Chanakya: The Business Quiz Conducted by Arnav Sinha (MnA Knowledge Solutions)

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•  These are the Prelims and the Finals of the Business Quiz conducted as part of IISER Mohali’s cultural fest, Insomnia 2016, on March 5, 2016.

•  The Prelims, with their answers, begin from the nest slide. •  If you want to jump to the finals, please begin from Slide 46.

Chanakya: The Business Quiz PRELIMS Conducted by Arnav Sinha

/Quizmasters.India @arnavsinha

RULES •  20 Questions; each answer worth 1 point •  Multiples of 5 are starred questions, meant to

break a tie •  If tie remains after using these questions, we’ll

compare questions from the top •  No Negatives, so please take a shot at all the

questions – nothing worse than kicking yourself (or your team-mate) on missing qualification by that one answer you missed writing!

ANSWERS

Q. 1 The Ittefaq Group of Industries is one of the largest steel producers in Pakistan, with headquarters in Lahore, Punjab. Established in 1969, it was nationalized for about a decade, before being returned to the owners by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. The current Chairman of the Group is the 5th richest person in Pakistan. Who?

Mian Nawaz Sharif

Q. 2

Which recently launched brand has this classification on its website?

Q. 3 The story goes that the school of the daughter of a British engineer called Jack Odell only allowed children to bring toys that fit inside a ________. This proved the origin of what iconic brand of toys, whose main products people would generally associate with boys? (Sorry, for the sexist question)

Q. 4

This Colgate-Palmolive product, very popular in the early 1990s, is today sold in the Pink Crush variety only. Romantic Rose, Caribbean Cool, Berry Blossom are some of the varieties discontinued. What brand, even though US-centric, is likely to be known to pop-culture enthusiasts across the world?

Q. 5*

These two gentlemen have been involved in a tussle between two neighboring state governments for the last few months, which seems to have got resolved this week. What entity is the cause of this tussle, which saw a ‘rebirth’ in September 2015?

Chandigarh International Airport. Punjab government wants it to be named after Bhagat

Singh, while the Haryana government seems to be keen on RSS veteran Mangal Sein. Its being finally named

after Bhagat Singh.

Q. 6 Kishore Biyani had an idea to make retail more ‘personal’ and less ‘professional’, by making everyone in the Group believe that the customer is God. Which former employee of Sanofi Aventis and Apollo Health Care did he bring on board to implement the idea?

Q. 7 Annalakshmi, which opened its first branch in Malaysia in 1984, and has since spread to Singapore, Australia and India, is considered the pioneer of the PWYW system. Other notable examples are SAME Café in Colorado, Karma Kitchen in Washington DC and Indus Valley in Puducherry. What does PWYW stand for, a concept that has had its fair share of economic viability studies in the last few decades?

Pay What You Want (similar answers acceptable)

Q. 8 -> SPAIN

-> ITALY

-> PORTUGAL

? -> ENGLAND (from 2016-2017)

No One (Barclays sponsorship expires in the 2015-16 season)

Q. 9

What is the title of this best-selling book from 2005?

Q. 10*

•  Godrej Besto •  Benzer •  Banque Nationale de Paris •  Charagh Din •  Variati •  Royal Diamond •  Charmis •  Paville •  Vinod Stainless Steel Works •  Binaca Fluoride •  Sur Sangam Why have rare print ads of these brands seen a recent spurt in interest?

All ads featuring Neerja Bhanot

Q.11 Chemist and physicist Sir James Dewar invented the vacuum flask in 1892, which keeps liquids hot or cold longer.

Unfortunately, Dewar never patented his invention, and a German company, ________ GmbH, ended up manufacturing it in 1904, subsequently patenting the design and leaving Dewar with no rights to the product. What was the name of the German company?

Q. 12

In a first in India, TTD opened a demat a/c with the Stock Holding Corporation of India in August 2015. This has been done to replace the process of physical transfer of share certificates to something known as the Hundi. Who or what is TTD?

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams

Q. 13

In August 2015, HDFC Life launched a new service offering called HDFC Life Cancer Care. The policy is unique in that it covers expenses related to cancer in a comprehensive manner, including out-of-pocket expenses, travel & lodging, experimental cancer treatment, etc, which is generally not covered by a regular health insurance policy. Whom did HDFC choose to be the face of the ad campaign to launch this offering?

Lisa Ray

Q. 14

Released at the time of the last cricket World Cup, which movie’s name is written on the cover of the toffee that is handed over to Kapil Dev?

Q. 15* Which company connects?

Q. 16 Currency of which place?

Portuguese Occupied Goa

Q. 17 Who is the gentleman at the driver’s seat, in this ad celebrating a news story from late 2015?

Q. 18

Which sportsman’s name was added as a hashtag to this print ad in June 2014?

Luis Suarez

Q. 19 •  JP Morgan •  Henry Clay Frick, a Pittsburgh steel baron •  J Horace Harding, a wealthy railroad investor from

Philadelphia •  George Washington Vanderbilt and Alfred Gwynne

Vanderbilt, from the shipping family •  Milton Snavely Hershey •  Guglielmo Marconi Some of the famous people who form the ‘Just Missed It’ Club. What exactly did they miss to become a part of this club?

They missed boarding the Titanic, despite having plans, and in some cases tickets, for the ship

Q. 20* Who is the author of this very recent God-level book?

‘Saharasri’ Subrata Roy Sahara.

Business Quiz FINALS Conducted by Arnav Sinha

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Round One Infinite Bounce - Clockwise

RULES •  13 Questions; each answer worth 10 points on

Clockwise IB and no negatives •  Each team can pounce four times in the round

(+20/-10) •  Pounces count whether right or wrong •  In case of part points, the new question goes to the

team next to the one answering the 2nd part

Q. 1 Originally from Kannur, Kerala, this Class X-pass boy went on to become one of the most well-known names in advertising in India – a testament to what hard work can get you in the country. What much-talked about campaign has his boutique firm A been associated with since 2014, perhaps coming a full circle from the time when his biggest dream was to become an apprentice in the company Gears and Pinions Pvt Ltd in Bangalore?

ANSWER

Q. 2 Starting off as a salt selling agency in 1848, Morton Salt became a manufacturer by 1910, and is today one of the world’s largest manufacturers of salt for industrial and household uses.

What prompted the adoption of this seemingly pessimistic motto in 1911 by the company? The logo, adopted in 1914, to go with it is considred one of the most easily identifiable images in the US.

ANSWER

Morton Salt was the first to introduce an innovation that would prevent salt from clumping together in humid weather. Addition of magnesium carbonate, kept the salt free-flowing. Now, of course, calcium silicate, serves the same purpose.

Q. 3

Located in Downtown LA, this is a budget hotel constructed in 1924.

Infamous for several suicides and criminal activity, including being the reported residence of the serial killer Richard Ramirez, it was refurbished and re-branded as Stay on Main after new owners took over in 2007.

For what specific reason has the hotel website as well as its Wikipedia page seen increased traffic over the last few months?

ANSWER

American Horror Story: Hotel is based on the Cecil

Q. 4

One of India’s revered business houses, also known for its valuable contribution to education, the family made its early money in textiles when Rai Bahadur Ram Kishen Das Gurwale set up a cloth mill in ‘saddi Dilli’ in 1889. Which company, still around?

ANSWER

DCM stands for ‘Delhi Cloth Mill’. Sir Shri Ram founded SRCC and LSR.

‘Gurwale’ also a hint to the vast sugar business.

Q. 5 Though originally from the US (which would account for a quintessential American filling), it has never been particularly popular there. It was introduced in South Korea in the 1970s after an R&D team member of a confectionery company noted it on a visit to the US, and was even used in lieu of hard cash in North Korea for a period.

What product, which was once also known as Wagon Wheel in the US, and whose world market is divided mainly between Lotte and the Chinese company Orion? (Orion held the trademark once and lost a lawsuit to Lotte for using it).

ANSWER

Q. 6

One of the most common ways of money laundering is to parcel out a large sum of money through a series of small transactions, in order to avoid scrutiny by regulators. The fact that there are large number of similar looking small entities involved in this act gives it a pop-culture name: _______ing. What, coined by an American lawyer in the 1980s?

ANSWER

Smurfing

Q. 7 Royal Warrants of Appointments have been used for centuries to appoint official providers of goods and services to the British royal family. These could include anything from food items to pieces of clothing to auto components and so on. The vendor can advertise this warrant as a proof of its high quality. Most vendors in the list with hundreds of business names are from the British Isles. There are a very small number of firms from the US, including one in the category of food products that was set up by a former banker, Edmund McIlhenny, in 1868, and is head-quartered at Avery Island, Louisiana. Which product?

ANSWER

Q. 8 Produced by the Japanese company Sanrio (that has a turnover of JPY 74.2 bn) and created by Yuko Shimizu, she was introduced in Japan in 1975 and brought to the US in 1976. She is supposed to have been born in the suburbs of London on November 1, and her height is described as five apples, while her weight as three apples.

She is bright and kind-hearted, very close to her twin sister, good at baking cookies and loves Mam’s homemade apple pie. She likes to collect cute things and her favorite subjects in school are English, music and art. Who is she?

ANSWER

Hello Kitty/Kitty White

Q. 9

In October 2015, this resident of La Coruna, Spain, was ranked as the richest person in the world for four hours by Forbes.

Known for being extremely media shy – when he made a public appearance in 2000 before his company’s IPO, it made national news – name the company (or its most identified brand) that he founded along with his ex-seamstress wife in 1975.

ANSWER

The Inditex Group

Q. 10

Chucking the most common professions in Cornwall – mining and fishing – William ______ opened a shop in London in 1760, with the stated intention of filling it with every kind of toy in the world. Originally known as ______ ____, it grew into a chain that took his surname, with branches across Europe, US and Asia. The original Regent Street store, spread over 7 floors, is the oldest toy store in the world. What was his surname, and what was the scripture-inspired original name?

ANSWER

Hamley, Noah’s Ark

Q. 11 What is common to all these idioms, some extremely irritating, used very often in the world of business: •  Ballpark figure •  Cover all bases •  It ain’t over till it’s over •  Rain check •  Step up •  Swing and miss •  Touch base •  Whole another ball game

ANSWER

All find their origin in baseball.

Q. 12

Construction of this fort in Chandrapur in eastern Maharashtra was started in the 15th century by King ______ Sah, belonging to the Gond community. He had shifted his capital to Chandrapur from a nearby town named after him. The latter is still an important town in the locality, known for its cosmopolitan nature owing to the manufacturing unit of the company that shares its name. Which town/company?

ANSWER

Ballarpur Industries Ltd. The king was called Ballar Sah.

Q. 13

This product, whose invention is credited to 3M and Johnson & Johnson among others, has two names that are used inter-changeably. And there are a number of explanations given for this. But, the most likely one seems to be based on the fact that the brand with the above mascot became the leading supplier of this product in the 1980s, and the brand name gradually started being used for the product itself. What are we talking about?

ANSWER

Duck tape and duct tape, both being commonly used,

and valid, names for the product shown below.

Round Two Written Connect

RULES •  8 Questions, with a theme common to all the

answers •  Individual questions’ answers to be written down,

and scored relatively as 4*(7-n), with ‘n’ being the number of teams with correct answer*

•  Each team can attempt the theme once after every question is revealed; scoring at that stage given on the corresponding question slide

•  Theme points for the first two questions are the same

* Total number of teams was 7

Q. 1/8

Launched in November 2015 as a luxury vehicle division, the ex-Lamborghini man Manfred Fitzgerald will lead the brand. It is initially being marketed in Korea, China, the Middle East and the US, followed by Asia and Europe after some time. Which company’s luxury brand?

30/-5

ANSWER

HYUNDAI

Q. 2/8

If asked in a rapid-fire, I bet most well-informed people of my generation would still answer ‘seven’, but somewhere down the line it became ‘eight’. For some reason, entities like Australia, China, the EU and the US are interested in observing, though not much really happens to observe. What are we talking about?

30/-5

ANSWER

SAARC

Q. 3/8

In 2005, there was a very public sparring between Escorts group chairman, Rajan Nanda, and his brother Anil Nanda. Rajan wanted to sell off most of the group stake in a valuable asset to another business group, which he went on to do despite Anil’s resistance. 90% was sold, 10% was kept with Dr Naresh Trehan. Which group was the buyer?

26/-5

ANSWER

FORTIS HEALTHCARE

Q. 4/8

Heartbreaks all around. Which Gurgawan tech company is this bloke a co-founder of?

22/-5

ANSWER

MICROMAX

Q. 5/8

As a direct result of this case, what body came into existence in 1956 after the consolidation of 245 private entities, and a few others that were providing similar services?

The prominent businessman RK Dalmia was incarcerated in 1955 in a famous case, where he had used money from his other financial businesses to engineer the acquisition of Bennett, Coleman & Co.

18/-5

ANSWER

LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA

Q. 6/8 A columnist from the widely read conservative Veja magazine speculated that it was some sort of sub-conscious mind control put forth by the country’s leftist Workers’ Party. Some saw an L and D for Lula and the successor. Most bizarrely, many saw Chico Xavier, consider by many as a psychic medium, often seen in his trademark wig, with face deep in thought in his palm. What?

14/-5

ANSWER

BRAZIL WORLD CUP LOGO

Q. 7/8

which as the name suggests, charters planes, air ambulances, offshore service helicopters, etc. The company was set up in 1997, and now is managed by the founder who also introduced a service in India under this company in 2003, which was a first for the time and revolutionized the industry. What service did he launch in 2003?

Logo of a Bangalore-based services _______ Charters,

10/-5

ANSWER

DECCAN AIR (Low Cost Air Travel)

Q. 6/8

But, his first foray into the industry was through acquisition of the local arm of the Australian firm Nicholas Laboratories. The story goes that he honestly told Mark Baker, in-charge of selling the firm, that he had no experience in the industry, as against the several other buyers who were in the market for it. Baker liked his face or his conviction, but a pioneer in the industry took birth with that deal. Which company (group, as the business we are talking about has largely been sold in a highly profitable deal now)?

A textile family man, he built the business he is most famous for by strategic acquisitions of Indian units of Swiss firm Hoffman La Roche Ltd., Germany’s Boehringer Mannheim GmbH and France’s Rhone-Poulenc.

5

ANSWER

PIRAMAL GROUP (Nicholas Piramal)

FINAL ANSWER

Round Three Infinite Bounce - AntiClockwise

RULES •  13 Questions; each answer worth 10 points on

AntiClockwise IB and no negatives •  Each team can pounce four times in the round

(+20/-10) •  Pounces count whether right or wrong •  In case of part points, the new question goes to the

team next to the one answering the 2nd part

Q. 1

While Vivek Mehra (person on the right), a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers makes regular appearances on business shows on TV and is a very well-known entity in the finance industry, if we were to rank the people in his immediate family in terms of fame, this would be the most likely ranking: 1.   Mrs Mehra 2.   His step-daughter (a lady of mixed nationalities) 3.   Mr Mehra Whom did Mr Mehra marry in 2008 after a long courtship, after which the lady moved to Delhi?

ANSWER

Mrs Mehra = Neena Gupta Step-daughter = Masaba Gupta (daughter of Viv Richards)

Q. 2

Guviso Holdings Pvt Ltd, till 2008, was the largest shareholder in a Mumbai-based company known for its iconic brand campaign, and innovative products. The company has a large market in India, as well as Middle East and Africa.

If ‘vi’ stands for the brother-in-law Vijay Mansukhani, and ‘so’ stands for the brother Sonu, what does the all important ‘Gu’ stand for?

ANSWER

Gulu Mirchandani, founder of MIRC Electronics, the owner of the Onida brand. MIRC, of course, comes from Mirchandani.

Q. 3 This beverage brand was in the news in 2013 for being featured in the 14th edition of Philip Kotler’s Marketing Management book.

The brief history touches upon the early experience of the founder in South Africa, where he owned 500 acres and where he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on racial equality, and where he himself witnessed discrimination.

The inspiration was strong enough for him to establish a brand in his own country that reflected this idea of equality in its name and logo. Identify the brand, supposed to be the 3rd largest selling in its country in its product category.

ANSWER

Q. 4

Sir Fulk de Brent (d. 1226) was an Anglo-Norman soldier, who earned high office by serving King John and King Henry III. His heraldic device was the griffin. The location that he stayed at in London, first became famous for the _______ Pleasure Gardens, named after his large house. Today the name is most identified with the parliamentary constituency that covers the region, and even more with an iconic company that has its origins in this area. Which company, which pays homage to Sir Fulk de Brent’s herald in its logo?

ANSWER

Q. 5 This multi-millionaire entrepreneur is known for his rebellious humor, which doesn’t go down well with his country’s government.

In 2011, demonstrations over parliamentary elections resulted in a country-wide government shutdown. A SWAT team was sent to his home too, and during the standoff he realized that there was no safe way for him to communicate with his brother.

What service/app did he begin as a result of this, having already founded one of Europe’s most successful new tech companies?

ANSWER

This is Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte, the largest European social network, inspired from Facebook, who lives in exile now.

Q. 6

While growing up on army bases across USA, she was a very physically sensitive child, with regular allergies, breaking into welts and rashes.

So, while looking for safe (and aesthetically pleasing) diapers, detergents and soaps during her first pregnancy in 2008, when she could not find anything reasonably priced in the market, she launched her own line with help from internet entrepreneur husband Cash Warren.

Who is this lady, known to many for her other achievements, named by Forbes as America’s richest self-made woman in 2015?

ANSWER

Jessica Alba

Incidentally, there have been increasing complaints filed against the company in recent times indicating that the products are not as

‘honest’ as the company would like us to believe

Q. 7 James F. ______ (1868 – 1935) was an American chemist most famous for being among the first people to use non-animal fat to manufacture soap, in his case the fat being cottonseed oil. Not long after his pioneering work, an Indian businessman, with interests in several product categories, started selling soaps manufactured purely from vegetable oil – a novelty in India. Even though there is no traceable history of collaboration, interestingly the surname of the American chemist is a part of one of the prominent group companies of the Indian businessman. Just figure out this surname.

ANSWER

Boyce

Q. 8

Alfred Grace Thompson, born in 1863, learnt his trade as a saddler and harness maker. By 1890, AG Thomson Pty Ltd had become the leading saddler in Melbourne. But, threatened by the advent of the motor car, his business changed course, but still building on his exemplary leather craft nonetheless. The business was renamed after the dear family pet ‘Jacky’, and the rest is history. What creature was Jacky?

ANSWER

Q. 9 In investment banking, while an M&A or funding deal is ongoing, it is referred to by a codename. Common codenames could be Project Alpha, Project Phoenix, Project Neptune, etc.

Sometimes the code name has no direct connection to the entities involved (which is the whole idea actually, in order to keep all references secret), but sometimes there is a logic to the code name. In Verizon Communication’s USD 4.4 bn takeover of AOL in 2015, the deal was referred to as Project Hanks. In deference to what from the 1990s?

ANSWER

Reference to the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, in which AOL’s email service plays an important role in getting the two lead characters together.

Q. 10

Kleercut was a former campaign conducted by Greenpeace and partner agencies against company X from 2004 to 2009. The complaint was that the main raw material in many of X’s products come from old growth forests in Canada and the US, including habitats for wolverines and caribou. Which Texas-based company was the campaign against?

ANSWER

Kimberley-Clark, with the campaign name being a play on Kleenex, the main product from the company.

Q. 11

In this clip from May 2014, what is Tyrese Gibson and his homies getting excited about?

ANSWER

The USD 3 bn acquisition of Beats Electronics, founded by Dr Dre, the hip-hop artist, by Apple. This was the biggest acquisition ever by Apple.

Q. 12 Mark _____, a British businessman, is the founder of a company that bears his surname and whose products you are very likely to come across every time you do an internet search. His family made its fortune in the US in oil, and is distantly related to Samuel ______, founder of a historically important town in Philadelphia, which one would closely associate with a certain Mr Lincoln. What is the name of the company?

ANSWER

The town is Gettysburg, famous for Lincoln’s address. Gets its name from Samuel Getty.

Q. 13 This was developed by George Lerner in the late 1940s, supposedly after he saw his nephew playing with a more basic form in their garden.

With memory of WW II rationing fresh among buyers, it had a slow start. Plus, since only some parts were sold initially, the main body had to be procured oneself and was easily subject to decay, and thus would quickly become dangerous for the target customers.

What, which after Lerner showed to Hassenfeld Brothers, became a massive hit in the 1950s and is still very popular (thanks also to a series of films in which it featured)?

ANSWER

Mr Potato Head. Initially, only the body parts were sold and children had to use real potatoes. The film series is, of course, Toy Story.

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