XIMB Steals The Show At Tata Steel-a-thon 2022 (Value Chain Track)

Tata Steel’s annual business challenge for premier B-Schools in India, Tata Steel-a-thon 2022 was back this year for its 9th season. The competition offers students the opportunity to work on real-life business challenges and get mentored by the eminent Tata Steel Senior Leadership and Management. This was a great opportunity, one that we did not want to miss. 

The case study challenge was open for first and second-year students pursuing full-time 2-year PGP programs from 28 premier B-Schools in India.  Being from one of these institutions, i.e. Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB), we- Arpan Rout, Piyush Kanti Nayak, and Abhishek Mallick decided to prove our mettle by taking this challenge on. We registered for the competition and called ourselves Team Steelars. Winning the title trophy for our track was a surreal experience, and we will cherish it for a long time to come.

Tata Steel-a-thon 2022 Challenge Structure

The framing of the competition was great and it was very well organized. It consisted of the following rounds:

• Executive Summary Submission Round
• Detailed Presentation Submission/ Virtual Presentation
• Grand Finale

In the first round, we had to submit a 1-slider PPT describing our solutions to the case problem. From there we moved on to the semi-final round, and then finally the National Finale. It was a lot of fun to meet the requirements of the different rounds and experience the progression. The teams at Unstop and Tata Steel made sure that the competition went off smoothly, without any hiccups.

Our Strategy For The Case Study Challenge

Right at the off-set of the competition, we had to choose between the business track and the value chain track. After going through all six cases for both tracks, we decided to go with the Logistics case of the value chain track. Here is how we navigated through the case problem, looking for a viable solution:

• We began with understanding the problem statement and went through the deliverables in proper detail. 
• We had to come up with a predictive model and mitigation strategies for the problem. For this, we interacted with industry professionals to understand the root causes and how things function practically. 
• It took us a lot of brainstorming and research as the information that we needed was not directly available. 
• After brainstorming and researching all the information, we tried to align our solution as much as possible with the company’s on-ground problems. 
• One of the main challenges that we faced was getting proper data. Since two of the key stakeholders in the case were the company itself and Indian Railways, getting the business data was not easy, as a lot of it is confidential. 
• After a lot of interaction with relevant professionals from both organizations, we came up with approximate data that we used as a base for building our solution. 

Our solution was greatly appreciated by all throughout the different stages of the competition. The real-time model that we developed was the differentiating factor that we feel ultimately helped us win the title. It was great to learn about the various aspects of the industry in detail and work on the problem, with constructive feedback from the organizers and the panel. 

Check this out: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

Importance of Panel Feedback

We were thrilled at getting the opportunity to present our ideas in front of highly experienced panelists who were experts in their domain. The judgment quality was on point and the feedback/ observations were extremely precise. During the semi-final round, the panelists asked questions about the external factors which may affect our solution when it gets implemented and also questions related to the predictive model which we had developed. The questions made us look at our solution in a different light and further explore the depths of the idea. We incorporated the feedback we got in the semi-final to improve the solution and make it ready for the grand finale.

In the Grand Finale, we presented the ideas in front of the 4 National VPs of different verticals. In the Q&A round, most of the questions were targeted toward the feasibility of the model and the mitigation strategies. We tried our best to convince them with our answers, and with the national win, we feel like we hit the nail on the head.

Lessons Learned

One major function of these challenges is to give us a peek into real-world business problems and help us grow by learning how things work on-ground. We gathered some immense learnings from the Tata Steel-a-thon 2022 challenge. Some key takeaways are:

• We interacted with different stakeholders of the case and gathered their insights which helped us understand the case better and grasp the real on-ground scenario. 
• We worked over and above the deliverables to prepare for any possible questions that may come our way. This whole process helped us understand the various possibilities for implementing the solution. It was an enlightening experience that helped us get deep insights.
• We also learned a lot from the team from IIM Ahmedabad, which was a close competitor to us. They presented the same case as we did with good content and a great pitch. Their approach to solving the case showed a different dimension of the problem and possible solution, which was also interesting to see and observe.

It would suffice to say that this was an invigorating experience that left us enlightened and asking for more. 

What Makes a Team Work

This was our first case competition as a team, but surprisingly it never felt like it while we were working towards our end goal. We think this was because we complemented each other very well and supported each other during difficult times. We pushed each other beyond our limits during this journey and feel this is an integral part of team competitions. Despite having different academic commitments, we managed our schedule well and in the end got everything done within the timelines for different rounds. 

Every one of us has felt low or stuck with something, at one point in time or the other during the competition. But we backed each other in those times. We also had a few conflicts while working to build our solution. In those instances, one of us played the role of the moderator and did our best to resolve the issue through mutual discussions. 

The End of a Brilliant Journey

Each day was a new day at Tata Steel-a-thon 2022 which we took on with fresh minds and higher spirits. The hard work we put in fueled us to do more and excel in all the challenges that came our way. One of the most memorable moments was when we learned that we had made it to the finale. It was a great feeling, and we knew that we were just one step away from the title. We cherished every moment in the competition and lived it to the fullest.

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