IIM Calcutta Ecell

The Boardroom
Round 1
Case Submission

Following are 4 cases out of which you have to pick one and solve it subjected to the constraints and
requirements.

The submission should be 2-pager (including assumptions) in the form of a press release, official
notice, roadmap or anything you see fit for the case. You can make some suitable assumptions, just
mention them in your submission before the solution

Your team will be judged on the following criteria

Ethical Soundness 35%

Innovation 30%
Feasibility of the solution 20%
Scalability 15%
Case 1:

You completed your master’s degree and were extremely excited to be hired for your dream job
working for the local county government. During your first year, you began to notice that funds from
grants were being mismanaged and misallocated. Some of your co-workers were also using county-
owned materials, including cars, for personal business.

However, you were most shocked by the hiring practices you witnessed at the office. Prospective
applicants were supposed to take exams that were proctored by government employees. The results
of these exams determined whether or not the applicants were hired and what they were hired for.
You began to notice that the proctors were allowing applicants to cheat on the tests because the
applicants had already been chosen for the job. Many of these pre-chosen applicants were friends of
current employees.

You reported what you witnessed to the department’s business manager, who was second-in-
command to the department head. He told you, “You heard nothing, you saw nothing, you say
nothing.” You were absolutely shocked; not only by the corruption but that it was deliberately being
swept under the rug.

You felt trapped. You really needed the job to pay off loans from graduate school, and you loved the
actual content of the work you were doing. You were also concerned that it would look bad to leave
your first job out of school in less than a year, as well as tarnish future chances to work in government.
On the other hand, you felt extremely uncomfortable in your work environment due to the culture of
corruption. What would be your course of action?

Case 2:

You are a leading consultant, working with a small company that creates capital equipment for
semiconductor manufacturers for bigger players in the market. The company's products were quickly
becoming obsolete, and the management had taken on a considerable amount of debt. As the
semiconductor market stalled, there was no significant need for new production equipment, and the
future looked grim for the company.

You and your partner proposed a new add-on for existing systems, which you hoped could help
rejuvenate sales. Your team acknowledged that the company had a cash flow problem, and agreed to
take a minimal fee upfront for the design, and royalties from product sales thereafter. Your team
designed and tested the equipment, and eventually, the new product had all the makings of a smash
hit for the struggling company.

One day, you entered the company's warehouse to do final testing on the products, only to find that
a series of partially assembled, untested systems were ready to be shipped out. When you investigated
further, a worker told you: “We're only shipping it to the inventory facility so we can use it as collateral
for an asset-based loan. We'll ship the products back after we get the loan.”

You are genuinely concerned that the company's shipping practice was an instance of bank fraud. But
at the same time, you future success is intertwined with the company, with your future royalty
earnings being dependent on the company’s success. What would be your course of action?
Case 3:

Your team forms the board of a food products manufacturing company. In the market, you have
recently launched a new range of nutrition products that had two variants, Nutri-Classic and Nutri-
Lite. To prepare for a massive launch, the marketing team worked hard to get a leading movie
superstar as the brand ambassador for the new range and have influencers online to endorse the
products.

Following the successful launch, both the variants saw a sales figure totaling 12 lakh units to the
consumers all over India with Nutri-Classic forming 30% and Nutri-Lite forming 70% of the sales.
However, a Facebook post is recently gaining traction alleging the development of a persistent
digestive issues upon the usage of Nutri-Classic. Your internal complaints team revealed that they had
received isolated complaints claiming the same from 50 customers from different parts of the country.
You know that even if the complaint is specific to Nutri-Classic the entire range's sales, including Nutri-
Lite, which forms the major chunk of sales would be affected and you would lose out on all the
endorsements. Therefore, it is of the highest importance to address the allegations before the media
pick up the Facebook post.

Your mission is to come up with a press release, official notice, roadmap, or anything you see fit for
the case which would include your plan of action to preserve your public relations.

Case 4:

Your company produces decorative table lamps, mostly made of metal. In 13 days, there will be Diwali
and you will have large orders from many retail and chain stores. Recently, there was a media report
that your lamps were used to smuggle smuggled goods in and out of the country, with alleged video
evidence going viral.

Your sole metal supplier refuses to do business, for fear of being involved in this scandal. This has a
huge impact on your business as you do not believe that you will soon find another supplier who will
deliver you quantities without compromising on your costs. You think the claimed video could be a
joke. However, a study by a private company shows that some employees incurred excessive personal
expenses in line with the accused's schedule.

Your mission, if you decide to embrace it, is to develop a strategy to convince your suppliers and
engage with the press to minimize the damage to your company's reputation and profits.