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VANTAGE POINT ISSUE3

Sparsh, the social initiative flagship event of Vista 2013

enabled students to work on current issues being faced by NGOs. Participants had

to build an end-to-end holistic business plan for an NGO named Krishi Prayog

Pariwara, which could help resolve the stated issues related to organic farming in

India.

Well, Sparsh was not just any other business competition where people came up

with glamorous strategies that were often awe inspiring but failed to pass the

rudimentary consumer test. The solutions here had to be realistic, implementable

and had to ensure scalability and sustenance of the practice. The practical

importance of the event is evident from the fact that the teams were given an

opportunity to interact with the NGO to understand ground realities. And living

up to its theme, several Interesting proposals were presented. From advertising

campaigns for increasing awareness to cooperative ‘forward contracts’ business

models, the finalists had analysed it all. Having the famer’s identity on organic

products was one of the proposals to increase brand trust and satisfaction.

8 teams qualified for the final round which included 5 teams from IIM Bangalore

and one each from XLRI, JBIMS and NIT Silchar. IIM Bangalore bagged the top

honours with Karthikeyan and Shankar from team Chanakya emerging winners

and walking away with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000. Team Bungee, also from IIM

Bangalore came in a close second.

The Vantage Point team:

Viveka, Udit, Leela Krishna, Soumyak,

Hamsini, Sathya, Vignamitra, Sooraj

Events to watch out for on day3

29th Sep 2013

Think winning an auction is completely random and

based on luck and timing? Well, if you had witnessed the Bidwiser event, you

would have without a doubt changed your mind! The six 6 finalists- 3 from our

very own campus, 1 from IIML and NITIE and a corporate team battled out a very

intense war in order to create the best possible company. With their limited

budget of $10mn, they had to execute very careful strategies in order to win the

best employees (the best being measured in terms of work experience, academic

background and leadership positions). It was evident that teams who didn’t have

smart tactics lost out to those who schemed silently. One such case in point is that

of an IIMB team who gunned for the early profiles instead of holding their fire,

making other teams gain a dominant stratagem. Another example is that of a team

who did not ruminate about the restrictions such as maximum number of male

employees, and therefore suffered the winner’s curse. The viewers couldn’t help

but be enthralled in the heat of rising stakes. The highest bid for a CEO went up to

$2.9mn! The bidding ended, leaving a poignant thought in my mind- if we were

able to ‘bid’ (shape the path) for “happy events” in order to create the “best

possible life”, would strategy work in this case? I think, yes! So, go ahead and call

your own shots!

Media Conclave, 3pm, Audi

President, Intel India

CLO, Reliance Industries

MD, Edumedia India

Best Selling Author

Miss India World, 2012

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Brevity is the soul of wit and Director’s Cut at Vista just turned out

to be an apt proving point for that. The event demanded

contestants to get across a social message within 5 minutes. Just

about a day has passed since Kamal took over the campus by

storm and his words already seemed to have taken shape. His opinion on short film makers having tremendous

power in getting across social messages was proven right with the entries that made the Directors Cut Finals.

The initial round consisted of teams uploading their movies online and gaining publicity for them via number

of likes. The top 6 ‘liked’ entries were screened at L^2. Social issues covered included Sustainability, Right to

Education, Women Self Defense and Anti-Smoking to name a few. Strong purpose driven, proficient movie

making was at display with even movies spanning less than a minute, effectively getting across the message.

Varied styles of movie making and creativity riots were evident with few teams choosing to carry their message

through a narrative while a few pulling it off even without a single word being uttered. The final results are

expected to be combination of a pre fixed judging criteria and the movie’s social media acceptance.

“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than

a fair company at a wonderful price”. So said a man who is

probably the shrewdest investor in the world. When people

think of valuation, they are reminded of complex spreadsheet

models and geeks who spend their lives glued to their computers. But valuation is an art, as Mr. Buffet said.

StreetSmart at Vista’13 is inspired by the same principles – the hallmark of a good investor is his/her ability to

know what a business is worth and how the company can structure its operations to maximize its value. This

year, the organizers of the event came up with a very innovative format in which contestants were tested on

their ability to make a deal and explain clearly the rationale behind it.

Six teams were chosen from the preliminary round to attend on-campus finals. The finale was riveting as the

contestants felt the pressure and the thrill of a PE deal when they presented to the one of the best

professors in finance and experts in mergers & acquisitions – Prof. Venkatesh Panchpagesan and Prof. Utkarsh

Majumdar. This year they were asked to value and structure the investment of two companies in dynamic

industries like the infrastructure and pharmaceutical industry.

The contestants did a great job according to the judges who appreciated the number-work in spite of the short

time that was available for preparation. The judges also stressed the importance to understand the context of

the industry and to take it into consideration in order to bring in depth to their analysis. The financial whiz-

kids of IIM Bangalore won this closely fought contest while IIM Kozhikode came second.

3 IIMB | VISTA 2013

The battle of the Czars (albeit that of Corporate ones) unfolded in the hectic September

afternoon on the second day of Vista 2013. The uncharacteristic heat was no deterrent

for the 6 teams who came armed with razor-sharp strategic skills and were pulling out

innovative solutions to the problem at hand at the drop of a hat. The confines of the

classrooms of the B-school could not diminish either the level of excitement or the intense

competition. This event comprised two rounds in all and the participants had to strategize for the telecom company’s way

forward. The finalists faced tough challenges in the form of questions and counter-questions from the judges’ panel that

comprised of Mr. Puneet Garg (Contract Diretor at BT) and Mr. Vijay Ramaswamy (Founder of Analytic Edge). It took all of

their effort and some more to convince the judges of their arguments. However most teams’ work bore evidence of indeed

how thoroughly researched each of the finalists’ devised strategies were. The smooth glitch-less execution of the event

clearly showed the amount of preparation put in by the Vista team and the corresponding volunteers. But finally to the

victors went the glory. The ones to win were Pooja, Sachin, Umakanta and Pratik from IIM Kozhikode followed by the

home team from IIM Bangalore comprising Chithra, Kaniyar and Krishna. The first prize had on offer INR 22,500 and the

second prize an amount of INR 10,000.

ExSell:

Vista’s second day saw the birth of a new and unique event of its

kind in the name of ExSell. After an eliminating round of picture

based and objective quiz, the selected six teams from a total of 70

teams (210 participants), were given a challenge of marketing eco-

friendly products.

The six different teams were given six different eco-friendly

products/product categories pertaining to different industries

such as bamboo pen-drives, jute bags, solar chargers etc. The

judges were posing as CEOs of five different companies across

sectors ranging from Fab India to Staples and the teams had to

make a pitch to them. The teams could pitch to any or all of the

CEOs with the liberty of changing their pitch according to the

situation. Teams were rewarded based on how convincing they

were in their pitches and how many units they were able to sell.

The sight of formally dressed business executive team members

sprinting between rooms to keep their appointments with various

CEOs in the L cluster was indeed a funny one. The credit of the

success of the event also goes to the judges who were experts in

marketing and negotiation strategies, and played the roles of the

CEOs to perfection while negotiating with the participants. What

started off as an on the spot event, ended up as a full-fledged

marketing and strategy case study event. “Fit to be in the flagship

list”- to quote the judges’ words. ExSell –many might have

wondered about the nomenclature, a few might have figured it

out, but two of our own from IIM B, lived up to its to name in the

end – ‘to excel’.

Memelicious – Top Entries so far:

www.facebook.com/iimbvista

4 IIMB | VISTA 2013

Day 3 Schedule:

Time Slot Event Venues Event Description

09:00 - 12:00 Convexity Calls L-22 IIM Bangalore introduces Convexity Calls: a unique ALM based event

which tests contestants' skills in Balance Sheet Management.

09:30 - 12:00 Euro-Vention

Finals

Central

Pergola

Teams will be assigned one of the significant member countries of the

EU on random basis. Further, we will have a live simulation of the

proceedings.

10:00 - 14:00 Next Big Wave

Finals K-12

Final presentations on the theme: "Solar Energy - Go Green!"

10:00 - 12:00 Numero Uno

Round 7 C-21

Rounds testing test the business aptitude, communication skills,

leadership skills and ability to handle pressure.

10:00 - 12:00 Drishtikone Final

Round L^2

Presidential Debate: Standard Presidential debate (based on US

presidential debate structure)

11:30 - 15:00 Genesis Finals K-11 Finalists will make a presentation to HCL's Senior Leadership

12:00 - 13:00 Retailer - Elims L - Cluster Elimination round with a written quiz testing the knowledge of

participants in retail sector. Prizes worth Rs. 30,000. Teams of 2-3

12:00 - 15:00 EMX Product Guru

Finals L-22

Presentation including Product Development and Business Strategy -

Technology, R&D, Financials, Supply Chain, Demand and Supply,

Marketing Strategy and the USP.

13:00 - 14:30 Creative Minds -

Out of Box Prelims Audi

Out of the box has a whole lot of exciting activities piled up, from logo

making, fun-fact quiz, collage making, guerilla marketing and more!

13:00 - 15:00 Retailer Finals L-11 Participants will operate a virtual retail outlet. The retail environment

will be simulated based on decisions taken by the participants.

15:00 - 17:00 Media Conclave Audi

17:00 - 18:00 Padma Vyuh

Prelims Audi

Vista proudly presents Corporate Quiz exclusively for the participants

from the corporate world to bring out the best of the quizzers in you

17:00 - 18:00 Optimus Prelims L-Custer Operations Simulation Game - live in the real life of decision making,

inventory planning, logistics management

17:00 - 19:00 Creative Minds -

Out of Box Finals L^2 Top 8 teams will be selected to create some whacky guerilla art

18:00 - 20:00 Optimus Finals L-11 Excel based Simulation game – Prizes worth Rs. 20,000

18:00 - 20:00 Padma Vyuh Finals Central

Pergola

Finals with Prizes worth Rs. 45,000

19:00 - 21:00 Numero Uno Finals L^2 On stage event simulating an AGM which tests the ability of the

contestant to handle pressure and think on the feet