| domination, october 2014 department of management ... · 4 | domination, october 2014 department...
Post on 08-Jul-2019
216 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
| Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
2 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
EDITORIAL
Dear Readers,
It‟s time we say goodbye to the
month of October, and what a
wonderful month it was, filled
with joys and festivities. As we
enter the month of November
and welcome the chill of winter,
we present you another intri-
guing and exciting edition of
DoMination.
This edition features a number of
articles from a diverse range of
topics. The cover story for this
edition is an interesting piece on
E-commerce operations. It is ti-
tled “Amazon Inc: Champion
of Third-party vendor-ship &
lean operations”, written by Mr
Nitin Aggarwal. It tells us what
models Amzaon.inc, the global
leader in e-commerce industry
follows in handling its opera-
tions. The Perspective section of
this month‟s domination covers
“Modi’s Visit to Japan”. This
article is written by Mr. V.
Karthik Reddy and he discusses
some of the global outcomes of
this visit.
DoMination is never short of the
fun quotient. This edition fea-
tures the next round of quiz for
the people who love brain twist-
ing. We also have a Fun Cartoon
by Nitin Aggarwal under the
chlorophyll section. The next
section of this month‟s Domina-
tion is Talk of the town which
contains an Article on “Big Bil-
lion Day” written by Mr. Naveen
Kumar. Naveen has covered the
positive and negative outcomes
of this event for Flipkart.
It is always good to back to our
alumni, listen to their experiences
learn from their journey; the cur-
rent edition has an interview of
Mr. Gaurav Joshi (DOMS, IIT
Roorkee, Batch of 2012-14),
taken by Mr. Kapil Gupta.
Gaurav Joshi currently works as
Business Development Manager
at Decimal Technologies Pvt Ltd.
The edition also includes the suc-
cess story of Mr Sujeeth, a Telu-
gu movie director. Sujeeth at 23
is celebrated as one of the young-
est directors in India. The success
story is written by Mr. N. Sri
Chandrasekhar. We finish this
month‟s DoMination with an arti-
cle titled “Coal Block De-
allocations: The Implications”
written by Mohana Bhattachar-
yay. Mohana has discussed the
economic implications of this
move by the Govt.
We hope you will like the present
edition of DoMination. Your
thoughts and feedback are always
welcomed and appreciated. Feel
free to write to us your inputs.
Happy Reading.
~Regards Team Domination
3 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Contents Amazon Inc: Champion of Third-party vendor-ship & lean
operations
4
Modi’s Visit to Japan
7
CHLOROPHYLL
19
Inte
rvie
w w
ith
Gau
rav J
osh
i
17
Success Story
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE
Talk of the Town
Coal Block De-allocations
The Implications
Roorkee- 247 667, India Tel: +91-1332-285014, 285617 Fax: +91-1332-285565 Email: domination.doms.iitr@gmail.com Website: www.iitr.ac.in/departments/DM/Pages/Index.html
10
11
15
20
Q U T O P I A
Faculty Adviser
Dr. R.L. Dhar
Team DoMination
Apurva Sood Gaurav Mittal Mehul Lala Sudeshna Naskar Vignesh B
Ashutosh Puri Kapil Gupta Karishma Manik Vikrant Kanwar
Designing Team
Ashish Jaiswal Dhruv Kadian Rakesh Kumar Akash Rangari Bratati Roy Brijesh Kori Vishisht Veer
4 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Cover Story
E-commerce is a buzz world for the today‟s surging Indian Econo-my. Retail e-Commerce (e-tail) in India is a high growth-potential, underdeveloped business with a maximum current market penetra-tion of only 5%. The scene is dominated by online travel portals having the biggest share of 80%, followed by the sale of electron-ics, financial services, and cloth-ing-each having negligible share. With more than 350 e-commerce start-ups across various segments, the major players are trying to diversify while a few are pursuing for segment leadership. Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal remain the major players in the play-field of E-Commerce with companies like Myntra and Jabong leading the largest consumer segment i.e. Ap-parels and Fashion. During the recent years this sector attracted major lead-angel investments with global players like Amazon and e-
bay pumping money into their Indian e-commerce arms. Consumer attraction depends ma-
jorly on consumer value proposi-tions. With an Indian mindset where-in cost leadership is one of the prime contributors to this val-ue proposition, E-Commerce companies are majorly focusing to smooth out their backhand op-erations including inventory man-agement, packaging and logistics to trim operational expenses lead-ing to reduction in overall cus-
tomer cost still maintaining the product profit margins. A major chunk of operations cost & busi-ness investment goes to the inven-tory and inventory management and has been a prime area of fo-cus for all E-commerce compa-nies. With major players trying to focus on improving and enhanc-ing third-party vendor-ship along with self maintained inventory, companies like Shopclues.com have specialized on zero-inventory models which are more of open online marketplaces on which third-party vendor can di-rectly sell his products to a target customer. Amazon Inc., The global leader in E-commerce industry, has always played with a motto of “Earth's most customer centric company to build a place where people can come to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online”. For such a store third party vendors
Amazon Inc: Champion of Third-party vendor-ship& lean operations
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
5 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
build a place where people can come to find and discover virtual-ly anything they want to buy online”. For such a store third party vendors are the most vital lifeline, which acts as veins in the company-customer system pump-ing products Just-in-time with minimal efforts and reduced oper-ational costs. The benefits any major player of e-commerce sec-tor derives from its third party vendors are:
Increase in catalogue of-ferings in terms of item types & brands.
Increase in reach to remote locations of the country.
Reduction in Inventory maintenance & investment interest cost.
Reduction in warehouse infrastructure require-ments.
Reduced operational staffs count.
Reduced state road/operational costs.
Along with above mentioned ben-efits, collaborating with third-party vendors also allows e-commerce companies to face off with their biggest rivals i.e. the physical stores as third-party ven-dor-ship enhances competition compelling traders to sell at com-petitive prices. Amazon is a champion in third-party vendor management among most of e-commerce companies. The company has always har-nessed strategies to attract, apply and retain third-party vendors. Today you may be an established manufacturer, a wholesaler, a dis-tributor or a small time vendor with an outlet; everyone who can maintain a product inventory, en-sure timely supply and has a com-puter can sell on Amazon. Brands like Casio, Reebok and Emami are selling their factory manufac-tured products directly with Ama-zon and we have recently wit-
nessed the cost and quality impli-cations of such strategies with Xiaomi‟s and Google Moto‟s partnership with Flipkart. With entry of small time exclusive product manufactures like Soul-flower and Biyani group, Amazon now can also make perishable products available to the customer just-in-time. The shopping experi-ence moves towards like going around in a shopping mall, where each store gives unique offerings. The e-commerce company and Third-party vendor partnership can be broken down into five dif-ferent service steps that are fol-lowed in the supply chain as: 1. Listing the product on Ama-zon.com and Junglee.com. 2. Packaging the product. 3. Product shipping. 4. Customer grievance handling. 5. Placing Amazon.com link on vendor‟s web-site. With Amazon, a vendor can opt to fulfilling one – more of above service steps and in relative would be Amazon‟s share of prof-its in the service. Some vendors like Casio who have means and staff strength to full-fill all above service steps would receive daily orders which would be packed on-site and dis-patched to the customer location by the vendor. Any customer grievances would first be directed to the vendor itself while Amazon would only interfere if any of the above is not handled suitably by the vendor. Hence, the overall e-commerce presence of Amazon is being directly used by a vendor to sell its products. In case of mid-scale and small-scale vendors, Amazon allows them multiple options wherein they can either stock their entire inventory at Amazon‟s ware-house, allowing Amazon to full-fill rest of the steps or else opt to
perform more than one step, leav-ing rest on Amazon. For example a vendor may opt to package the products and allow Amazon to ship the products for it. If the ven-dor cannot stock the inventory with Amazon e.g. in case of retail store owners, but ensure just-in-time deliveries, Amazon would also treat the vendor as a regular third-party vendor with same ven-dor offerings In addition, Amazon runs special competitions among third-party vendors as additional leverage to enhance competition. In the same way Amazon also provides other additional services like Amazon-pay where-in all payment for a product is routed via Amazon from the customers to vendors in case a vendor is un-able to afford payment service providers, in way curtailing the operational costs. To harness the advantage of brand presence of any other vendor, Amazon also allows third party vendors to be its affiliated mem-bers. In such case the vendor al-lows a direct link of Amazon.com on its web-site showcasing the product, as an additional option of purchase. Such strategies are good when implemented but they have a huge bearing on customer relationship and quality assurance. Amazon runs a quality assurance program with a name of A TO Z guaran-tee, which marks Amazon as the supreme arbitrator in all third-party vendor and customer trans-actions and interactions. Initially In case of a third- party pur-chase‟s customer complaint, first the concerned vendor is allowed to handle the grievance which may include up to replacement of the product. If the vendor is una-ble to resolve the issue, Amazon can direct the vendor to take req-uisite steps which may include up to full reimbursement of the
Amazon Inc: Champion of Third-party vendor-ship& lean operations
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
6 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
amount paid. The global leader Amazon has modelled itself as a lean, economic and efficient e-commerce compa-ny, fulfilling the consumer needs while adapting to the local Indian challenges. It is now up to the Indi-an e-commerce companies if they can replicate and improve upon to stop the surge of Amazon as local leaders in globally growing Indian economy.
By-
Nitin Aggarwal
DoMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Amazon Inc: Champion of Third-party vendor-ship& lean operations
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
7 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Modi‟s Visit to Japan - A Step towards multipolar international System?
Introduction The world order with US at the helm is no longer sustainable. The world order is slowly shift-ing away from the unipolar inter-national system. The recent rise of new powers namely BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa could soon result into a new world or-der. There has been rise of regional powers in Asia and Modi‟s visit
to Japan could be seen under the same light. Signing of “Tokyo Declaration” is historic in nature and it is a tiny but meaningful
step towards the shift towards multi-polar international system
A shift away from Unipolar World Order Post World War II, bipolarity
emerged into the global arena. It
was dominated by two great
powers with strong economic,
military and cultural influence.
The whole world was directly or
indirectly aliened to either US or
USSR. However, it was post col-
lapse of USSR that US rose to
the helm of global affairs and
truly world order became unipo-
lar. Thereafter US remained
largely unchallenged for many
years. There were various rea-
sons for unipolar world order.
Apart from geographical security
and military strength, US had
economic and cultural hegemo-
ny. It was US which laid the
foundations of the present global
economic order. It supported
Bretton Woods‟s system, GATT
which was later replaced by
World Trade Organization. Also
US indirectly controlled some
financial institutions such as In-
ternational Monetary Fund and
World Bank.
After understanding the reasons
for the dominance of US for such a long time, one has to under-stand what all recent events led
to a shift away from Unipolar world order. US sub-prime crisis of 2008 is one of the turning
points in the history. It coincided with the 1st BRIC summit in 2009 which was the initiation of
an alternative to the US hegemo-ny. The economic stagnation in
the Euro zone and the US result-ed in BRICS countries gaining
more wealth, expertise, con-sumption power and the political clout to influence and re-arrange
the global system to their ad-vantage. The manner in which some of the recent event unfold-
ed such as Ukraine crisis, Af-ghanistan troops pull out issue, Snowden & NSA fiasco etc. rein-
force the fact that US hegemony is on a down fall. The shift towards multi-polar international system has started and many steps have been taken in this direction such as inaugu-ration of BRICS development bank; Chinese proposal of Mari-time Silk route; Successful ac-complishment of Mars Mission by India; Russia‟s adamant stand in Ukraine crisis; Brazil‟s initia-tive to reorganize the interna-tional system of Internet Govern-ance etc. Prime Minister Mr. Modi‟s Foreign policy initiatives also signify the same. Inviting neighbouring SAARC leaders to attend his swearing-in was a symbolic representation of In-dia‟s aspirations to be the re-gional superpower. Also order of
Perspective
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
8 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
his initial foreign visits were Ne-pal, Bangladesh, Japan and then to US. This also signifies his set of priorities and focus Modi’s Japan Visit Mr. Modi‟s Japan visit is one of the many stepping stones towards the multi polar world order. Understanding of the Tokyo Declaration will help us appreci-ate the significance of this visit and its role in shaping the future of global international system. Tokyo Declaration can be broad-ly divided into Strategic, Eco-nomic, Energy, Science and Peo-ple2People relations. Strategic Relations Firstly, India and Japan are now strategic partners; which implies there will be regular 2+2 strate-gic dialogue - regular meetings between National Security Advi-sories. Second, Japan lifted De-fense trade ban from HAL and other defense companies. Also Japan will sell US-2 amphibian aircrafts and its technology to India. This is the first time post WW-2 that Japan will make an overseas military sale. It is a his-toric moment given that Japan was under US military shadow since WW-2. Third, both Nations will hold regular naval and coastal guard exercise. Fourth, both Nations want urgent re-forms in UNSC. Japan has pledged to help India get full membership in export control regimes i.e. nuclear supplier group, Missile technology con-trol regime, Wassenaar Agree-ment; Australia Group. This will give India a distinct advantage in participating in the management of the global commerce in ad-vanced technology. Similarly, India, with its emerging high-technology profile, will strength-en global export controls or stra-tegic trade management through the multilateral export controls regimes. Economy and Trade First, Japan pledged to Invest-
ment $35billion in smart cities, bullet trains, Ganga cleaning, women-health etc. in next 5 yrs. It also plans to double its FDI in India and invest 50billion yen loan for PPP projects. Second, India will supply rare earth chlo-ride to Japan- for making defense and high tech electronics. This agreement is to be seen in the light of Chinese refusal to supply rare earth metals to Japan due to its ongoing rift. This is basically changing the power dynamics of the Asian Continent and signifies how different nations are using one regional power (India) to balance out the rise of another regional power (China). Third, Govt. of India agreed to setup “Japan+ Management team” in PMO, which will help Japanese investors in doing busi-ness in India. It is another posi-tive in the direction of strength-ening regional bilateral relation-ships to counter the impact of US. Fourth, Japan agreed to per-form joint feasibility tests of bul-let trains; upgrade existing semi-high speed trains; finish ongoing industrial corridor projects; give advanced irrigation and farming machines; North East Road con-nectivity, Forest resource Man-agement, water supply improve-ment etc. Energy and Environment Both nations signed pact to jointly explore Oil Gas and pro-cure LNG. This has to been seen in the light of US domi-nance over the Oil rich nations of Middle East and its own Shale gas reserves which will be in great demand in near fu-ture. It is important for nations like India and Japan to have in-dependent energy security to aspire to be the regional powers of multi polar world. On similar lines both nations Collaborated for environment friendly coal technology such as Coal-fired power generation technology; Clean Coal Technology (CCT); Super-critical coal-fired power project in Meja, UP; Super criti-cal thermal power plant in Bah-raini, Bihar etc.
Science India and Japan have decided to perform outer space exploration via Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF). Also undertake ICT initiatives; provide internet security; joint ocean stud-ies etc. In 21st century, only mili-tary might is no longer sufficient. With climate change and sustaina-ble development being the key ele-ments of development dynamics it becomes very important that na-tions are scientifically advanced and superior to ensure food and energy security. Nations should be able to cope up with the disasters and high “sustainable” growth rates. Also Science Fellowship programs for youth will also be started in both countries. People 2 People India and Japan have decided to help each other in developing itself into two strong poles of the future multipolar international system. And for any relationship to last long it is not the govern-ments but the people who plays the pivot role. Hence Tokyo dec-laration has given prime im-portance to people2people rela-tions. It is decided to develop Va-ranasi just like Japan‟s historical city Kyoto under Kyoto-Varanasi partnership agreement. Under JENESYS 2.0 program ~1300 youth will be exchanged between the two nations. Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) will send nurses to Mizoram. And it is decided to promote Tourism, youth exchange, skill Development etc. Future of Multipolar Interna-tional System As we can comprehend from above that the multiple poles of future are right now collaborating to overcome the influence of US in global politics. But the real question is will the multi-polarity be sustainable?? It all depends on how different nations behave. Right now Japan is balancing out China by collaborating with In-dia.
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
9 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
China has built good relations
with Russia to counter balance
US. India is building close rela-
tions with ASEAN countries to
increase its influence in its East-
ern side. All these are balancing
and counter-balancing acts which
will keep on shifting depending
upon the needs of the time. Now
in a multipolar world, there is no
real single powerhouse. Trage-
dies like that in Iraq can be
avoided in such a world order.
All the nations big or small will
be equally treated in international
treaty agreements like that of Cli-
mate Change. There are lots of
advantages of this new world or-
der. But everything comes with a
cost. . It is very important for the
regional powers to behave with
integrity and humanly. In future
there will be scarcity of natural
resources, there will be energy
insecurity, food will be scarce
etc. It is then these nations have
to behave responsibly and keep
in mind the interest of the poor
nations as well. However, all in
all it will be an exciting phase in
the human history and we will be
lucky to witness it.
By- V. Karthik Reddy
DoMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
10 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
chlorophyll
By-
Mr. Nitin Aggarwal
DoMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
What it feels during
Exams
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
11 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Qutopia
Section A (1 Point for each correct answer)
1. This company claimed Total weight of our shipments was more than 800 adult
elephants between Sept 21 and Oct 21, 2014
2. "Power Dressing" is the tag line of
3. What does this chart depict?
4. Who said these words: "When you have $1 million, you're a lucky person.
When you have $10 million, you have trouble, when you have more than $1 billion,
you have responsibility."
It’s Exquizite, Kills your Quriosity and adds to your Quizdom. Need we say more? ‘Qutopia’ – A Utopia of
the best Biz Quiz Tidbits to wreck your brains! Rush in your answers to domination.doms.iitr@gmail.com
before 10 December 2014. The winner will have their names published in the next issue. Also, person
getting the highest score in the current quarter will get a gift voucher. Answers in the next issue of DoMi-
nation.
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
12 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
5. Connect Image 1, image 2, image 3 and image 4.
6. Name the company which launched Breakout, The Street Glide Special, CVO in India?
7. Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati are founders of which company?
8. Name the parent company of the Airline that has signed an agreement with Airbus to buy
250 A-320 aircrafts.
9. How was Fairwinds Private Equity previously known?
10. Which company is moving its global headquarters to India in March 2015 for a month-
long immersion experience?
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
Section A (1 Point for each correct answer)
13 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Section B (2 Point for each correct answer)
1. Only one ISL franchisee is completely owned by a single entity. Name the entity.
2. Name the CEO who made this statement "I don't consider the bloody ROI. If you
want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock"?
3. An English film to be released in December this year has Martin Sheen playing the
role of a CEO of a US MNC who was charged with manslaughter by authorities in In-
dia in the mid-80s. Name the CEO and the title of the movie?
4. Which Indian company acquired 51% stake in Peugeot motorcycles?
5. Name the parent organisation of .
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
14 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Section A 1. Kohler India Corporation Private Lim-
ited
2. Germany
3. Starbucks
4. ICICI
5. SBI
6. Cognizant
Winner of September edition
Prachi Jain DoMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-16)
SECTION B
1. Bendgate of Apple iphone 6
2. Vivek and Roopa Kudva , head-
ing Franklin Templeton and
CRISIL Ltd.
3. First book sold on Flipkart :
Leaving Microsoft to Change
the world
Answers for September edition
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
15 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
India witnessed “A wedding in the family” on 6th October as it caught the site of an Indian fla-vour of Cyber Monday popular-ized by billion dollar spending extravaganza in the U.S. Flipkart which can rightly be gazed at as the 800-pound gorilla in this busi-ness came up with a sale concept named Big Billion Day on Octo-ber 6th aimed at hitting Indian cus-tomers by a bolt in the blue. As per the plan this move was intend-ed to not only stretch company‟s place in the market but also en-large the market size of e-commerce industry as a whole. The brainchild was to startle Indi-ans with offers and discounts spanned across entire catalogue that would take the winds out of their sails but the plan advanced with major glitches. Despite a roaring 15x traffic raise on Flip-kart to 1 billion clicks, the shot was few yards away from the tar-get. Disillusionment arouse as the deals people were raring to go for got over within seconds of the sale starting at 8a.m. and the most sought after „steal deal‟ section had nothing but „out of stock‟ message to flash. Although Flip-kart claims to have clocked sales worth $100 million in Gross Mer-chandise value (GMV) in mere 10 hours, the snag let consumers with a sore spot.
Flipkart‟s share of profit pie was well eaten by its competitors Am-azon and Snapdeal-the website directed the buyers to Amazon.in while Snapdeal took charge by offering products aggressively priced coupled with better ser-vices .In today‟s hyper competi-tive, multi channel, noisy market-ing landscape, companies propel
on the marketing budget of other companies or in simple terms, they play Gorilla marketing. Of-ten the company pouring millions fuelling the frenzy gets caught up in the heated affair.“Amazon tar-geted customers who were unable to complete orders on Flipkart and was the most searched site on
cashcrow.com”, Swati Bhargava, CEO of cashkaro.com. Custom-ers faced several hindrances ac-cessing the website due to server overload and the umbrage was aired to social media via Face-book , twitter and whatsapp. It is also being claimed that the dis-counts running on the products were pseudo discounts as the pric-es of these products were being inflated over the past couple of days. The stated deep discounted items at Flipkart were beaten hands down by Snapdeal. This masterstroke struck chords with a large crowd for Snapdeal and in-dustry experts view it as a major move that would play a signifi-cant role in brand acquisition and customer loyalty in this cut throat e-commerce market. Lead con-tender Amazon saw a massive surge in its traffic over the past two weeks and has been able to sell more than 100,000 Android Smart phones complemented by a 300% increase in its shoes catego-ry. According to a leading report,
many major electronics giants such
as Samsung, LG, Sony are not hap-
py with Flipkart as they have sold
their products at a price much be-
low the cost price.
Talk of the Town
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
16 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
By-
Naveen Kumar
DOMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Fresh sales to Flipkart might get suspended and legal action too might follow as the pricing strat-egy on their products was re-ferred to as „predatory pricing‟. Companies want to know the modus operandi behind pricing scheme and claimed to have faced a major blow to their brand value. Also, heavy discounts af-fect the brick and mortar sellers as they cannot match the price offerings. A gentle reply to this fiasco was an apology letter that Flipkart issued to all the custom-ers in its scope. Customer cen-tricity was the tone of the letter and the server failure on the day is being put forward as the inade-quate technological backbone at Flipkart. This apology though not accepted at face value by customers at large, was a clear indication of the philosophy at Flipkart and it is a positive stride Flipkart has taken to reap customer trust. Their ina-
bility to match up to the sheer scale of the event and disruption of shopping experience of cus-tomers was well apologized for by them. Though this mammoth sale presaged a lot of bad publicity for the company, it should in no way tamper the image it has built through years of staggering ser-vices. A sagacious consumer will comprehend the state of affairs that let to unprecedented chain of circumstances that followed and won‟t shift his preferences in terms of brand loyalty. While Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal have locked their horns firm in place, contending for the numero uno spot for holding e-sale this festive season, they have ham-mered the final nail in the coffin of brand loyalty. The customers are having a jovial time picking offers solely on the basis of price and are
completely neglecting the impera-tive factor that which company could serve them better on days less frenzied. These events might churn cash momentarily and might get valuation in potential IPO‟s but these sales are not sustainable and will result into demise of those sites that have not carved a brand loyalty for themselves. Uncertainty surrounds Indian e-commerce but one fact stands tall- customers will draw the utmost benefit from this battle.
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
17 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Interview with
Gaurav Joshi:
DOMS IIT Roorkee batch (2012-2014)
1. Tell us about yourself and about your journey before joining DoMS, IIT Roorkee I graduated from LD College Of
Engineering, Ahmadabad and
worked for 5.5 years before join-
ing DoMS. I worked for two
companies Patni Computers (3.5
years) & Fiserv India (2 years). I
was the Team lead of Test Auto-
mation for Metlife in Atlanta,
Georgia. But later, after working
for a couple of years I realised
that a degree in Management is
required to climb up the corpo-
rate ladder. Also, there is a sense
of personal history with IIT
Roorkee. My maternal Grandfa-
ther was a professor at Hydrolo-
gy dept. and my mother has stud-
ied in Adarsh BalNiketan. Hence
I chose IIT Roorkee.
2. What made you choose the field of marketing? My internship taught me the sig-
nificance of Marketing. I took
telephonic interviews of over 200
customers of Ampere Electron-
ics; I met dealers across Banga-
lore & Coimbatore. I felt that
there was a gap in perception of
what the management thinks and
communicate the product/
services and what the customer
perceives about the product/
services. The more you do to
bridge the gap, more the product
will sell. Also, I realised the ver-
tical which brings money to an
organisation will always be treat-
ed first among equals. Marketing
and Sales get to dictate the direc-
tion for the organisation.
3. Can you share your intern-ship experience at DoMS, IIT Roorkee with us? I worked for Forum Synergies
(India) Private Equity Fund Man-
agers Private Limited in Banga-
lore. I worked under the mentor-
ship of Hemchandra Javeri&
Samir Inamdar. Hemu was the
President and CEO of Madura
Garments and Nike India. Samir
was the President and CEO of
General Electric in India [Both
Alumnus of IIM Calcutta]. Fo-
rum Synergies was about to in-
vest in Ampere Electronics, an
electric two wheeler company. I
was required to do the SWOT
Analysis of Ampere Electronics
to advise the management about
it's decision to invest in Ampere.
I met with CEO, CTO, COO of
the company and took in depth
interviews of over 200 custom-
ers, 20 dealerships. I studied the
product line, how the product
were placed in the dealership,
how the customers were treated
in the dealerships etc. I analysed
the legal hurdles that were pre-
sent. My analysis was presented
in the corporate presentation
done by Forum Synergies to its
Spanish Partner Investors.
4. Please share some of your best memories of 2 years at IIT Roorkee. I joined Roorkee after working
for 5.5 years. So this was a wel-
come break for me. I remember
the time spent in the canteen dur-
ing the winter months (being de-
lightfully high) and our batch
mates singing on top of their
voice. I can't forget the bike
rides to Chakrata, Tehri, Dha-
naulti, Camping in Rishikesh,
Playing tennis, playing Poker,
mugging up for FA, MA. Being
the Class Rep, I had to co-
ordinate guest speakers, organise
multiple summits at one time,
organise industrial visit, manage
class functioning, manage the
admission process and this is on
top of the regular academic rig-
our. But the best part was un-
doubtedly the mentorship I re-
ceived under Nangia sir,
Rangnekar Sir, Lovneesh Sir &
Jagan sir.
5. What have been the biggest challenges you have faced in your current field of work.
DoMS-da-Evince
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
18 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
I am currently in IT Sales. The
perception of Sales is not very
positive. We perceive the role of
sales as a target driven job and
have unbearable pressure [it is
true] but, it's also one field that
teaches you the most. Sales peo-
ple get to interact very frequently
with the C Suite of the company
[both internal and external]. The
other challenge is we have to be
on our toes as the industry is rap-
idly changing and we must adapt.
There was one incident once
when the CIO of a very big multi-
national walked off from the
meeting as he thought I was not
abreast with the latest offerings in
the market.
6. Any piece of advice for cur-rent MBA students and other MBA aspirants? My advice will be to understand
the practical aspects of what is
being taught in class. Try to keep
your fundamentals strong. Fun-
damentals do matter. Try to do
live projects, participate in Case
study/B school competitions. But
besides this play your heart out.
Use the wonderful Tennis courts,
Badminton courts, pool tables
and swimming pool that IIT has
to offer. On an ending note, I
have been an ardent believer of
the Quote
“Khudi Ko kar buland itna ke
hartaqder se pehle Khuda bande se
khud ooche bata teri raza kya hai”.
By-
Mr. Kapil Gupta
DOMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
19 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Success Story
Sujeeth:
The prodigy who etched his success
Sujeeth, at 23, is one of the youngest directors in India to make his directional debut. Ever since his movie „Run Raja Run‟ (Telugu) has hit the screens, he has become the talk of the in-dustry; not so because he has at-tempted to do a film at such a young age, but the way he han-dled the 64 crafts of film making. Unlike the typical youth of this profession, he appears confident and totally in control. Though he speaks briskly; there is an unmis-takable clarity of thought and sin-cerity in his voice. It all started with him cooking up stories to bunk his Hindi tuitions. Generally kids tell their mothers that teacher is unwell or went somewhere, but he used to narrate a different story every time to make his mother believe. As all lies come into light someday, he was caught when his mother met his Hindi teacher. Instead of scolding him, she appreciated his story telling capabilities and spon-taneity and that is when he real-ized his innate story telling capa-bilities. Over the course of time he developed a passion for film mak-ing. Sujeeth says he is indebted to his parents who were always support-ive. At 17, he let his parents know about his film making aspirations. In spite of coming from a family with no film background, his fa-ther didn‟t ask him to give up on his, what a typical middle class father might describe it, an unreal-istic dream.
He was so obsessed with film making that he did a diplo-ma in film technology from L.V Prasad Film and T.V academy while pursuing his Bachelors in commerce. He made 38 short films in a span of 5 years ranging from budgets of few hundreds of rupees to as high as seventy lacs. This experience helped him in efficient use of budget allocated to him during his debut venture. He learnt the ins and outs of script writing. He in fact wrote the story and screenplay of „Run Raja Run‟ in four and a half days as the producers Vamshi and Pro-mod of UV creations liked his way of narration but asked him to come up with a new script. Sujeeth is not resting on his lau-rels; in fact he didn‟t bother to take a good night‟s sleep after the movie release. He was busy go-ing around theatres taking the public pulse and finalizing the publicity tours. He has a few of-fers from prestigious production houses to make his second film but he firmly believes story is the main ingredient of movie making and the rest all will fall in place subsequently. He says “I was giv-en an opportunity because my story impressed the producers, not because of my prior experi-ence or credentials, of course they come as an added advantage but that is not the main criteria.” In a society where getting a job
with 4lpa after graduation is con-
sidered successful, Sujeeth handled
a 4 crore venture with utmost ease
and stood as an inspiration for
youth in an industry with 1% suc-
cess rate. As quoted by Alfred
Hitchcock “Self-plagiarism is a
style” and as an ardent movie lover,
I hope Sujeeth builds a style of his
own and enthrals the audience. On
the closing note I wish him all the
best in his future ventures.
By-:
N. Sri Chandrasekhar
DOMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
20 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
The coal block allocation scandal,
or the Coalgate, as it is popularly
known, garnered international
media attention when it came to
light after the CAG office accused
the Government of India of ineffi-
ciencies and irregularities in the
process of allocation of coal
blocks during 2004-2009. Coal is
a precious natural resource and
hence, coal blocks must be allo-
cated to organisations following
the process of competitive bid-
ding. However, the then govern-
ment chose to allocate these
blocks in an arbitrary manner to
various public and private enter-
prises. As a result, these compa-
nies paid much less than they
might have otherwise, resulting in
a massive loss of revenue to the
state exchequer and windfall
gains to the enterprises. Deepen-
ing the impact of loss to the gov-
ernment, it emerged that many
companies had failed to develop
their coal-fields after winning li-
censes without proper bidding.
While the initial CAG report only
talked of inefficiencies in the pro-
cess, the question of corruption
and bribery being involved came
to dominate the discussion with
the course of time. There was tre-
mendous public outrage and anti-
corruption demonstrations all over
the country with opposition par-
ties demanding the resignations of
several ministers and authorities
allegedly involved in the same,
including the then Prime Minister,
Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Recent developments:
In July 2014, the Supreme Court of India set up a special CBI court to try cases arising from coal block allocation scam on a day-to-day basis. On 24th September, the Supreme
Court cancelled 214 out of 218
coal blocks allocated since 1993
to steel, cement and power com-
panies. Apart from the cancella-
tion, the operational mines will
also have to pay a penalty of Rs.
295 for every tonne of coal ex-
tracted since they commenced
operations. For all the de-
allocated coal blocks, the govern-
ment is free to hold auctions or
give them away to Coal India.
The operational coal blocks have
been given six months to wrap up
their operations, after which these
blocks will be handed over to
Coal India. However, the power
producers would not face a dis-
ruption in their supplies as Coal
India would continue to provide
coal to them.
Impact on the banking sector:
According to a report by Karvy,
the banking sector had a total ex-
posure of Rs. 5 lakh crore to the
power sector, in addition to the
exposure to iron and steel compa-
nies which stands at Rs. 2.65 lakh
Regardez I'economie
Coal Block De-allocations: The Implications
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
21 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Economic implications of the ruling: Impact on the banking sector: According to a report by Karvy, the banking sector had a total ex-posure of Rs. 5 lakh crore to the power sector, in addition to the exposure to iron and steel compa-nies which stands at Rs. 2.65 lakh crore, as of June-2014. Various banks have financed many new projects during the period from 2008-2014. The cancellation of the allotted coal blocks to these projects adversely impacts the chances of recovery of these loans. As these projects fail to take off or are stalled, banks will have to either write-off or classify these as NPAs. Re-allocation of these blocks through auctioning will mean substantial delays in project and result in slippages and restructuring of loans to these pro-jects. The percentage of gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) for the banking sector is expected to worsen from 3.9 percent of ad-vances in fiscal 2013-14 to about 4-4.2 percent in 2014-15. Banks would also need to keep money aside to cover bad debts. This will, in turn, have a negative im-pact on their profitability and cap-ital needs. However, since, this
exposure also involves money lent to distribution companies and firms that are not allocated coal blocks, not all of this money is likely to get directly impacted by the ruling The concern that this verdict rais-es in the banking industry is simi-lar to the uncertainties that the banks faced when the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G spectrum licenses granted by the UPA-government in an arbitrary man-ner. However, banks‟ exposure to 2G loans was much less, about Rs. 10,000 crores. Impact on the companies: The apex court‟s verdict sent rip-
ples through the metals, mining
and power sectors. The fate of the
money invested (about Rs. 3 lakh
crores) in order to develop the
coal blocks is uncertain. There are
ten companies that are severely
impacted but they will not have a
major issue paying interest be-
cause they are fairly big compa-
nies and do not have a debt-
servicing problem– like Hindalco
Industries, Sesa Sterlite, Steel Au-
thority of India (SAIL), Tata
Steel, JSW Steel, Reliance Power,
Jaiprakash Power Ventures, JSW
Energy and Adani Power. Smaller
companies, like Jayaswal Neco,
Electrosteel Steels, Prakash In-
dustries, Sarda Energy, Usha
Martin, CESC, JP Associates,
RKM Power Gen etc, might find
it difficult to pay back the interest.
In the metal industry, companies
will have to buy coal from other
destinations which could invite
logistics issues and additional
costs. Companies like JSPL who
were getting windfall gains on
steel and power production have
to pay a penalty of more than Rs.
3000 crore. Those that have not
started production may lose the
blocks, or will have to buy mining
rights in a fresh auction. The rul-
ing might derail the business ac-
tivity in these industries.
The stocks of the companies af-fected by the order have been plummeting. Major steel and power companies have seen major erosion in their market capitalisa-tions. Investors are estimated to have lost around Rs. 52000 crore in these companies.
Table1: Exposure of various banks and financial institutes to companies impacted by the SC Ruling
Financial Institute Exposure to Impacted Companies (in Rs.crore)
% of Total Loans
Axis Bank 2700 1.2
ICICI Bank 3000 0.9
IndusInd Bank 300 0.5
Yes Bank 450 0.8
HDFC Bank 273 0.1
SBI 7800 0.6
Bank of Baroda 2000 0.5
Punjab National Bank 4100 1.2
Bank of India 2000 0.5
Union Bank 3000 1.1
IDFC 825 1.5
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
22 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
The stocks of the companies af-
fected by the order have been
plummeting. Major steel and pow-
er companies have seen major
erosion in their market capitalisa-
tions. Investors are estimated to
have lost around Rs. 52000 crore
in these companies.
Impact on the state govern-ments: While the ruling directly affects
the corporate, the tremors will be
felt on the finances of the state
governments too. As the operating
blocks allocated to various state
government firms have been can-
celled, the states of West Bengal,
Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Ra-
jasthan are likely to face big loss-
es as these state-owned companies
pay additional levy on the coal
extracted by them.
Impact on CAD: The verdict may have a marginal
impact on raising the net burden
on the CAD by an additional $700
million. The country imported 171
million tonnes of coal at $16.41
billion in 2013-14 against 145mil-
lion tonnes at $17 billion in the
previous fiscal. A halt in domestic
production of coal would increase
our import dependence further. As
the coal-developing projects on
these blocks get stalled temporari-
ly, coal would need to be import-
ed to meet the needs of the power-
generating and steel-producing
companies. The rising import bill
due to additional coal imports,
however, stands compensated due
to decreasing international oil
prices. Moreover, the six-month
time frame should ensure that the
impact on coal imports and cur-
rent account deficit will be mar-
ginal.
Opinion The ruling is more rigorous than
what the industry was expecting
but it sends a clear message about
India taking a stand against the
improper allocation of national
resources. Even though many ana-
lysts feel that the judgement is
negative and could delay the en-
tire growth revival in the econo-
my, it would clean the system in
the long-run. Now the onus to rec-
tify the crisis in this sector lies
with the government. The govern-
ment needs to act quickly and al-
locate the blocks on a merit basis
and under a properly formulated
policy so that these mines can be
developed as soon as it is possi-
ble. The long-awaited auction pro-
cess should ideally be completed
within the March 31st deadline so
that the winners are ready before
that. The auctions will result in a
windfall gain for the central gov-
ernment and the coal sector can
benefit from increased competi-
tion. This opportunity can be uti-
lised by the government to intro-
duce reforms in the sector. Irre-
spective of certain short-term
costs, this judgement will be a
welcome ruling to the investment
environment in the country as it
sends out a clear signal against
any further nexus between the
government, the bureaucrats and
India Inc. Being a judgement in
favour of improving good govern-
ance, the investment climate in
India would gradually become
more transparent.
By- Mohana Bhattacharyay
DoMS, IIT Roorkee (2014-2016)
Cover Story | Perspective | Chlorophyll | Qutopia | Talk of the Town | Success Story | Regardez I’economie
23 | Domination, October 2014 Department of Management Studies, IIT Roor-
Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee
Roorkee - 247667, INDIA
Comment/Feedback Mail to : - domination.doms.iitr@gmail.com
Contacts: Kapil Gupta (+91-8146164602 )
Karishma Manik (+91-8859437025)
Follow us :-
Blog Page- http://domsiitroorkee.blogspot.com/
Twitter Page- http://twitter.com/#!/doms_iitroorkee
Facebook Page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/DoMS-IIT-Roorkee/156383884413349
top related