strategy

Case 10. Smart+Activity 115
Case 11. Videocon: Rise From the Ashes 125
x Contents
Theme VIII Corporate Level Strategy

Case 12. Indian Starbucks 135
Case 13. Emami: Establishing Manufacturing Plant Overseas 149
Theme IX International Strategy

Case 14. Flipkart: Amazon of India 157
Case 15. Hero MotoCorp: Manufacturing Happiness on a Global Scale 167
Theme X Strategic Implementation

Case 16. The IPL Era 181
Theme XI Strategic Control

Case 17. AutoNcab: Redefining Travelling 197
Theme XII Change and Turnaround

Case 18. Greymeter 207
Theme XIII Creativity and Innovation

Case 19. Routofy: Building a Systemic Innovation Capability 219
Theme I
Vision/Mission
Case 1. Backpacker’s
Hostel
Backpacker’s Hostel
Case Context
Zostel is India’s first chain of backpacker’s hostels. A company that claims not to have a
corporate environment, made up of seven people having a passion for travel and entre-
preneurship and an adventure bug to set up this startup in late 2013. They believe that
travel is a form of meditation, a way of knowing yourself deep down–something, which has
profound effect on the way, you think and act in life. Their vision is to create an enterprise
that changes the travel and hospitality scenario in India; their sole ambition is to make
people travel more and to change the way India travels by wiping off all the muck present
in this sector. They believe in a simple philosophy of life–to live doing what they love
while trying to leave their mark by changing the face of travel and tourism sector. They
wish to create a strong community of travellers and entrepreneurs, a community that can
bring in a revolution. It may sound too good to be true, but it is a dream in progress.
INTRODUCTION
Started on Independence Day in 2013, Zostel was the first chain of backpackers’ hostels in
India. Seven men between the age of 23 and 26 from IIMs and IITs came up with a vision
to change the view of Indians towards hospitality. What connected these men and led to the
formation of this company was their love for travelling. According to founders of Zostel,
“The inspiration of Zostel came during an Europe based internship exchange program.” The
co-founders during their backpacking experiences in Europe and US enjoyed comfortable as
well as affordable stay at youth hostels. This was something in which India was lagging behind
despite the increasing numbers of backpackers. “Here, you either have to book a pseudo-
economic hotel, paying roughly Rs. 2,000 per night, or stay in some dingy guest house for
Rs. 300 to 400,” says Akhil Malik, one of the Zostel’s co-founders, and added “We wanted a
remedy to this problem.”
All the seven founders of Zostel were graduates from reputed institutions in India and could
have very easily taken up a high paying job but their passion for this company led all of them
to decline the commonly chosen path. They created a path for themselves and took up the
challenge of solving the accommodation problem commonly faced by travellers in India.
Hence, after coming back to India from their internships, they started Zostel to provide reli-
able and comfortable stay to the backpackers at economical prices.
4 Cases in Strategic Management
But having a good idea is not all that entrepreneurs need to be successful they need to
know how to implement the idea. This art was mastered by the Zostel co-founders. Initially
when they started, it was a difficult task for them to fund their management education and
at the same time invest money in their start-up. Family and friends came to their rescue
during this time. Educational loans were taken and donation worth $100 was raised from
Facebook. Dharamveer, one of the co-founders also invested $10,000 that received as a prize in
a game, proving the investment that the founders had to make for their highly capital intensive
idea to become successful. Zostel was purposely set up first in Jodhpur as one of the Zostel’s
co-founder family (Mr. Chouhan’s) was already in the hospitality business there. The response
could be judged from the fact that Jodhpur property having 25 beds broke even in the first
month itself.
There was no turning back after this. The team participated in over 14 business-plan compe-
titions like Wharton India Economic Forum B-Plan contest and the ones run by the Richard
Ivey School of Business, Canada which gave them a platform to test their ideas, fine tune them
and also find potential investors who were willing to invest in the idea.
The journey was not easy as it may sound. According to one co-founders, Mr. Akhil Malik,
“One of the biggest issue was to change people’s mindset and promote the idea that even cheap
rooms can meet the expectations and can be safe, clean and reliable.” Besides these there were
other problems like investing more time and maintaining the speed of business. Moreover,
there were operational and legal issues. It was difficult to manage labour and get the work done
from them. Marketing was another area where the company needed to focus. The co-founders
intelligently handled most of these with their first-hand knowledge and these hardships made
Zostel grow bigger and better.
During the evolution process, the co-founders made it a point to remember their basic aim of
making travellers meet other travellers and providing them with a welcoming, well-maintained
and comfortable stay.
TOURISM INDUSTRY AND SCOPE FOR ZOSTEL

Zostel has initiated expansion in the backpackers’ accommodation sector, which was still
developing in India. Due to their special focus on travellers, both foreign as well as domestic;
the study of deeply linked tourism sector became priority to understand the market and scope
for growth. According to the report published by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of
India in 2014, it was found that the number of annual foreign tourist arrivals in India was 7.68
million and was growing yearly at 10.2%. Trends in the number of foreign tourists visiting
India from 2000 to 2012 have been depicted in Exhibit 1.1. Domestic tourist visits within India
to different states and union territories accounted for 1282 million travellers yearly and this
number was growing at a rate of 11.9%. The industry marked an annual earning of INR 1.23
lakh crores and was expected to rise by 14.5% in the coming years.
While in 2014, the total number of tourist arrivals in India was 7.68 million, the number
had already reached 5.13 million in the period from January to June, 2015. Moreover,
approximately one-third (33.7%) of total expenditure of a tourist during a trip was on
Backpacker’s Hostel 5
accommodation, i.e. on hostels. These statistics were a clear indication of the growth of industry
and immense scope that lay ahead for Zostel.
Zostel planned to target both international as well as domestic travellers. While the
backpacking culture was prevalent among foreigners, it was still in a nascent stage in India.
The market that Zostel was targeting was primarily the youth, i.e. people in the age group of 16
to 30, which basically included college students, sports groups, travel enthusiasts and travelling
clubs.
Zostel had set base in eight prominent tourist spots across India including Delhi, Jodhpur,
Jaipur, Udaipur, Varanasi, Agra, Goa and Jaisalmer. As in April 2015, Zo Rooms owned 100
hotels across 10 cities, but the company planned to support over 1000 hotels across 50 cities
by the end of 2015.
While some believed that the backpacking industry was just a passing phase till the next
recession or inflation strikes, Akhil Makil, the co-founder of Zostel, had a different opinion.
He believed that the current generation was marked by a lot of uncertainty in terms of what
each individual wanted in life. The current youth had worked hard to get good education and
get a well-paying job in an MNC. However, as the propensity to spend grows, people start
buying goods and products they wanted for long which they think would make them happy.
But Akhil, through his experience with hundreds of backpackers worldwide, mentioned that
sooner or later they are bound to realize that material happiness was what they were looking
for. When that moment strikes, it will be the time when these corporates will pick up their
tiny backpacks and move out to explore the adventure that is the world. This view was the
major driver of Akhil’s confidence in the idea and the belief that it was not just a phase that
will pass, but was bound to stay around for some time and grow in the near future.
EXPLOITING THE GAP IN THE MARKET

According to a survey by a consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2012, India’s hospitality
service industry was short by 150,000 rooms. The market predicted a tremendous growth in
“price-conscious domestic travellers”, thus indicating the fact that mid-market and budget
segments had the maximum potential. It was seen in market studies that there was a massive
shortage of short-terms rooms for under Rs. 2,000 a night in India. Surprisingly, rooms below
Rs. 1,000 enjoyed an abnormally high occupancy of above 85%. Thus, there is existed a gap
in budget options for leisure travellers.
This was where Zostel jumped in.
“We not only endeavor to ensure our hostels meet the basic international standards of afford-
ability, security and cleanliness but they’re also welcoming, well maintained and comfortable
for our guests to stay in,” Akhil Malik, Co-Founder, Zostel said.
Thus, Zostel developed a completely non-existent domain of Backpacker’s Hostels, aiming
to structure a largely unorganised market and become market-makers and market-leaders.
Anchored on an asset-light business model, they planned to aggregate standalone budget hotels
in travel hubs of the country and associate with a common name. The idea was to develop a
brand name with backpackers’ associate and to provide a standardised set of amenities and
comforts like any other conventional budget hotel chain.
Another move that was an immense hit among travellers was Zostel’s approach of providing
not just an accommodation but a holistic experience in itself. The atmosphere was designed
to lure the young, adventurous and the crazy. Its success was evident from the fact that Trip
Advisor gave Zostel “5-star ratings” and placed it in the “Top four places to Stay” in all cities
where Zostel had hostel. This allowed Zostel to create a niche for itself and bring a new dimen-
sion to the Indian tourism and hospitality scene.
COMPETITON FACED BY ZOSTEL

Zostel was facing competition from various market players like OYO rooms, Treebo, Zip, Zen,
StayZilla, etc. All these players were trying to capture the market by providing better ameni-
ties at the best rate possible. All these players had very huge potential to slash Zostel market
share and profitability.
OYO rooms was established in 2013 and was the biggest competitor of Zostel. The standard
rooms provided by OYO rooms used to have all basic features like AC rooms, complimentary
breakfast, 24X7 Wi-Fi facility and customer support services. OYO rooms had raised Series
B funding of $100m and backed up by investors like Sequoia, Light speed venture partners
and green oaks capital investment. Facebook and Twitter followers for OYO rooms were also
increasing day by day.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
The tourism and hospitality industry had a lot of individual and independent competitors
making the market fragmented and discrete. Zostel was started so as to get the best of all these
worlds. If we look at low-cost affordable accommodation, the main players prior to Zostel’s
entry were Lodges and Guesthouses, 1 to 3 star hotels, Government YHAI (Youth Hostel
Associations of India) hostels and standalone small hostels. Although Lodges, Guesthouses
and YHAI hostels were very affordable, they lacked even the basic facilities and were located
in obscure locations. Their poor hygiene and security were the main issues and travellers
preferred avoiding them for the same reason. 1 to 3 star hotels were hygienic and had decent
facilities but were relatively expensive for backpackers. For standalone hostels, affordability,
hygiene and facilities were a positive but the lack of an established name robbed them of the
trust of travellers in terms of security and stay.
Zostel worked on establishing a brand across all major tourist hubs to reap the benefits of
a cross-selling opportunity. Their rooms were affordable and at the same time hygienic and
secure thus intruding into the market of Lodges and Government hostels. The creation of a
youthful ambience and exciting engagement activities, basic amenities like Wi-Fi and a brand
name made it possible for them to penetrate the backpackers market.
THE REVENUE MODEL

Unlike most technology startups, Zostel required a great amount of ground work to get started
up. The venture lay at the crossroads of hospitality and real estate. At the beginning they were
required to source appropriate properties, negotiate prices considering the price ceiling and
operational economics and work out plans to expand to other parts of the country.
Zostel followed a franchise model with all its properties rented out. It refurbished the prop-
erty with air conditioned bunk-beds and all basic amenities such as Wi-Fi connectivity. In
addition installation of board games, play station and chilled-out decor ensured it is a hot-
favorite among young travellers. In some cases, the interiors were also done according to the
location.
In its expansion move abroad, the business model was tweaked to make it even less capital
intensive. It allowed the local personnel to invest in properties and personally take care of
marketing and branding. It then charged 15% commission on all bookings made through its
app plus a monthly booking fee.
The pricing for the rooms was market-penetration pricing with the sole aim of establishing
a customer share in the Indian tourism industry. The tourism industry was price sensitive and
Zostel kept this in mind ensuring value for money for all the residents.
INNOVATION AT ZOSTEL
Right at the outset when it was conceived, Zostel faced the challenge of coming up with
new properties. Obviously, this would prove to be a costly affair and for a ‘startup’, this was
certainly not feasible. This was where they took their baby steps in the world of creativity,
albeit small ones. Instead of coming up with their own properties, they consolidated a previ-
ously segregated market by taking over several hostels across India to bring them under one
banner of Zostel.
The process of acquiring continued with time and soon, Zostel was a chain of hostels unified
under the name Zostel. They started operating these hostels at lower operating margins than
before by giving better amenities. However, due to consolidation, the irregular demand for
rooms at places averaged out slightly to compensate for the decreased operating margins.
Conceptualising the Zostel Experience
Once the plan for market entry and capitalisation was in place, the next thing on Zostel’s to-do
list was market positioning. The problem here was if Zostel were to be just a chain of hostels
scattered randomly in cities, it would be seen as just another hostel among many competing
independent ones. The question that Zostel founders, Pawan Nanda and others, needed to
creatively answer was how they would differentiate their product Zostel from the rest of the
hostel market.
Till then, the hostel accommodation market had been driven by consumers looking for
extremely cheap places to stay. The Youth Hostel Authority of India (YHAI) provided just that.
Zostel could not have hoped to compete with YHAI’s insanely low prices, not by any stretch
of imagination. Therefore, just being cheap would not do the trick.
Cue innovation!
What Zostel did in order to solve this problem, is what drives the company even today. Instead
of just being extremely cheap, Zostel decided to tap into the minds of these travellers and see
where their demands could possibly be expanded.
Zostel discovered that most of the backpackers travelling would love to get a feel of the cities
they stay in. Therefore, Zostel decided to get this feel to the backpackers inside the hostel itself!
They themed the ambience on the city they were in, thus greatly enhancing the experience of
these backpackers. Another discovery was of the fact that travellers love to interact with other
travellers and Zostel gives travellers just that! With an array of common areas to hang out
in the hostel and with periodically arranged recreational activities, Zostel gives the travellers
ample opportunities to interact with the fellow travellers unlike any other hostel, so this is
its innovative unique selling point. A fun yet cheap place to live where you can interact with
fellow travellers in common areas and enjoy periodically arranged recreational activities, all
fine-tuned to suit the place that you are visiting.
BUILDING BRAND ZOSTEL

Having started Zostel and having a clear positioning in mind, the founders now faced a common
problem that new startups face, i.e. building the brand. There were two primary innovative
ways in which Zostel founders innovated creatively to build the brand Zostel.
Brand Building and Cross Selling
Every time you stay in Zostel, you don’t stay in Zostel Delhi or Zostel Mumbai or Zostel
Shimla. The founders firmly believed that you stay in Zostel. When you were living in a
Zostel in Shimla, you were being sold Zostel Delhi or Zostel Mumbai through good service and
a great stay. This worked perfectly for the company because most of the people who stayed in
these hostels were backpackers who were likely to travel other places as well with an active
chapter of Zostel.
Brand
In order to maximise the advantage of being a hostel chain, Zostel markets branded Zostel
much more than individual hostels coming under their banner. This combined with the above
mentioned idea of cross selling Zostel’s hostels was an amazing creative approach towards
marketing and brand building coming from the founders. The founders quickly realised that
their market audience was backpackers and a vast majority of backpackers were very young
travelers (age between 20 and 28). In order to tap into this market as much as they could they
started building the image of Zostel as being by the youth, for the youth and of the youth.
The following are some extremely interesting ways how they did this.
1. Youthful Portrayal of the Company: A major part of satisfying the above was to portray
that the company as being youthful. And that they did! If you visit the website of
the company, you will find a plethora of youthful bright colours, vibrant text designs
complete with a mascot, all factors that greatly benefit the company’s portrayal as a
youthful brand. The people almost felt as if Zostel was just like them and this was
exactly what the founders had wanted them to feel.
2. Partnerships: All the marketing oriented partnerships of the company were with youth-
centric organisations and college festivals. All of this, apart from fetching direct youth
visibility for the company, also helped in its youthful portrayal. It had also partnered
with brands like MTV and Red Bull, both seen as youthful brands, thus leveraging their
brand image to build that of Zostel.
3. Zostel Internships: Yet another creative marketing exercise that the company under-
took was the concept of Zostel internships. These were 50 days’ all expenses paid trips
for young adults across India with stipend of Rs. 50,000, disguised under the name
of internships. The company banked on the people doing the internship and talking
to their peers, thus organically marketing Zostel. Through the program, the company
again portrayed itself as youthful and at the same time garnering direct and indirect
publicity for itself.
These are just some of the several creative innovation techniques employed by Zostel. The
company and its core managers remained committed to unconventional creative ways to do
what needed to be done.
EXPANSION MODEL
Starting as a self-funded company, Zostel picked up its first round of investment worth INR 5
crores from a Malaysia-based investor, Presha Paragash in 2014. In May 2015, they picked up
their second round of undisclosed funding led by hedge fund Tiger Global in participation
with Orios Venture Partners. Market sources peg it at somewhere around $15 million (INR 96
crore). The aim was to achieve a leadership position in this naive market and majority of the
use of proceeds was going to be in building a strong brand, marketing, bolstering technology
and ground operations.
Zostel had also been constantly expanding across India. Having started in three cities across
Rajasthan – Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur – Zostel had now expanded into Delhi, Varanasi,
Agra and Goa. The expansion was done strategically to capture all major tourist hubs as
even now, 65% of Zostels’ occupancy comes from foreign travellers. Also, most Zostel hotels
were located within a kilometer’s distance from the city. “We expand in tourist circuits.
Like, say, a traveller who goes to Delhi and Jaipur will also go to Udaipur. So these three
areas will be targeted”, said the founders of Zostel.
The company had also gone international with the launch of its first overseas hostel in
Dalat, Vietnam.
“We are planning to launch more international properties, including in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
By the end of this year, we will launch three unique properties in each location, taking the total
number of hostels to 40 across national and international destinations,” said Akhil Malik.
CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR ZOSTEL

One of the major problems that Zostel is facing is changing people’s perception about cheap
accommodation. In India, the reputation of a cheap accommodation is not good and they are
considered unsafe, unreliable and not so comfortable. Zostel needs to break this misconception
in order to gain popularity by using popular marketing strategies.
Another problem that is hindering Zostel’s growth is proper management of the operations.
According to Akhil Malik, “It becomes difficult to interact with the people who do not
understand you because they are labourers.” The local rules and regulations also pose a chal-
lenge to the expansion in various cities and countries.
Property scouting is another area where Zostel is facing problems. They need to find a right
property at a right location and convert it to Zostel by providing it all the necessary facilities
that can make a person’s stay comfortable.
Like any other industry, Zostel is also facing competition from various competitors as
discussed earlier. In order to gain an edge over these competitors by providing competitive
prices and facilities and at the same time to remain profitable, Zostel needs to come up with
more innovative ideas and should strengthen their business.
WAY FORWARD
Going forward, Zostel need more capital for their expansion plans. They are trying to expand
their operations in domestic as well as in international market. They are facing challenges from
all directions but they are determined to make an impact on the tourism industry by providing
all facilities that can meet the international standards of security and hygiene requirements
set by the industry western counterparts. Currently, Zostel is facing fierce competition from
other market players like OYO rooms, Treebo, Zip, Zen, StayZilla, etc. But now the company
is looking for a sustainable plan that can help Zostel to increase its market share.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What should the CEO of Zostel do to sustain the advantage gained by Zostel?
2. Should Zostel enter into joint venture or acquisition?
3. Why has Zostel been successful and what are the aspects for future success?
4. Analyze the competitive scenario of Zostel.
EXHIBIT
Exhibit 1.1 Indian Tourism Industry Statistics

Indian Tourism Industry Statistics
Number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India 7.68 Million
Annual Growth Rate 10.20%
Number of Domestic Tourist Visits to all States/UTs 1282 Million
Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism INR 123,320 crore
(Source: India Tourism Statistics at a Glance 2014, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India)
REFERENCES
1. http://archivetravel.financialexpress.com/201110/edge01.shtml (accessed 30 June 2015).
2. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-07-20/news/64638772_1_orios-venture-partners-ti-
ger-global-hotels (accessed 23 September 2015).
3. http://qz.com/search/Zostel (accessed 20 August 2015).
4. http://www.businesszone.co.uk/around-the-world-in-five-startups-paavan-nanda-zostel-india (accessed
30 February 2014).
5. http://www.ghumakkar.com/ (accessed 22 April 2015).
6. India Tourism Statistics at a Glance 2014, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India http://tourism.nic.in/writ-
ereaddata/CMSPagePicture/file/marketresearch/statisticalsurveys/India%20Tourism%20Statistics%20
at%20a%20Glance%202014.pdf (accessed 28 September 2014).
Theme II
General
Environment Analysis
Case 2. Passionate
Zomans
Case 3. Dr. Reddy’s
Laboratories:
Entry in German
Market
Passionate Zomans
Case Context
Internet start-up Zomato is one of India’s global success stories. Zomato is a name which
provides a solution for human’s one of the very basic need called ‘food’. It helps food
lovers in India to find appropriate food restaurants as per choice just by using smart
phone. Although Zomato has expanded its operations in more than 20 countries yet the
main cities in India are New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune. Zomato has become
a favorite name among the youngsters. The customisation of services through taste and
language is one of the specialties of Zomatians. The young founder ‘Deepinder Goyal’ has
faced a number of challenges from inception to expansion in food and beverage industry.
Its vision is to expand to more than 50 countries.
“Keeping our users happy by giving them a beautiful, easy-to-use product and main-
taining a strong content platform as we grow is what’s most important to us at this point
in time. We’re aiming to become the go-to restaurant discovery service across the globe,
and we’re working towards doing just that”, says Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato.
INTRODUCTION
Zomato was an application, which provided users complete information about the restaurants
and food joints for over 1.4 million restaurants, in around 10,000 cities across 23 countries.
Zomato was a platform not only for food lovers, but also for food servers and restaurant service
providers. Service providers got a canvas to post and update their new cuisines and special-
ties of the season, while foodies got a chance to explore new food, places and new ambience
to experiment with a review and feedback. In the digital era, people could easily get access to
Zomato website as well as mobile apps to get the relevant choices according to their tastes.
To evolve as a friendly neighborhood restaurant guide, Zomato featured restaurant informa-
tion which included scanned menus and photos, review, blogs about particular restaurants.
The restaurant location, menus and other related information about food had been collected
by Zomato team across the country and globe. Furthermore, they had expanded their services
by providing online orders, cashless payments, table reservations in restaurants. The Zomatian
way of providing the right information to the right people was certainly going to change the
future of restaurant businesses. Competition among the players was helpful to provide the best
quality food and quality services to the customers so that they could get the value for their
money.
HISTORY OF ZOMATO
The ideas do not need your permissions to click. It may be a class room situation where you
feel hungry or bored by technical sessions. The same distractions became the starting point
for the Zomato journey. The inception of this idea took place in the mind of Deepinder Goyal,
a mathematic student of M. Tech. in 2006 and this student gave birth to a novel idea to
manage hunger in a very creative way by just clicking your phone. Goyal worked on the idea of
connecting the hungry people with the food of their choice at their door steps. He had observed
that people spent a lot of time in hunting a good restaurant these days. Working on his idea
further, he dreamt of designing a website to get the information about the restaurant food, taste
choices and its ambience. Deepinder Goyal was soon joined by his friend Pankaj Chaddah.
While sitting in a cafeteria, they observed queues of people waiting just to see the menu cards.
The process of skimming through restaurant menus during lunch hour was a painstaking one.
They had to queue up in the cafeteria every day to go through a stack of restaurant menus to
order food. They couldn’t take the menus to their desk since people ended up losing them. So,
to save time and reduce the trouble of food lovers, they scanned these menus and uploaded
the same online over the office intranet for their colleagues to use. The acceptance of idea and
ease of usage made this idea viral and a new venture called ‘Zomato’ came into existence. Also,
two of his juniors joined the team and collected some more menus and uploaded the same
information over the website. Within few months, around 2000 menu cards were updated and
the website www.foodiebay.com became popular among the food lovers. It was an easy way to
check the report card of a restaurant, validated by their friends.
Deepinder Goyal wanted to test the water and wanted to run his own venture, but he
was not ready at that time. After college, he joined Bain & Co in Delhi and met his friend
Pankaj Chaddah. Although they had studied at IIT Delhi, yet they met at Bain & Co. Like-
minded people came together, explored the market and decided to give it a try. Deepinder Goyal
resigned from his job on the very same day, when his wife, Ph.D. in Mathematics, got a job
offer from Delhi University. The preface was already started building by starting the website
as Foodiebay.com, but the real changes happened after Pankaj Chaddah also left the job and
joined Deepinder to test the market. They informed their parents about their decision only
after they quit, so that there is no scope for any second thought. After quitting the jobs, they
started to focus on other big cities in India and started their offices by the name of Zomato.
The growth of Zomato was well noticed by venture capitalist like Sanjeev Bikhchandani,
the founder of Naukri.com, Shiksha.com and Jeevansathi.com. He liked the idea and services
provided by Zomato and invested around $1 million in seed funding through his company
Info Edge Ltd and repeatedly invested four times. The accumulated amount reached to $25.4
million and increased the share of Info Edge by 50.1% in Zomato, which made him majority
stakeholder.
In next few months they got ready with the website information and made the Zomato app
available in Google Android operating system. The idea to rebrand Foodiebay as Zomato was
not just to restrict food related information only, but also Foodiebay contains ebay at the end,
and they do not want to get into any kind of confusion at customer front. Now Zomato app was
Passionate Zomans 17
successfully running on all the platforms from Android to windows to iOS. The app in 2015
had contact information of 180,500 restaurants in 36 cities. It also crossed the country bound-
aries and reached to 11 countries like Dubai, UAE, Sri Lanka, Qatar, the United Kingdom, the
Philippines, South Africa, Auckland and Wellington and Hamilton in New Zealand, Brazil,
Turkey and Indonesia. They further planned to make their presence in 22 countries in next
two years.
However the company was not making any money from these apps, but it facilitated
customers to use the services on more frequent basis.
As mentioned by Deepinder Goyal (CEO of Zomato), “We are looking at it as a marketing
tool, but three years from now we will figure out a way to monetise it,” Zomato was generating
good revenue at a significant rate. Zomato earned revenue of Rs 11.5 crore in 2013 as compared
to Rs 2 crore in the last year. The regular information updation about foods and restaurants
kept customers satisfactory. Also, it gave competitive advantage to Zomato.
Zomato was able to raise money through a number of funding rounds and was able to access
23 countries and more than 3,00,000 restaurants information. The fund raised was quite
helpful to expand the Zomato’s scale of operations.
ZOMATO’S BUSINESS MODEL

Until September 2014, the business model was primarily dependent on local advertising on
websites. With the strong focus on mobile, the company decided to build Zomato for busi-
ness app, which is gaining traction steadily. Zomato has since started focusing on evolving
the product offering and has expanded the product portfolio to offer six products – the
Zomato restaurant finder app (search and discovery), Zomato for Business (app for restaurant
managers), Zomato Order (for Online Ordering), Zomato Book (table reservations), Zomato
Cashless (in app payments) and Zomato Base (POS).
Zomato was focused on building a seamlessly integrated dining experience for consumers.
There was a huge emphasis on ramping up operations in 2015 as well as going deeper into the
restaurant vertical as well as keeping an eye over the expansion to new markets. The business
model and the overall economics of the business had worked very well. Zomato’s business
model worked on different features like Hyper-local advertising, Zomato for Business, Cashless
payments, Online Ordering, Product innovation, etc. Zomato was not handling the logistics of
the actual delivery of food but was acting as facilitator between the consumer and the restau-
rants offering home delivery. Zomato charged restaurants a commission and this too had added
a new stream of income.
Business Strategy
According to Mr. Goyal, Zomato was a simple 3-click ordering process with a social interaction
(rather than just social tools) to provide the platform (digitisation) and access to thousands of
small restaurants who would not otherwise get recognised. The key strength of Zomato was
the coverage and in-depth knowledge of food with different reviews. The continuous updating
of reviews and increasing number of registered restaurants in comparison to its competitors

gave an edge over others.
The co-founder of Zomato also mentioned the same,
“Our core strength is fresh, exhaustive restaurant information, and we have a team in every
market focusing on this core to make sure we are relevant and reliable for users. This includes
re-visiting restaurants to ensure that our data is fresh and accurate. In that sense, it does pose
a challenge while scaling, and finding the right people for the job isn’t easy.”
—Pankaj Chaddah (co-founder, Zomato)
Zomato’s strategy was relatively simple. The focus had always been on creating a product that
people will love because it adds value to their lives; one that looks good, and works even better.
Zomato did not make a mistake to be complacent about its product or services. It has always
searched for better and thrived hard to provide the most relevant and crisp information to its
customers. It was one of the core competences of Zomato. The important key success factors
of Zomato are its market strategy and branding. Company got almost 50% of its business from
mobile apps due to relevance, and an awesome user experience. The social media platforms like
Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest also enhanced the presence of Zomato for food lovers.
In terms of expansion into new markets/locations, Zomato entered markets if it saw a prod-
uct-market fit and had the bandwidth to execute very quickly. For entering in a new market,
they tried to acquire the existing strong players in the market to leverage their brand and local
food knowledge and preferences. Expansion in Europe had been one of Zomato’s key focus
areas. The most significant was its January takeover of Seattle’s Urbanspoon in a $52 million,
all-cash deal. This gave it an entry into the United States, Canada and Australia – pitting it
directly against the popular Yelp.com. Zomato also bought out six other restaurant search compa-
nies, allowing it to enter New Zealand (Menumania), Czech Republic (Lunchtime) Slovakia
(Obedovat), Poland (Gastronauci), Italy (Cibando) and Turkey (Mekanist). Urbanspoon was a
market leader in Australia and Canada and a significant player in the United States. The acqui-
sition of Urbanspoon was the perfect way to enter all three markets and successful product
migration – the combined product – offering the best of both Urbanspoon and Zomato on a
common platform. Zomato had also been launched in Toronto and Lebanon in 2014. Zomato
was penetrating quickly and got access in 23 cities within Czech Republic, whereas global
competitor Yelp was only present in Prague.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

The theme of Zomato was always “For the Love for Food”, and the belief was that the best way
to build relationships is by talking to the clients passionately about your own brand. Zomato
felt this could be best done by its own staff. They were looking to build good and healthy
relationships with media and changing PR agencies. The marketing efforts need to be done
internally for building friendly approach. Another advantage of this approach was that it was
a cheaper alternative. But as the marketing was in-house, a need was felt for the media opinion
too. In order to counter that Zomato built a social media community Zomato approach was to
build a social community around food.
Passionate Zomans 19
Community Engagement
They went out to bloggers every week for their opinions which acted as a valuable feedback for
improving their product in addition to building relations with the media. This feature can be
seen currently on the Zomato site. No other competitor offers such a comprehensive database
regarding restaurants and food. Zomato achieves this by taking pictures and uploading the
menus in their site and apps. The unique feature at Zomato was that they did not trust others
when it comes to update information.
The Perfect Timing

Zomato was in full momentum in just six months and around 5 lakh users were visiting their
websites every month. Now it was high time to formalise this channel and make an effective
presence and brand visibility through various campaigns. Feedback had been integrated and
they were confident of their product. The atmosphere was that of confidence and that eager-
ness to go onto next level. But they did not go to the next level. Zomato waited till September
instead of launching the campaigns in July to capture more number of people. Usually people
go on vacations during this time. The timing was crucial. The attention to small details was a
big key for Zomato’s success.
Online Campaign
Behavioural targeting was the method adopted by Zomato to spread its message out. The
primary focus was on food bloggers and online food communities as these were the ones who
would be most benefitted from this product and the ones who were most likely to use it. They
tried to capture the customers who exhibit a consistent behaviour of using online services and
food websites. The usage of food websites was the indicator of their interest while the audience
surfing online services or E-commerce was the indicator of their affordability.
Dilemma Over Message and the Creative Answers

A lot of debate was done over the message Zomato wanted to convey in their advertisements.
Advertisements rich in content were their USP but they wanted to deliver a simple message,
which was in sync with how they started. Until the deadline there were many messages in
place but they decided to go back to the basics. Their social media strategy did not focus on the
product itself. They instead focused on showing their humorous side. They wanted to show a
friendly tone but there was a hidden strategy behind it. People like to share humorous content.
It was an effective way to advertise. The main purpose of branding was relevance. Zomato
achieved relevance as the people linked Zomato with food and restaurant. This is a classic case
of branding without too much focus on product details.
The Friendly Approach

Zomato took a very different approach when it came to customer interaction. It enjoyed the
friendly conversation over social networking sites. This strategy worked very well for them
and gave them originality. They worked on the philosophy of “be yourself, be original”. A very
important aspect was to be there for your customers when they needed you just like a friend.
Needless to say, Zomato had always been very quick to respond to user feedback and queries
and this greatly helped them in maintaining a friendly approach.
Zomato not only provided information about food and location, but also the details regarding
Wi-Fi, airconditioning, live music, etc. These filters with attention to minute details made
Zomato what it is today. Zomato, a small startup reached a status of being amongst the top
25 and most promising websites in country in just a span of 2 years. The telephony services
and the internet expansion added to its advantage in making it a success. The rising need and
getting convenient access to details of eateries gave birth to this business. It was totally a non-
traditional way of innovative thinking which led to success of Zomato from Zero.
Zomato Added Advantage

Zomato was targeted to provide restaurant owners a platform to market themselves online.
Many small restaurants could not maintain their website, but now could have an easy customer
access through online advertising. Zomato, thus acted as a medium for such restaurants to
grow. Also, Zomato provided them correct information about the product pricing and other
related information.
SOURCE OF REVENUE FOR ZOMATO

Zomato made money from the following three ways:
1. Advertising,
2. Event tickets, and
3. Sale and business intelligence and data analysis.
Advertising was the major contributor of Zomato’s business revenue. Zomato earned about
80% of revenue from restaurant advertisements. It was working with an idea to provide infor-
mation about the food and places on their websites. If a food lover clicked on Zomato app or
website, they would certainly like to click on the eye catching title like “Trending restaurants
this week”. This was one of the creative ways of advertising, where consumer was not forced to
watch the ads or forced to read but they would click on the link to seek information. Certainly
this reverse way was more effective than the traditional styles of advertising.
Event ticket sales provided a plethora of events happening around at different restaurants
made available through the site, thus provided an interface and worked as an e-ticketing partner.
The revenue of Zomato was a fixed percentage of ticket amounts as per the agreement. This
source added to around 15% of the total revenue.
Business intelligence and data analysis tools were widely used by Zomato content experts
to provide the relevant information to its clients. Zomato worked as consultant to the restau-
rant owners to understand the customers’ preferences, pattern of choices, demographics and
locations.
Furthermore, Zomato tried to understand the business-to-business environment by observing
the local markets in terms of their advertisement, hoarding, print media and radio adver-
tising. If they were willing to engage with any platform (including online), Zomato targeted
those restaurants and showed them the value proposition in their model. They were able to
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Fig. 32.—The demon of the South-West Wind.
Louvre. Actual size.
Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
Nothing could be clearer than the governing idea of this
conception. The artist has wished to unite in a single being the
highest powers of life and nature—the bull, the lion, the eagle: these
are types of physical force differently applied. Patient and tenacious
in the bull, who drags the plough and transports the heaviest
burdens; violent and impetuous in the lion, while in the king of birds
the formidable strength of beak and talons add to the fear inspired by
his lightning flight. Finally, the head and countenance are those of a
man, the impersonation of intelligent force, of will governed by
reflection, before which every living thing has to bow.
The root of this conception is the same as that by which the
Egyptian sphinx was suggested. The chief differences lie in the
greater complexity of the winged bull and in its less quiescent
attitude. The sphinx combines but two elements, the man and the
lion; its pose is easier and perhaps more natural than that of the
Assyrian animal. It is extended on the ground, its paws stretched idly
before it, an attitude that could be preserved without fatigue for an
indefinite time, and therefore in complete accordance with its
governing idea, and with the function it had to fill at the gates of a
palace or temple. That idea, for the bull as well as the sphinx, was
force in repose. But the bull stands upright, and, when looked at from
one side, seems to walk. We feel that if he did complete his stride he
would bring the structure that stands on his loins down about our
ears.
Here, as in most cases where comparison is possible, the
advantage remains with Egypt. But yet the Assyrian type is by no
means without a certain nobility and beauty of its own. In spite of
their colossal dimensions, in spite of the supernatural vigour of their
limbs and the exaggerated energy and salience of their muscles,
there is a kind of robust grace in the leading lines and proportions of
these figures to which we cannot be indifferent, and their effect is
increased by the wings that lie along their backs and furnish so
happily the upper part of the huge alabaster slabs, above which
nothing rises but the horned tiara. Finally, the face with its strongly
marked features, with its frame of closely curled hair and beard
arranged in the strictest symmetry, is still more remarkable than all
the rest (Fig. 33). The expression is grave and proud, and
sometimes almost smiling. It is in fine harmony with the general idea
that led the Chaldæans to create these mysterious but kindly beings,
and to endow them with their mighty frames of stone.[101]
Fig. 33.—Head of a winged bull of
Assurbanipal. British Museum. Height 38
inches.
These bulls have only been actually found in Assyria, but
numerous and precise texts have been deciphered by which their
existence at the gateways of Chaldæan temples and palaces has
been proved.[102] They are not now to be met with in the country of
their origin, because their material was too rare in the lower part of
the great basin to escape the attacks of spoilers. Soft or hard,
volcanic or calcareous, stone was there precious and difficult to find.
Sooner or later such objects as these would be dragged from their
ancient sites and broken up to be used anew. If chance had not so
willed that the Assyrian palaces were preserved for us by
entombment in their own ruins, we should now have known nothing
of a type that played a great part in the decoration of Mesopotamian
buildings, and, by its originality, made a great impression upon
neighbouring peoples; or at least we should only know it by
reproductions on a very small scale, like those we meet with on the
cylinders, or by imitations vastly inferior to the originals, like those of
the palaces at Persepolis.
Fig. 34.—Cone of chalcedony. In the National

Library at Paris. Actual size.
Instead of a human head on the body of a beast, we sometimes
find the process reversed, but always with an amount of taste and
reserve to which we are compelled to render due praise. We may, of
course, quote instances in which the head of an eagle is put upon a
human body (Vol. I. Fig. 8), or the shoulders of a man concealed
under a fish’s scales (Vol. I. Fig. 9, and above, Fig. 34); but even
then the sculptor has succeeded in giving to the characteristic lines
and attitudes of the human figure the predominance that belongs to
them, and, as it were, has made them cast an air of nobility over the
whole composition.
Fig. 35.—Izdubar and lion. Double the actual size. From a
cylinder in the British Museum.
It is thus with a curious type to which our reader’s attention
should be drawn; we mean that of the personage called Izdubar by
some Assyriologists, and Hea-bani by others. Whichever name we
may choose, the person in question was “a mighty hunter,” like the
Nimrod of Genesis, a hero distinguished for his valour and for the
difficulties he overcame. So that he might be free in his movements
and ready for every work of activity and vigour, he is naked. Even
under the dry method of the Chaldæan gem engraver we can
appreciate the amplitude of his form and the power of his muscles.
He is also distinguished by the size of his face, which is always fully
seen, and seems to be the result of a compromise between the
features of a man and those of a lion. This deliberately exaggerated
head is enframed in long shaggy hair. Upon some cylinders we see
Izdubar in a state of repose, behind the throne of a god to whom he
acts as acolyte or guard of honour (Vol. I., Fig. 17), elsewhere he is
seen in the exercise of his functions, if we may call them so,
accomplishing some such task as those that made the fame of the
Greek Hercules, whose ancestor he may perhaps have been. We
find him on a cylinder in the British Museum carrying off a slain lion
on his shoulders (Fig. 35).
Fig. 36.—Winged genius. Louvre. Height 10 feet.

We again find the human form predominant in those great winged
genii for which Chaldæan art had so strong a predilection (Figs. 4
and 29). The two pairs of wings are very happily allied to the body,
and both Greek and modern art has had recourse to the type thus
created, the former for the figures of certain minor divinities,
especially for that of Victory, and Christian art for its angels. In both
these instances, however, we find but a single pair of wings. The
artists of Assyria, especially in their rare attempts to treat the figure
from a front view, have used the two pairs of wings with great felicity
to furnish the background, against which the human form stands out
in all the vigour of its robust muscularity. Our readers may judge of
this from our reproduction of one of the reliefs brought to the Louvre
from Khorsabad (Fig. 36).
These winged men serve as a kind of transition between the
complex beings noticed above, and the sculptures in which the
human form is treated without any supernatural additions. So far as
we can guess in our present uncertainty as to the ranks of the
celestial hierarchy of Chaldæa, it would appear that the forms and
features of men and women were alone thought worthy to represent
the greatest of their divinities. Take the statue of Nebo, figured on
page 81 of our last volume, take the gods introduced into the
ceremonies we have already figured (Vol. I., Figs. 13 and 14), after
reliefs from Nimroud and Kouyundjik (Fig. 37).[103] In this last-named
work the god, Raman or Marduk, holds a flower. At Nimroud there is
a god with horned forehead who grasps an axe in one hand and a
thunderbolt in the other. In the female figure, twice repeated with
slightly different attributes, that precedes the god, Istar has been
recognized. See also the statue of Istar in Vol. I., Fig. 16, and the
image of that Chaldæan Venus so often repeated on the cylinders
(Figs. 38 and 39). In form Istar is but a woman, and the artist would
have made her beautiful if he had known how. She is shown naked,
against the general custom of an art that everywhere else hid the
human body under ample draperies. This nudity must have been
intended to suggest those feminine charms by which desire is
awakened and life preserved on the world.
Fig. 37.—Carrying the gods. From the palace of Sennacherib; from Layard.
Fig. 38.—Istar and the sacrificing priest.

Fig. 39.—Istar between two personages.
Hague Museum.
The supreme gods, the Bels or Lords, were treated in the same
way when all the majesty of their station had to be suggested. Each
of these had his domicile in one of the principal sanctuaries of
Chaldæa and Syria. At Sippara it was Samas, or the sun personified
(Vol. I., Fig. 71); upon the seal of Ourkam (Vol. I., Fig. 3), upon
another cylinder on which there are many curious and inexplicable
details (Fig. 17), and upon a last monument of the same kind which
dates from the early centuries of Chaldæan civilization (Fig. 40), it is
a Bel whose name escapes us;[104] but in all the theme is the same,
and the type almost exactly similar. We can hardly be mistaken in
recognizing a god in the personage seated on a richly decorated
throne, towards whom two or three figures, sometimes of smaller
size than himself, advance in an attitude of respectful homage. He is
crowned with a lofty tiara, a long beard flows over his breast, a robe
of fine plaited stuff enwraps his whole body and falls to his feet. He is
a man in the prime of life; his air and costume must have been taken
from those of the king. May we not look upon him as the first sketch
for the Greek Zeus, the Zeus of Homer and Phidias?
This type is never disfigured by any of those attempts, of which
the Chaldæans were so fond, to add to the significance of the human
figure by endowing it with features borrowed from various lower
animals. It should be noticed, however, that on one of the cylinders
we have figured (Vol. I., Fig. 17) there is a personage with two faces,
like the Roman Janus. But this is not the seated god. It is not the
great deity before whom the other actors in the scene stand erect, it
is one of the secondary personages, one of the inferior divinities who
bring offerings or receive instructions, in short, one of those genii
whose numerous and complex attributes first suggested these
fantastic combinations.
Fig. 40.—Lapis-lazuli cylinder. In the French National Library.

We find then that when the Chaldæans set themselves to search
for the most suitable way of figuring their gods, they ended by
thoroughly appreciating the excellence of the human form; with a few
exceptions, they abandoned the idea of correcting and perfecting it;
they were content to copy it sincerely and unaffectedly, to render the
characteristic features of the maid and the mother, the youth and the
man of mature age to whom years have lent dignity without taking
away vitality. These forms they covered as a rule with ample drapery,
but for certain types, those, for instance, of the goddess of love and
fecundity, and the demi-god whom we have compared to the Greek
Hercules, they had recourse to all the frankness of nudity. How was
it that under such conditions they never succeeded in endowing their
goddesses with grace, or their gods with nobility of form? Can it be
denied that the few nude figures they have left us are far inferior, not
only to those the Greeks were afterwards to design with so sure a
hand, but even to the hundreds and thousands of human forms with
which the Egyptians had already peopled their bas-reliefs and
funerary pictures?
Figs. 41, 42.—Fragments of an ivory statuette.

British Museum. Actual size.
Their first fault lay in an exaggerated striving after fidelity. They
insisted blindly on certain details which are elsewhere suppressed or
dissimulated, in obedience to a compromise which has been so
generally accepted that it must surely be founded on reason. We
may judge of this by two ivory fragments chosen from among those
that were found in such numbers at Nimroud. They are, in all
probability, statuettes of Istar (Figs. 41 and 42). The sculptor had
noticed that the female pelvis was larger than the male, but he
exaggerates its size and that of the bosom. The deep folds of the
abdomen indicate an exhausted vitality, that of a woman who has
been many times a mother, and other details of this region are
rendered with a clumsy insistance.[105]
There is no evidence in Chaldæan art of the feeling for proportion
which distinguishes Egyptian sculpture. Its renderings of the human
figure are nearly always too short and thickset; even those works
which by their general facility and justness of movement most
strongly attract our admiration, are not free from this fault. Its effects
may be estimated very clearly from the stele representing Marduk-
idin-akhi, a king of Babylon (Fig. 43), whose date is placed in about
the twelfth century b.c. It is true that the defect in question is more
conspicuous in this relief than, perhaps, in any other work of the
school to which we can point; but in all it is more or less perceptible.
In Assyria, under the later Sargonids, sculptors made an effort to
correct it, but even their comparatively slender figures have a certain
heaviness. Assyrian sculpture has many good points, but it is never
elegant. The Assyrian and Chaldæan sculptors were discouraged
from acquiring a complete knowledge of the human form by the fact
that it was not demanded by their patrons. The public who judged
their works did not perceive their shortcomings in that respect. There
was nothing in their daily life, or in the requirements they laboured to
fulfil, which either assisted them to make good their deficiencies, or
compelled them to do it for themselves. They seldom beheld the
nude form, still more seldom did they have to introduce it into their
works. The Greek writers speak of it as a peculiarity of “the
barbarians,” whether Syrians or Chaldæans, Lydians or Persians,
that they were ashamed to be seen naked, the men as much as the
women. Such a scruple, especially in the male, would seem hardly
comprehensible to the Greek accustomed to the nudity of the
gymnasium.[106]
The origin of such a notion is to be sought, perhaps, so far as
Mesopotamia is concerned, in a wise hygiene and in the rapid
changes of an uncertain climate. The difference between the
extremes of summer and winter temperature is far greater than in
Egypt or on the Ionian coasts, and precautions had to be taken at
one time against a scorching sun, at another against the cold of the
nights. However this may have been, it is certain that these people,
although they lived in a hot country, went about in a costume that
covered their bodies as completely as that of modern Europe. It
consisted of a long tunic, a tunica talaria (?) as the Romans would
call it, and a mantle. The tunic left nothing exposed but the head and
neck, the forearms, and the feet and ankles. It must have been of
linen or hempen cloth;[107] when worn by a rich man it was
embroidered and decorated about the foot with a sort of gimp fringe.
The tunics of the poor were short and plain, often coming hardly
lower than the knee. They were also looser and better fitted to work
in; but they are never wanting altogether, even to the men of the
corvée, the slaves and prisoners of war whom we see employed in
the construction of the royal buildings (Vol. I. Figs. 151 and 152).
Women were dressed in chemises coming down to their feet (Vol. I.
Fig. 30), resembling the long robe of coarse blue cotton which still
forms the only garment of the peasant women of Egypt and Syria.
Sometimes we find a sort of cape thrown over the tunic (Vol. I. Fig.
31, and below, Fig. 44).
Fig. 43.—Merodach or Marduk-idin-akhi. From a basalt stele in the
British Museum. Height 24 inches. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
As for the mantle, it was a fringed shawl, and, like the Greek
peplos or the Roman toga, could be arranged in many different
ways. In the painting at Beni-Hassan which shows us the arrival in
Egypt of a band of Asiatic emigrants,[108] it leaves one shoulder and
both arms uncovered, and forms a kind of frock round the body,
which it entirely conceals. In the old Chaldæan statues from Sirtella
the arrangement is more graceful (see Plate VI.); the piece of cloth is
folded double and carried obliquely round the body so as to cover
the left arm and shoulder and leave the right bare. The end is simply
passed under the first fold, by which it is tightly held.[109] There is no
trace of a tunic. In Assyria the mantle was variously arranged. It
always left one shoulder free, which was covered, however, by the
tunic. As a rule it reached to the feet (Vol. I. Fig. 22), but sometimes
it was so contrived as to leave one leg exposed from the knee
downwards. The robes of Sargon praying before the sacred tree are
thus arranged (Fig. 45).
Fig. 44.—Captives on the march. From the palace of Sennacherib.

As for the women’s dress, it was still more impenetrable than that
of the men. In the Assyrian bas-reliefs there are very few figures of
women on any considerable scale. We can hardly point to an
instance, except in the slab where Assurbanipal and his queen are
shown feasting in a garden (Vol. I. Fig. 28). In this carved picture the
queen is robed in a tunic and mantle, over which the embroiderers
needle has thrown a profusion of those rosettes that are so popular
in Mesopotamia!! art. We are allowed to glean no hint of the personal
charms of the favoured sultana, who must have been young and
beautiful. They are entirely masked by the envelope in which she is
wrapped.
In all this we are far enough from the semi-nudity of the Egyptian
sculptures, to say nothing of the frank display of the Greeks. On the
banks of the Nile, where the climate had no violent changes and the
air was deliciously dry and limpid, both poor and rich, both the king
and his subjects, were contented with the white drawers, which were
carefully plaited and knotted about the hips. On great occasions,
when, as we should say, they wished to dress themselves, they put
on long, bright-coloured, and elegantly embroidered robes; but those
robes were of a fine linen tissue, every contour of the body could be
easily followed through them, the age and character of every form
could be distinctly appreciated.
The artist, even when he had to represent the wives and
daughters of Pharaoh or the most august of the female deities,
showed under their draperies the contours of their breasts, their hips,
and the insertions of their limbs.[110] Still more transparent were the
robes in which the dancing and singing women who occur so often in
the tomb pictures were draped.[111] The calculated indiscretions of
this sort of coa vestis invited the painter and sculptor to do justice to
the elegance of the female form.
How different and how much less favourable were the conditions
under which the Assyrian sculptor exercised his art! For him the
contours of the body and the attachments of the limbs were hidden
behind heavy tunics covered with embroidery, and shawls often
folded double. If by chance he caught a passing glimpse of the forms
beneath, to what use could he put it? Two or three at the most of the
divine types upon which his skill was most frequently employed
involved a very partial nudity; most of the gods, and nearly all the
men, were draped. In a few very rare instances we find an Assyrian
stripped of his clothes and crossing a river by means of an inflated
skin.[112] But these figures, though fairly well drawn, are very small in
scale, and occupy but a subordinate place in the bas-relief where
they occur.[113]
Fig. 45.—Sargon before the sacred tree. Louvre. Drawn by
Saint-Elme Gautier.
Corpses stripped naked by the victor on the battle-field are of
more frequent occurrence; but these, being the bodies of despised
and hated enemies, are treated in very summary fashion.[114] We
may say the same of the prisoners whom they behead and flay alive.
[115] The mutilated statue of a nude female, rather less than life,
which bears a votive inscription of Assurbilkala, the son of Tiglath-
Pileser, and is now in the British Museum, is a great rarity. It is
believed to represent Istar. The execution is careful, but the forms
are clumsy and the proportions bad; the bust is a great deal too
short.[116]
By his failure to appreciate living form for its own sake, for its
beauty of line and harmony of proportion, the Mesopotamian sculptor
put a voluntary limit to his ambition. He renounced, in advance, the
only means within his reach of borrowing from the human figure the
elements for a representation of the deity which should preserve a
character of indefinite existence, of natural and sovereign
excellence. But this abstention, or, if you like, this impotence, did not
prevent Assyrian artists from fulfilling, in the most brilliant fashion,
the other part of the task to which they were called by the habits and
requirements of the society for which they laboured. The sculptors
were mainly employed by the king; their chief business was to
multiply his images; they were charged to commemorate the
sovereign in every act of his life, in every one of the many parts
involved by his indefatigable activity as builder, chief-justice, hunter,
commander-in-chief, and supreme pontiff. From the king himself to
the last of his soldiers or prisoners, every one who had his own
marked place in a picture was draped; the sculptor could reproduce
every episode of the royal life in the truest and most animated
fashion, without ever having learnt to draw the nude. In fact, he was
not called upon, like the Greek artist, to procure for the æsthetic
sense the pure joys that are given by the sight of noble forms or
movements well rendered; his duty was to commemorate by a series
of clear and lively images those events that were celebrated in words
in the text inscribed upon the very alabaster slabs beneath his hand.
Assyrian sculpture had this documentary character in the very
highest degree; its creations, in the intention of those by whom they
were commissioned, were less works of art than records.[117] The
long inscriptions and the endless series of pictures with which the
palace walls were covered were no more than an illustrated book.
And in what class of literature should that book be placed? It has
been called an epic illustrated by sculptors—a description that
seems hardly just. For in every epic worthy of the name the
marvellous occupies an important place, while in these reliefs it
scarcely has a place at all. With few exceptions the belief in a
superior and divine world makes itself felt in Assyrian art only in
those effigies of gods and demons we have already described. And
such images have their places rigidly fixed by tradition; they stand at
the palace gates, but are scarcely ever found within its saloons, and
are entirely absent from the marches, battles, and sieges. Here and
there among such pictures, but at long intervals, we find some
feature that reminds us of the aid that Assur and the other national
gods afforded their worshippers; now it is an eagle floating over the
king’s chariot;[118] now the god himself, surrounded by a winged
circle, draws his bow and launches his formidable shafts against the
enemies of his people.[119] He is thus represented mounted on a
galloping bull in the ring by which the standards of the Assyrian
legions were surmounted.
Fig. 46.—Assyrian standard; from

Layard.
All these details were small in scale and unobtrusive. The rôle
played by the architect was similar to that of the draughtsmen and
photographers who sometimes accompany princes and generals on
a modern campaign. The programme placed before him was as
narrow as it could well be; he was required to be faithful and precise,
not to give proof of inventive power.
The sculptor was, in a way, the editor of the military bulletins; his
work was the newspaper of the day, explaining the political events of
his time to those who could understand no other writing. There is
complete coherence between his figures and the inscribed texts they
accompany. Look, for instance, at the series of slabs from the Palace
of Sennacherib, in which his Jewish campaign is retraced.[120] The
final scene is thus described in words within a cartouche above the
heads of the figures: “Sennacherib, king of Assyria, seated upon his
throne of state, causes the prisoners taken in the town of Lachish to
pass before him,”[121] In order to show the details of the magnificent
chair upon which the king is seated we have reproduced only the two
principal actors, in the sovereign and his grand vizier (Fig. 47). If we
had been able to place the whole composition before our readers
they would have seen how thoroughly the inscription describes it.
Behind the general who is presenting the vanquished to the king,
appear the prisoners, some prostrate, others kneeling or standing
upright, but all turned towards their conqueror with gestures of
supplication.
The spaces to be covered were vast, but the warlike kings of
Assyria cut out enough work for their sculptors to keep them always
busy. Every campaign, and every battle, every siege or passage of a
river, seemed to them worthy of commemoration by the chisel.
Those to whom the work was given were forced therefore to multiply
figures; the task was complicated and yet had to be finished with
extreme rapidity. The sovereign was in a hurry to enjoy the spectacle
he had promised himself, he wished to inhabit for as many years as
possible the dwelling whose walls, like so many magic mirrors, would
reflect his own prowess and glory. And so the sculptor had to
produce much and produce fast; we can therefore understand how it
was that his creations never lost a certain look of improvisation. They
had the good qualities of such a mode of work; namely, force, vitality,
and abandon, but combined with all its defects, inequality,
incoherence, and frequent repetition.
In order to cover the surface abandoned to the sculptor as quickly
as possible, the work had to be divided; every one who was thought
to be capable of wielding a chisel had to be pressed into the service.
Sculptors of established fame who had already helped to decorate
more than one palace, mediocre artists with more age and
experience than talent, young apprentices entering the workshops
for the first time, all were enlisted, and each received his share of the

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Cases in Strategic Management:

Creativity and Innovation Perspective

McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited

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About the Authors ii

Theme I Vision / Mission

Theme II General Environment Analysis

Theme III Industry Analysis

Theme IV Competitive Advantage of Resource and Capability

Theme V Cost Leadership

Theme VII Business Level Strategy

Theme VIII Corporate Level Strategy

Theme IX International Strategy

Theme X Strategic Implementation

Theme XI Strategic Control

Theme XII Change and Turnaround

Theme XIII Creativity and Innovation

TOURISM INDUSTRY AND SCOPE FOR ZOSTEL

EXPLOITING THE GAP IN THE MARKET

COMPETITON FACED BY ZOSTEL

THE REVENUE MODEL

BUILDING BRAND ZOSTEL

CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR ZOSTEL

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Exhibit 1.1 Indian Tourism Industry Statistics

ZOMATO’S BUSINESS MODEL

of reviews and increasing number of registered restaurants in comparison to its competitors

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

The Perfect Timing

Dilemma Over Message and the Creative Answers

The Friendly Approach

Zomato Added Advantage

SOURCE OF REVENUE FOR ZOMATO

Fig. 34.—Cone of chalcedony. In the National

Fig. 36.—Winged genius. Louvre. Height 10 feet.

Fig. 38.—Istar and the sacrificing priest.

Fig. 40.—Lapis-lazuli cylinder. In the French National Library.

Figs. 41, 42.—Fragments of an ivory statuette.

Fig. 44.—Captives on the march. From the palace of Sennacherib.

Fig. 46.—Assyrian standard; from

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