Home
NEST – Nurturing Excellence, Strengthening Talent
TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 National Runners Up IIM-K Ritika Gupta's Story
0 min read
0 min read
Day and night! Night and day! Working on this competition, we even used to lose the count of time. And seeing our hard work and efforts leading to success and getting recognized as the 2nd Runners Up of TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 was one of the most rewarding moments.
TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 was no ordinary case competition. First, there were so many case problems to choose from. This made sure that we could pick up a problem that we could identify with. Next, we had to do a lot of rigorous research on the steel industry and the home-furnishing industry in India.
The competition focused on aligning one's ideas with the ethos of TATA Group and understanding the core values of the company. Our strategy was grounded in the core competencies of the company and the 'Synergy-Scale-Simplify' philosophy.
From day 1, we made sure that the team won't proceed further until everyone was clear with a common understanding of the problem statement. We discussed and analyzed the problem statement so thoroughly that finding the root cause of the problem became easier.
We called up our friends, parents, and colleagues to understand their preferences and pain points with the home building process. Month-Long research went into making our solution strong, feasible and viable. We also received a lot of help from our mentor in the later stages of the competition.
Teamwork was always fun for us. We often met during class breaks, after class and even during lunch breaks to seek updates from each other. Professors helped us a lot to formulate a strong strategy that was based on financial feasibility and ground realities.
We did encounter conflicts in our ideas, but then we made sure to debate those points of contentions thoroughly until we reached a common ground. We questioned each other a lot, which helped us remove any defunct idea and simplify the solution, making the presentation stronger.
Our work experience in diverse industries and the variety in educational backgrounds was our forte. While Pallav looked into the financial calculations, Bhargava made the presentation designs visually appealing. Arijit had his mind immersed in devising marketing strategies. Similarly, my deep analysis of industry competitors and the facts gathered through research proved very helpful.
I will always remember the long evenings that we spent brainstorming and debating our ideas. Apart from that, the hours we struggled shortlisting the best of ideas and the late nights that went into having the winning presentation for the competition, are moments which are very special to me.
The competition pushed us to keep aside conventional ways of solving business problems. So, we approached the problem statement with a lot of discussion and debate. We looked into various aspects, like technical feasibility, financial viability, and meaningful innovation, that went into proposing a business solution.
The inputs we got from other teams while listening to their presentations and the questions by judges helped us to refine our ideas. We also found a lot of eye-opening insights from our mentor and professors. Last but not least, our interactions with senior leaders and new connections with the finalist teams have added a lot of meaning to our endeavors.
TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 team was too good with organizing the event. The brief given to us was quite descriptive and clear in all aspects. We got to interact with the senior leaders of the company even after the competition. Even the mentor assigned to us left no stone unturned to guide us into becoming 2nd Runners Up.
Organizers are always expected to be responsive to queries, be clear with the case problem given and have a transparent judging process. TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 organizers did a fabulous job at all of these and organized a wonderful finale for the teams.
TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 was no ordinary case competition. First, there were so many case problems to choose from. This made sure that we could pick up a problem that we could identify with. Next, we had to do a lot of rigorous research on the steel industry and the home-furnishing industry in India.
The competition focused on aligning one's ideas with the ethos of TATA Group and understanding the core values of the company. Our strategy was grounded in the core competencies of the company and the 'Synergy-Scale-Simplify' philosophy.
From day 1, we made sure that the team won't proceed further until everyone was clear with a common understanding of the problem statement. We discussed and analyzed the problem statement so thoroughly that finding the root cause of the problem became easier.
We called up our friends, parents, and colleagues to understand their preferences and pain points with the home building process. Month-Long research went into making our solution strong, feasible and viable. We also received a lot of help from our mentor in the later stages of the competition.
Teamwork was always fun for us. We often met during class breaks, after class and even during lunch breaks to seek updates from each other. Professors helped us a lot to formulate a strong strategy that was based on financial feasibility and ground realities.
We did encounter conflicts in our ideas, but then we made sure to debate those points of contentions thoroughly until we reached a common ground. We questioned each other a lot, which helped us remove any defunct idea and simplify the solution, making the presentation stronger.
Our work experience in diverse industries and the variety in educational backgrounds was our forte. While Pallav looked into the financial calculations, Bhargava made the presentation designs visually appealing. Arijit had his mind immersed in devising marketing strategies. Similarly, my deep analysis of industry competitors and the facts gathered through research proved very helpful.
I will always remember the long evenings that we spent brainstorming and debating our ideas. Apart from that, the hours we struggled shortlisting the best of ideas and the late nights that went into having the winning presentation for the competition, are moments which are very special to me.
The competition pushed us to keep aside conventional ways of solving business problems. So, we approached the problem statement with a lot of discussion and debate. We looked into various aspects, like technical feasibility, financial viability, and meaningful innovation, that went into proposing a business solution.
The inputs we got from other teams while listening to their presentations and the questions by judges helped us to refine our ideas. We also found a lot of eye-opening insights from our mentor and professors. Last but not least, our interactions with senior leaders and new connections with the finalist teams have added a lot of meaning to our endeavors.
TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 team was too good with organizing the event. The brief given to us was quite descriptive and clear in all aspects. We got to interact with the senior leaders of the company even after the competition. Even the mentor assigned to us left no stone unturned to guide us into becoming 2nd Runners Up.
Organizers are always expected to be responsive to queries, be clear with the case problem given and have a transparent judging process. TATA Steel-a-thon 2018 organizers did a fabulous job at all of these and organized a wonderful finale for the teams.
Login to continue reading
And access exclusive content, personalized recommendations, and career-boosting opportunities.
Don't have an account? Sign up
Never miss an
Update
Featured Opportunities
Subscribe
to our newsletter
Comments
Add comment