22nd October,2011
Starting with registrations from 110 teams across various top-B-Schools, the marketing contest in IIM Ahmadabad saw huge participation and was a big platform that tested marketing prowess. In the final round we had 5 teams from IIMs, 2 from NITIE, one from KJ Somaiya and one from SOIL. It was indeed a pleasure to be there in the final round with around 9 teams out of 110 teams and represent SOIL at IIMA. We were really touched by the warm welcome that we received from everyone at IIMA and also by the humility to serve and the attitude of the guards in the campus. They would come all the way with us, to guide us the way in IIMA campus.
In this contest we were given a case-study of a start-up organization with core competence in medical ultrasound. The MD of the start-up, a very gentle and creative person, an alumnus of IIT Mumbai wanted us to work on the sales pitch to be given to a dealer based on the given real time case-study. We actually did a thorough market research, discussed with dealers operating in this industry and Radiologists in hospitals about the nitty-gritty of this field and the features of the ultrasound machines. We also discussed in length the vision and mission of the company with the MD of the company and their growth plans, current capacity and major challenges. Based on these inputs we carved out our marketing strategy by segmenting followed by targeting and positioning the flagship products of the company. We also chalked out the product, price and promotion strategy of these flagship products of the start-up company. During our research, we also found out that ultrasound market is still growing with a positive outlook. Particularly in India, this industry is a dealer based market. Majority of the sales are done through dealers with strong distribution networks.
So after thorough study of the states and health issues in various states, we devised our distribution policy for the given start-up organization. In addition, we went on to device the dealer margins and the service model for the organization.
Unequivocally, we really wanted to finish in the top two. However, we finished in the top half of the finalists and it was a good team effort by all of us. The judges along with students from IIMA, audience from SP Jain and other colleges appreciated our work. We would really like to extend our sincere thanks to professor Bhattacharya, other faculty members and our colleagues for their constant support.
Team Affiche (Prasoon Malviya, Manu Malhotra, Yash Dogra)