Aditya Birla Group Stratos 2023 Winners, ISB Hyderabad, Share Their Strategy For Success

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Aditya Birla Group is one of India’s leading MNCs, housing 47 brands and 27 companies, spread across 14 industry sectors. A powerhouse of talent, its flagship case study competition, Stratos, is open to an elite group of only 14 B-Schools. 

We were excited to participate in the competition and take a chance at winning by tackling a material sourcing case presented by the prestigious Aditya Birla Group. Countless late nights and relentless fine-tuning of our approach led us to a remarkable outcome – we emerged victorious, selected as the national winners by the esteemed jury.

The competition requirements called for a team of 3 members, who stood a chance of winning PPIs and exciting cash prizes worth INR 5 lakh. Thus we formed the Team PairDesi. Here’s a look at our winning strategy: 

Aditya Birla Group Stratos 2023: The Competition Structure

The competition was divided into three rounds: an online Business Simulation Round, the Executive Summary Submission Round, and the Grand Finale. Here are the details of each round: 

Business Simulation Round

• This took place online and candidates had to solve real-life problems to showcase their business acumen across domains: strategy, marketing, finance, operations, etc. 
• It was open to all registered teams but only the team leader was allowed to play in this round. 
• The simulation spanned 5 rounds with a total duration of 2 hours. Candidates could attempt this round anytime in the given 8-hour window. 
• This was an elimination round. 

Case Submission: Executive Summary Submission Round

• Shortlisted teams from the Online Simulation Round worked on the case study. We were given two case studies and had the option to choose a single case study of our choice. 
• The case study was accompanied by a submission template. The submission template specified the format for the two-slider presentation of the executive summary that had to be submitted, along with the naming convention and deadline. 
• Teams had the option of changing the submission even after uploading it - any time before the deadline. 

Grand Finale

• The top teams were invited to the Grand Finale. 

Strategizing for Success

In order to succeed, we did extremely thorough research. We also spoke to a range of people from professors, to past winners, to our peers from the same industries. This helped us find relevant information. However, it was challenging to come up with a detailed financial analysis that could be captured in a 15-minute presentation. Preparing for the Q&A round was another challenge. Despite intense competition – especially from team K-Strat from IIM K who by far had the best knowledge related to their problem– we managed to clinch the title of winners. 

The competition was excellently organized, and the judges shared incredible insights that helped us learn better about how to navigate real-life scenarios. From learning about the best way to package a presentation to understanding the varying aspects of what’s important in a competition, we learned throughout the competition - and a lot of it came from observing and learning from our fellow competitors. 

Obviously, the greatest moment of the competition was winning. It felt great when our names were announced as the expected winners - it was a highlight to see all our work pay off. 

What Makes a Winning Team?

Our team was a good mixture of talent and expertise in different areas and we enjoyed working together. Together we thrived and it did help that we were friends - so we could hold each other accountable but also cool off.

In fact, we didn't have many conflicts. We just tried to listen to every POV (point of view) and left space to veto things. For instance, even for our look for the presentation, we had differing opinions on what would look professional or not - but we came to a conclusion as a team. 

Ultimately, our team had a good variety of strengths and we really balanced each other out. Anuj took charge of financials and deck design, Shreshth was a great presenter, and I played to my strength in research. 

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