Our way to success

You must have heard many people say things like “failures are a part of life and its the one who stands up again is the winner”, “never give in”, “failures are stepping stones to success”, the story of the spider, etc. Excellent suggestions but these things are easier said than done. Life at MDI has taught me the practicality of these sayings.

Started with the Mahindra War Room, all excited and charged up to crack the first competition that we have registered for, we started the work but the excitement died down within 2 weeks. All of us in the team were back to our usual schedule and the thought of the War Room was long lost. We never submitted our entry.

Second came the Avalon case study, this time we did submit our presentation. The idea however (what we thought) lacked in depth investigation and clarity. We did not stand a chance and as predicted we were not selected for the next round.

The breakthrough however came in the form of KPMG International Case study competition. Worked hard for the first elimination round and got selected to present ourselves before the KPMG panellists.4 teams selected for the 2nd round were given a case study to solve in 3 hours which had to be later presented before the KPMG judges. We were well prepared but we did not clear the round, however we learned several things which I can definitely say are the stepping stones for our success. Firstly, the importance of delegation and team work when you have to deliver in a limited time. Secondly, be clear of whatever you are presenting: one idea can define your destiny. Thirdly, telling WHAT to do is easy but it is HOW you plan to do it which is more important (this has become our motto for all future analysis!). The rejection was a setback and it definitely is difficult to accept failures and move on but we did and we actually never lost hope!

Next came Avaya, our first move towards success. We have not looked back thereafter. We were the second runners up and climbing the ladder of success, we stood first runners up in our next competition organized by Schneider (GoGreenInTheCity).

The climb up the ladder has been slow but it has made us learn the best we could in our MBA life. Analysing a problem from all angles and providing the most optimum solution keeping into consideration all the company stakeholders is a very important aspect of any study. Next comes the competitor analysis. Thus, starting from ground zero we have come a long way.

Targeting our next competitions, we are sure to bag the winner’s title this time!!

Fusion: AOL-TW

America Online - Time Warner was and is the largest merger in the American business history. It is, however, also believed to be the biggest mistake in the corporate history by Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes. I have written the below article as part of the Strategist Club at MDI trying to identify the basic facts of the deal.

	AOL	TW
Products	online software suite called AOL, Internet service provider, AOL video, AOL local, AOL News, etc and other AOL security services	New Line Cinema, Time Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, TheWB.com, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Boomerang, CNN, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network Studios and Castle Rock Entertainment.
Features	American global Internet services and media company headquartered at New York. At its prime, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide.	One of the world's largest media companies, headquartered at New York city. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc. and Time Inc., (along with the assets of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.) form the current Time Warner, with major operations in film, television and publishing.
Recent Happenings	The company’s revenue dropped 26% YoY in 2010 Q4.  AOL’s subscription revenues for the quarter also showed a 23% decline in subscribers YoY.It also acquired two companies in Q4 2010, Pictela and About.me, for an aggregate amount of $31.4 million.	In 2010 post spin off,Time Warner's Latin American division bought Chilean nationwide terrestrial television station Chilevisión. Time Warner already operates in the country with CNN Chile.
Why Deal	Time Warner would reach deep into the homes of tens of millions of new customers of AOL.	AOL would use Time Warner's high-speed cable lines to deliver to its subscribers Time Warner's branded magazines, books, music, and movies creating 130 million subscription relationships.

Valuation: AOL purchased Time Warner for US$164 billion. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new combined company.

Regulatory Approvals: Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and European Commission.

Outcome:The merger was not fruitful and the growth and profitability of the AOL division stalled due to advertising and subscriber slowdowns in part caused by the burst of the dot-com bubble and the economic recession after September 2001. The value of the America Online division dropped significantly. The total value of AOL stock went from $226 billion to about $20 billion. Its customer base also decreased to 10.1 million subscribers as of November 2007 and to 4.4 million by 2009.

Lack of synergies between AOL and the other Time Warner were also a cause of the demerger. Most Time Warner divisions were independent fiefs who were uncooperative in the merger deals.

In 2009, AOL announced that it wouldspin off Time Warner into a separate public companyending the eight year relationship between the two companies.