A Game of Chess

It was a warm early morning of October. The year was 2003. I set out to play my first tournament of Chess in high school. My opponent was a scholar, the topper of the batch! And here I was, a rookie in the world of chess. Or so he thought. 3^rd move of the game, I delivered the knock-out punch, I took his queen! The expression on his face told the story. It was of utter disbelief! He was using the “Scholar’s Mate” move on me. He was supposed to win the game in the next move! How the hell did this happen? His expression slowly changed to surrender and in another 45 mins, I had won the game. This experience gave me my first major learning in chess and in life alike…

Having sat through multiple sessions on “Strategy” during my B-School days, I was always intrigued by the fabulous moves played by businesses around the world. Acquisitions, advertising, promotions, product launches, so on and so forth always threw multiple lessons in business strategy to be amazed by. One question remained unanswered – It’s okay for us to retrospectively analyze the moves but when these businesses are actually into these situations, how do they come up with these masterstrokes?

Some claim it is experience accumulated over the years. Some say it is having ‘expert analysts’ on their side which works. Some claim it is ‘compare and contrast’ with other businesses that have been there and done that. But if all that had to be true, wouldn’t it be applicable to both sides of the table? Wouldn’t both competing businesses have access to the same information and have services of equally smart analysts? How then, would one side ever emerge victorious?

Having spent some time in the corporate world, I see a different side to this hype of “business strategy”. Can we consider it like playing a game of chess? And the business moves we make, inspired by the moves in chess? Let’s dig further in to this. Each company has different business units called verticals. Each of these units has different capabilities, different set of objectives. Each of them competes with a similar business unit of another company. Just like the pieces on a chess board. However individualistic, these pieces are working towards a common purpose – To get the opposition king, to achieve the overall company goal.

The game of chess has numerous teachings to offer which can be applied to a business scenario. For one, chess is a game where you keep your cards close to your heart. Play one move at a time without giving the opponent a hint of your larger game plan. Else, you could get drawn in and beaten at your own game! Think of TATA Steel’s acquisition of Corus where TATA went head on for it and a silent Brazilian firm CSN played smart and made TATA Steel pay so much more than it would have otherwise paid.

How often in a game of chess that we sacrifice a pawn for a queen. Or rather use a piece to serve a larger purpose in the game. Then think of what P&G did by introducing Luvs Diaper in the market. To serve the larger purpose in a fight between Pampers and Huggies, Luvs was “sacrificed”. On the other hand, when P&G was to make an entry into the market with Oral B, Colgate flooded the market and occupied all available rack space. Just like sometimes, how we position our pieces to occupy strategic squares on a chess board, not to attack the opponent but just to restrict their movement.

The importance of the king is well emphasized in Chess, just like it needs to be in business. If your king falls, the empire, however large, will collapse! (Ramalinga Raju and Satyam?) In chess, the pieces fight while the king does not come into the fray until the very end when the knock-out punch needs to be delivered. He is protected from all sides and exposed just when needed to check-mate the opposition. Just like business, where your highest authority will not be exposed until the very end, so that the power associated with the highest authority does not get diluted. Think of the letter written by Sachin Bansal to buyers after the Big Billion Day disaster. Would it have gotten the respect that it did had Sachin Bansal been exposed too much before? Think of how major companies associate their brand name only with certain products at a certain stage. Protection of the ultimate power center you would think?

There is so much more in a game of chess that can be related to businesses. Think of giving the opposition a “check”, a threat with an intention to make them play a certain move which they were not willing to. Then think of Google’s move of acquiring Motorola to threaten Samsung thus getting the desired usage restrictions on Android. Think of a head-on battle between the queens in chess. Reminds you of Sprite vs Dew or even the current e-commerce scenario in India? A good player of chess can always think 3 moves ahead of his opponent and then the opponent just follows terms dictated by the leader. Think of Apple and its products? A weaker player sometimes plays the slow game waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and then pounce on them. Like years ago when No. 2 Pepsi pounced on market leader Coca-Cola after they changed their formulation and it went wrong (“They changed my coke” campaign). The game plan in chess needs to evolve with time. You cannot always win a game with a plan you started with. Think of Kodak and Nokia who failed to evolve their game plan. A game of chess always gives you an opportunity to make a come-back if you play the right moves. Think of how Cadbury roped in Mr. Amitabh Bachchan to endorse it after the insects’ disaster.

Today, we see how a new Fogg deodorant beat heavyweights like Axe to become the market leader. Or how a Patanjali group by Baba Ramdev is threatening the likes of HUL, ITC and P&G in India! Or how a small brand like Micromax has captured market share like no one imagined. This brings me to the most important learning from a game of chess that any business can take. A lesson my opponent, the scholar, learnt on that October 2003 morning in high school. Never underestimate your opposition, else 1 wrong move, can be the game-ender for you! Brings me to this intriguing thought that may be, just may be businesses look at strategy like playing chess. Simulation of your business situation on a chess board might just give you the right move that you need to make to emerge victorious!

Mood Indigo – A Management perspective

It was hyped as Asia’s largest college festival. During those days, IIT Bombay becomes the place where the World wants to be for the best four days of their lives. And finally, as a first year MBA student of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay, I got a chance to witness this extravaganza. Reached campus on the morning of 20^th December in the middle of a semester break because it was time for Mood Indigo 2013!

The built up to the main event had been amazing with a lot of shows prior to the event, gatherings in different cities across India, strong promotion on social media and a buzz around the campus all of which raised the expectations from the festival. And indeed, Mood I, as we call it, did not disappoint. It was 4 days of non-stop entertainment where every corner of the 550 acres IITB campus was buzzing with activity. Be it the announced competitions, the on-the-spot fun events, extempore competitions, interactive sessions, workshops, entertainment events or media events, the enthusiasm of the crowd was there to be seen. Just when the energy levels were at their peak, there would be a fresh shot of adrenaline for the evening concerts. And after an intensity filled concert, late night shows would be a perfect way to chill while appreciating some classy acts. That followed by some fun sessions around a campfire which went on till the wee hours of the morning would ensure that no one sleeps during the 4 days of Mood I.

The events during the festival were classified into 3 categories and a different team managing each category. The “Competitions” category would have all the announced competitions grouped together where colleges would nominate teams and a contingent leader from each college contingent would co-ordinate participation from his/her college. This category covered almost every competition ever seen in a college festival, you name it and it was there! A hard fought battle of supremacy where each contingent put in their best men and women and weeks of tireless practices to bring glory to their college! The “Informals” category was about all the on-the-spot competitions, media events and sponsor events. Events like “pit stop challenge”, “She’s got the look” and many quizzes and races gave participants an opportunity to rare experiences.

The “Horizons” was the category of events where Mood Indigo threw all its star power at the crowd. Interactive sessions with the likes of Amir Khan, humour shows featuring the best of theater artists and performers from worldwide set to accomplish 1 task – Entertain! These events drew crowds from the other end of the globe and were expectedly, the most watched! The concerts featured the best performers with Euphoria on one evening and Mohit Chauhan on another. There was Mike Portnoy doing his magic with the drums too. There was of course, much more than went around the campus day and night everyday and every night!

So what is it that makes Mood Indigo such a success story? Asia’s largest college festival, and undoubtedly the best for such a long time. Is there something that the organizers manage to get right every time or are there any inherent advantages that Mood I enjoys? Let’s try and analyze this 4 days extravaganza from the lens of a management student.

Let’s first look at the most fundamental analysis of Mood I – The 4P analysis:-

Product: - The fundamental of marketing is to have a quality product which can be sold. Every college has its own cultural festival. So what is it about Mood Indigo as a festival that sets it apart? I believe it is the quality of competitions. To attract colleges, you need good competitions and Mood I manages a perfect mix of traditional competitions and a lot of innovative competitions which challenges the youth of the country to come and test their limits.

Price: - A good product would not sell if it isn’t priced appropriately is an uncompromising rule in marketing. All the competitions in Mood I are without any entry fee. Participants are provided accommodation for 4 days on campus at a minimal charge. All a participating college needs to do is to get on campus, participate with all their might and enjoy the event. The returns are alluring too! Winners not only get a healthy monetary reward but more importantly some opportunities they can grab are enviable. For example direct entries into Miss India audition finals!!

Place: - Mumbaaaiii! The financial and fun capital of India. Easy to attract sponsors and easy to attract participants and performers from all over the globe. To top it up, there is the brand name that IIT Bombay enjoys as the most prestigious college in the country. And with that comes all the facilities and facilitating power that the organizers use to the very best! An inherent advantage that makes the job of the organizers a tad easy.

Promotion: - Say the word “Mood Indigo” to a young graduate from a respectable college in India and you will know the brand image this festival enjoys! The promotion starts months in advance with a classy website and a lot of social media activity. Just the way they launch the name of the rock band which will perform for the event generates anticipation! You will have a countdown on Twitter and facebook, and the name announcement online will coincide with physical banners being put on all over the campus. All at one time! Besides, Mood I also does shows in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Pune etc. months in advance as a built up to the main event. There are also shows done on campus like the Bawanraas concert in October this year along with Avenues and School of Management, IIT Bombay. Partnering with print, TV and radio media provides visibility of the best kind on a regular basis. Good promotion is what sells a product and Mood I puts its might into promoting the event extensively in the most impeccable manner possible! No wonder it attracts participation from over 3000 colleges and a footfall of over 1,04,000 people!

Let us now do a quick SWOT analysis of the festival to see what we do well and what is it that can be done better.

A close observation will yield some of the major strengths and weaknesses of Mood Indigo while a small thought will show some opportunities waiting to be capitalized. A little bit of effort and better involvement of the entire student community of IIT Bombay can help the organizers overcome the weaknesses listed above and make the festival more complete. Mood Indigo has many flagship events but there is an opportunity to create that one event which goes beyond global boundaries and is the most anticipated event of the year. Something like robowars in the field of robotics. Since the event attracts 1000s of people, crowd management becomes an important part and should be outsourced to agencies meant for specialized crowd management. Festivals like these often attract controversies and Mood I needs a good PR team to avoid and manage controversies if any.

All in all, there are some fundamental managerial advantages that Mood Indigo enjoys which make it Asia’s largest college festival and these need to be developed on a constant basis to ensure that the tag isn’t lost anytime soon.

Sexism in Mood Indigo? Yeah Right!

It was Day 2 of the most amazing college festival that I had ever attended and after standing in queue for over an hour, we managed to get passes to the Euphoria concert that evening. The day had been good with some amazing competitions and shows and the built up to the concert had been brilliant with Papon and the East India company entertaining the 6800+ crowd at IIT Bombay. The concert had been highly anticipated and Euphoria did not disappoint! The energy they brought to the whole place was simply amazing! And with that ended yet another day at Asia’s largest college festival…

It wasn't until the next evening that I logged on to Twitter and saw Palash Sen trending. On further investigation, I learnt that some of his comments during the concert last evening had “hurt” one of my female colleagues who went on to write a blog about it which has been now blown into a full-fledged controversy. WHAT? Really? It was such an amazing concert! On reading the blog I felt disappointed that it was written by a fellow student at India’s most prestigious institute. If the world calls us the most intelligent kids in the country, shouldn't we be more tolerant and appreciative of humor? And sadly, Palash Sen was quoted completely out of context in the blog and later during the “outrage” on social media. Disappointing is how I would describe this whole episode and here is my humble attempt at justifying some good humor that happened at IIT Bombay.

So my fellow student says that Palash Sen asked the students in attendance if there are good looking women in IIT. Standing in probably the 3^rd or 4^th row from the stage, I saw that as a genuine question (if you may call it) to the crowd. His words went “IIT ki khubsoorat ladkiyon” which tells me that he probably wanted to dedicate the next song to all the girls in IIT or something. And since in our culture, we are taught to treat our women with respect, he added a prefix “khubsoorat”. I mean, how would just “IIT ki ladkiyon” sound? He is, after all, an entertainer and cannot afford to be boring on stage. Yeah the majority of the crowd did say a loud NO in unison with a shake of the hand but hey, that is what we feel. If you go back and check the gender ratio in IIT Bombay you will be surprised by how skewed it is. In a democracy, we are free to express what we feel aren't we? Like writing blogs and stuff? So we did answer that question and unfortunately the answer was NO from almost all IIT Bombay male students and no, it wasn't preplanned! Now I’m sure Palash Sen would not have expected the answer he got from the crowd as there were, after all many pretty ladies on the campus during the festival. The innocent question sadly, has been misunderstood as an attempt to humiliate women and make them feel small. Sad!

No ma’am we do not believe that the world is made to “please us, our sensibilities and our sexual fantasies”. But yes we all want people around us to be good looking don’t we? I do not know a single girl who would not mention “good looking” as the 1^st or at max the 2^nd criterion as a must for the guy of her dreams. So please take it as it was, just a genuine response to an innocent question and not an attempt to malign women in any way. And yes we were talking about physical beauty alone at that juncture and not the inner beauty that we ALL possess.

The next objection raised was about the “rotiyaan belna” comment made by Palash Sen. Dear ma’am, since you confessed that you did miss out on the order of things that happened, I consider it my duty to remind you the complete statement there. He said “ladkiyaan tumhare liye rotiyaan belengi aur tum unke pair dabaoge” in almost the same breadth. And till the time of writing this article I did not hear any guy complaining about the “pair dabana” comment. Yes I totally agree that girls are not made to cook food for us and I am all for gender equality in the kitchen. But hey, are we made to dabaofy pair of women? Or is it that girls find rotiyaan belna demeaning and guys find pair dabaana rewarding? I leave that question for all to answer themselves but as for me, I do not find any of it demeaning or rewarding.

“You have to agree that men are more intelligent than women” you quote these words of his which, I must agree sound sexist. Well similarly our Gods killing our demons sound unfair or a judge sentencing a man to death sounds murderous. Why? Because they are all quoted out of context! If you take the whole episode into consideration, you will realize that he was referring to the skewed gender ratio in IIT Bombay which shows that more men have made it to IIT than women which may give an impression that men are more intelligent. And that is what he was referring to! But you choose to mislead readers by quoting something completely out of context.

“God is also a man” you say? In that case I should stop praying to all the devi’s we consider supreme. Poor Maa Laxmi has been spreading wealth around and poor Maa Saraswati has been spreading knowledge and Maa Kali destroying the evil. All in waste! Tch tch...

I completely agree that women are meant for larger things, to pursue their goals and not to look beautiful for the sake of someone else. Sadly, I now learn that they are not meant to enjoy some good humor in a festival meant for entertainment. And that is purely disappointing. Don’t remember when was the last time a guy felt “offended” by a joke cracked on him. Oh and before you ask, there are many floating around through messages and whatsapp. Should I, as a Marwari feel offended on all the kanjoos Marwari jokes doing the rounds? Think of those poor sardars who have been a subject of humor for ages now. If we all get so busy feeling offended and our media gets so busy covering all the offended people, what will happen of our country? Poor Kapil Sharma will be out of job in no time. Oh and I don’t even want to imagine what will happen of Russel Peters. Think of a society without sense of humor!

Dr. Palash Sen then went on to say that ladkiyaan padhaai karo aur IIT mein admission lo, to which, mind you, the whole crowd cheered and clapped (including guys)! I find it amazing how the advice has been taken as “unsolicited” while all the jokes have created such a “mental mob” and "violence" for you. Double standards you would call it? In my opinion, the advice is totally justified and I have the gender ratio data in IIT Bombay to back my comment.

Yes dear lady, people are “respectful and lovable beyond beauty or brains” but can we keep that aside and just enjoy a concert while being appreciative towards a guy genuinely trying to entertain? We can leave that discussion to a debate on the famous topic “Do beauty pageants objectify women?” This was neither the time nor the place to get so serious.

Some other details of the concert that have been conveniently forgotten are that Palash Sen did compliment one of the IIT B female students as the most beautiful member present in the crowd through a hindi proverb. He also said that “if boys were dumb, then why would there be a majority of boys at IIT?” Makes sense doesn't it? He also said that “women are the most beautiful creation of God” and at this time, I do believe it was the “inner beauty” he was talking about.

Towards the end of the concert I saw someone saying something into Palash Sen’s ears and he immediately coming on stage and stating an apology if he offended anyone with his comments. I now understand that it was either Euphoria manager or Mood Indigo organizer and this was done when our lady expressed her disappointment. Yes Palash Sen did apologize to the same crowd he supposedly offended on the same stage at the same time. Still, our lady demands a public apology? I somehow find this difficult to fathom.

Palash Sen says that he has been cracking this or a similar joke at every educational institute over the last 10 years. Why is it that it has offended our women only now? And by virtue of being most intelligent kids in the country (I don’t believe that, it’s just what people say), shouldn't we be able to appreciate humor better too?

To sum it up, I find this issue unnecessarily blown out of proportion and feel disappointed that a thoroughly entertaining concert has been overshadowed by this senseless controversy. I hope this ends right here in a good spirit and we as a country learn to be more tolerant and appreciative of good humor. Thank You Dr. Palash Sen and Euphoria for entertaining us, your energy right thorough the concert was commendable. And a genuine apology from me for the uncalled for controversy that followed.