BUOL 658 Marketing Decision Management Gaurika Annapantula

1) How can CoCubes change the mindset of HR managers of companies with regard to being open
to recruiting from non-premier colleges?

Ans: Since our childhood we are always told that going to a good college will open many avenues for
us. Every parent wants their kid to get admission into premier colleges. Premier colleges have a reputation
to maintain and hence they cherry pick students during admission. This approach gives the companies the
confidence to trust a resume from a premier institution versus a resume from a non-premier college. For
a company that wants to hire a student, they would want to get the best of their time and money’s worth
and hence they feel it is easy to hire from a tier 1 college as the students are bound to be good, having
gone through a rigorous regimen at the college. There are twice as many colleges that fall into tier II and
tier III categories. There are many eligible students that graduate from these colleges and possess similar
skills that a tier 1 graduate would possess.

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In my opinion, it’s the tier II and III colleges that require CoCubes assistance for campus placements

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more than a premier college, due to their lack of contacts and in some cases their geographical

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disadvantage. Co Cubes can employ the following techniques to bring the lower tier colleges to the
forefront and to change the mindset of the HR managers to being open to recruit from these colleges:

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Provide industry relevant education plan for the universities including job relevant
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coursework and training
• Screen more intensively on grades for lower tier colleges
• Conduct performance specific screening tests for entire applicant pool
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• Not allow filtering based on tier of colleges or school quotas

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• Partner with a couple of colleges to conduct interviews in a common location for the short-
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listed colleges
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2) With placement offers from the college campuses trying to reach out to the companies directly,
requesting empanelment and promising "better support and service" once CoCubes builds the
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connect with the companies, how can CoCubes lock-in the colleges and prevent its role from being
short-circuited? This question relates to how CoCubes can ensure future traction and loyalty of
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the paying customer (the college).

Ans: CoCubes needs to outline their role to be greater than that of just a connection between the colleges
and companies. In order to establish a trust between the College and CoCube. CoCube could do the
following:

• Set up contracts with colleges: CoCube can make colleges sign contracts. The contracts
could be formulated for a minimum of 5-year commitments. This will ensure that the

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 BUOL 658 Marketing Decision Management Gaurika Annapantula

college will not be able to leave CoCube for atleast 5 years and they will have to avail the
services provided to them by CoCube in the duration of the contract.
• Set up contracts with companies: CoCubes can setup similar contracts with companies
that will prompt them to advertise positions and hire students only through CoCubes.
• Provide a training plan to the students and colleges per the job requirements. CoCubes
could trademark their training plan and tests that the students can access but not
download. This will make the CoCube training indispensable to students and will compel
universities to sign up for CoCubes
• CoCubes could initiate campus meets for the company and colleges at a common place.
This will be an economical approach to both parties as compared to one party travelling
all the way. This will also make CoCube an essential third party to mitigate all meetings.
• CoCubes could set up standardized incentives for college students and companies. For
example, negotiations with companies can lead to a standard annual pay to an eligible

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student irrespective of the college they come from. If CoCube can promote a student from

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a tier II college based on his employability and ensure he gets the same pay as that on a

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tier I graduate, then the students will want to submit their profiles through CoCubes for

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the sake of that assurance. And this will compel colleges to sign up for CoCubes.

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3) How can CoCubes target the non-engineering graduate colleges? How should it price its offerings
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for this segment?

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Ans: The non-engineering graduate colleges occupy a larger employable space than that of
engineering graduate colleges. Co cubes must reduce its price offerings for these colleges. The
prices levied on non engineering graduate colleges cannot be the same as the engineering
colleges. Non – engineering programs often receive lesser funding compared to the engineering
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programs. I have also observed this trend where most students who cannot afford a 4 year
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advanced degree, prefer to opt for 3 year non engineering diplomas instead. Levying heavy prices
on such colleges and students will deter them from opting for CoCubes.
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Instead , CoCubes can charge a lesser fee from them , train them and market them to the
companies and charge a cut from the companies if they happen to employ them. I definitely think
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that BSc, BCom diploma holders possess equal IQs and are capable of learning on the job sklills
and soft skills as efficiently as engineering graduates. If Co Cubes were to invest time in training
them and making them compete along with other engineering candidates in a competitive
entrance exam or technical tests it will give companies more confidence that irrespective of the
college or the course, the student is bright enough to be employed. In return , the company will
be able to offer the similar annual paycheck to the non-engineering student, off which , CoCubes
could bargain for a share. This method will not burden the college or the students and will also
keep up Cocubes finances as it is a win -win situation for all.

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 BUOL 658 Marketing Decision Management Gaurika Annapantula

4) Going forward, should CoCubes build in-house capability or partner with other firms to deliver a
basket of value-adding services? If the decision is to partner with other firms, how should
CoCubes ensure that the delivery across multiple service providing partners is uniform?

Ans: Co Cubes would expand their market segment if they start offering other value added
services. They could build their infrastructure to have the in-house capability for all services they
have to offer. It will save them money in the long run and will enable them to have control over
other variables. It will ensure uniform delivery across firms and will help them become more
versatile in the services they have to offer. They would also benefit in scenarios where colleges
only want to use some of their services. Colleges can pick n choose the value added services they
want and create custom packages for themselves. This flexibility and versatility will keep colleges
engaged. In the event that Co Cubes partners with external firms to provide different value added
services, many unforeseen problems could arise:
• The firms might not follow a standard procedure and the service provided may not be

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uniform across different firms.

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• Different firms could venture out into their own contracts with colleges thereby

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encroaching upon CoCubes’ business.
• CoCubes will have to set up a team to monitor the external firms for training them and

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managing them.
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If CoCubes were to partner with other firms, It can use the following methods to ensure
consistent service delivery across different partnering firms:
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• CoCubes can set up a specific training plan for all firms

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• The training can be done in-house by the co-cubes staff

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• There can be feedback forms provided to the colleges for CoCubes to monitor the
services and recognize any discrepancies early on
• CoCubes could also consider being on the hiring panel to hire for the qualities they
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are looking for

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5) How should CoCubes balance the seemingly conflicting pressures of exploitation (to deliver
quarter-on-quarter results, that is so essential for a start-up) with exploration (coming up with
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new innovations required to ensure continued future success)?

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Ans: It is essential for a startups to identify their short term and long term goals in order to achieve a
balance with short term results and long term innovation. CoCubes could follow a few simple steps to
ensure that they manage to produce results quarter after quarter , yet continue to innovate.

• The startup should set clear visions for the company. A standard vision enables employees to
think about which projects are important and which are not
• The company could set up specific teams for target projects. There should be separate teams
for ongoing short term projects , innovation teams , mergers and acquisitions teams , etc.
• The organization can set up incremental milestones that picture the short term as well as the
long term goals. This will give the employees a trajectory and help them follow the trajectory

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 BUOL 658 Marketing Decision Management Gaurika Annapantula

• Transparency acoss teams and across the company in general helps maintain the same
frequency across the company and ensure everyone is working towards the same goals

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