The IIM Bangalore trio won the recently held CNBC - TV18 & Hindustan Unilever's Lessons in Marketing Excellence (L.I.M.E.) Season 3, beating FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai and IIM Ahmedabad at the finale that took place at the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai. The winning team was presented with a cash prize of INR 6,00000 for the novel and cost effective ideas they put forward for the Indian Railways. The GyanCentral team spoke to Aditya Mukherjee, from the winning team to know more about their idea, strategy and experience.
Can you give us a brief about the participating team?
I have done my under graduation from MTU, Singapore and then I was working there for four years, in Continental Auto Motors company. Then, I also got my masters in Economics, from Singapore Management University. Then I came back for my MBA and I interned here with BAIN & company.
The other team members Mansi Baranwal and Shivani Pal, have graduated from the IIT Kharagpur and NIT Allahabad respectively and both have been gold medalists in their fields.
What motivated you to participate in the competition?
They come to IIM Bangalore campus every year. In fact last year too there was a team from IIM Bangalore, but they did not pass the semis. Mansi, Shivani and myself had developed an inclination towards marketing and all three of us had also become good friends during our internship at BAIN & company. So we decided to participate in the competition since marketing was one of the things that we enjoyed the most during the course of MBA.
Can you tell us a brief about the competition and the different rounds?
We had to clear a couple of rounds before we reached the finals. The first round consisted of a case study about Emirates in terms of what marketing strategies should be undertaken by Emirates? How can they gain more market share? Etc.
The second round revolved around a hair conditioner by HUL. Hair conditioner penetration in India is very low in compare to peer countries like- Vietnam and Philippines, so we had conducted a detailed study on the product and formulated strategies to increase the penetration levels in India.
And finally, at the finals we were asked to chalk out plans to enhance revenue and better the brand image for the Indian Railways. We had a lot of time, but from the beginning we tried to be very authentic and grounded in our analysis.
Can you elaborate on the solution that fetched you the win?
When we started researching, we realized that the railways had access to the best advisers for a long time and lot of study had been conducted by these committees that covered a lot of aspects of development. A lot had been said and tried but nothing being done. So, we decided that we would not say anything that has already been said and things that cannot be done.
We also learnt that the railways being a government organization had a lot of sociopolitical constraints that governed majority of the major decisions. There is a compulsion towards social welfare due which certain costs cannot be raised beyond a particular limit. This was a big issue that needed to be taken into consideration while planning any strategies. Based on our research we decided to be grounded in our approach and chalk out a plan that could be actually implemented.
We figured out that the railways do not differentiate within their poor customers. They offer the highly subsidized general compartments for these passengers but fail to realize that within these travelers is class of customers who need not be subsidized completely – the class ASPIRERS as called by Mckinsey. These customers earn up to INR 15,000 a month and can afford to pay if they get value for their money. This was a major point of differentiation that was being neglected and causing the railways to loose out on a major chuck of revenue.
Therefore, we proposed to have different compartments for this class of passengers. The compartments would be sitter coaches with AC and would make a marginal profit of INR 10. This would not only create an affordable and value for money product for the customer but would also help the railways capture the untapped market thus reducing the overall subsidy as well generating some revenues.
In terms of Brand Image, since the railways is an indispensable part in the life of every Indian, we proposed to have the basis as "Aap ke her manzil tak ka saathi" in which the focus should be on different people who use railways in the different (critical) parts of their life.
How was the experience of participating in the L.I.M.E competition?
It was a wonderful experience that we all had. It gave an opportunity to explore and develop our marketing skills. We had the opportunity to meet and network with eminent professionals and students from various prestigious institutions like IIM A, FMS and S.P.Jain.