Ambitions of Ashutosh Agnihotri - Essay Example

? AMBITION- A Case Study Ashutosh Agnihotri, with a dream of approaching to the post of CEO of marketing company, came to Mumbai in the January 2004.Who hails from the state of Madhya Pradesh; where there was less scope for high class job in marketing sector, ‘since I had done MBA, my ambition was not confined to the normal marketing job in my area and I have chosen becoming CEO, as they live a great life’. Ashutosh made this post as his dream because; CEOs of companies live a royal status life of comfort with no economic pressure and makes the policies sitting on the top of thousands of employees to authenticate the administration. Ashutosh now thinks of cracking the interviews in big companies in Mumbai. First, he made a plan to attain the junior level officer’s interview in the companies, as that can be the best way towards becoming a CEO. ‘I knew that, to achieve a post of CEO one required having many years of experience in handling the marketing administration; so I chose junior marketing officer’s post as my interview target’. However, the competitiveness in Mumbai stretched his struggle for whole one year. ‘I was not losing my courage at all, as I had confidence on my strength’. A little amount of money in his pocket was not sufficient to provide him with good food. As a result, Ashutosh’s health started degrading. Finally in March 2005, with a long run effort, Ashutosh got selected as a Field Marketing Officer in Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., which especially works on film marketing. Ashutosh now had a salary of 12 laces per annum. That was enough for him to live a comfortable life in Mumbai, but since his dream was wider, he was yet to gain more.’ I thought, until I reach my dream I will be restless’. Ashutosh’s personal and business background. Since the student life, in St. Xavier’s School, Indore Ashutosh was a very extrovert and cheering kind of personality. He was always appreciated by his teachers and friends for every activity. Resultantly, he developed in himself the skill of good communication, which helped him to remain cooperative among groups. Eventually, Ashutosh learned about how the psychology of people influence in maintaining any relation. ‘I was having a capacity to lead all my friends and since then I realized the possession of leadership quality in me’. People used to advise Ashutosh to be a political leader in future or a salesman and some of them jealously put the comment saying this as a symptom of a bad future. Excellent communication skill in Ashutosh led him to lead the school as a school captain, a program host and a debater. Once there was an exhibition in the city, where St. Xavier was also taking part in selling school made handicrafts. The team led by Ashutosh successfully sold 3000 pieces of handicrafts, that was the highest number of handicrafts sold by a single shop; Ashutosh was solely credited for the performance. ‘That was the best day ever in my life… I deserved the credit for the performance I had done on that exhibition, that day only I decided that I will join marketing sector in future’. He maintained his original personality throughout his schooling, since he knew that this is going to work in future. After school, Ashutosh joined commerce stream as his course of study and with a successful completion of schooling he went to Indore College of commerce, where he remained among the most selected students of professors. With a first class division, he passed the bachelors degree and started perusing MBA from the DAVV University for business science. In one of the project work carried on in his MBA coursework, Ashutosh got a chance to closely examine a textile marketing company, where he was supposed to conduct a primary research through personal interviews with the CEO and the higher level employees. The company’s market was well spread all over India. ‘That was a great experience of mine, to learn about a successful business structure with systematic marketing plan so closely’. When Ashutosh asked the CEO about how the company works in such a systemic manner? The CEO had explained him about the application of the business, theories, frameworks and approaches in modern business and also he had briefed him about the fight against the competitive rivals and the way outs. ‘With that interview, I realized how noble the job of CEO is? As they think about the theories and their practices in their business. Since then, I was rather more impressed with the job and decided to put every effort to draw out an excellent CEO in myself’. As soon as Ashutosh completed MBA degree, he discussed with his father about his ambition. His father with a due respect to his son’s decision permitted Ashutosh to go to Mumbai. His father had given him a sum of Rs 50,000. With that amount he spent the whole year of struggle, searching for job. He never turned back to father asking for money and that was another struggle for him other than searching a job. Ashutosh’s Experience in Reliance Entertainment Company, and his leadership quality. As a field marketing officer, for the film marketing and distribution, Ashutosh put his entire effort to maintain an excellent reputation in the company. To promote the films in a successful way he required to consider certain important factors: To ensure the quality of the film. To be able to select the right film to promote. To understand the requirement of the distributer. To study the ongoing public demand. To draw out the maximum profit for the company. To maintain a long run relation with the actors, film makers and the distributers. (Gummesson 2002). ‘When I started working in that field, I found, both technical and logical factors equally important in a successful promotion of a film’. Ashutosh learned that besides the quality issue, a strong convincing power with excellent communication skill is also an indispensable requirement for the promotion of a film. In some of the cases, distributor is ready to release the film just because; you have maintained a good relation with him whereas some are strictly careful about the technical quality. On the other hand some distributers prefer the big star cast. Ashutosh has a smart technique to approach different types of distributers in different ways. ‘ If one is a quality oriented person, he can be convinced with a quality films only, but some of them can be convinced by showing the probabilities of a long run profit, even if the film does not holds the required quality’ (Golding 2010). In many of the instances, Ashutosh work from the beginning stage of the making of a film. He convinced the demanding star actors to work on the project; which he knew would make profit for the company. When the film was ready, that was successfully sold in the market as that was expected. ‘I was trying to make all the dimensions of my job, transparent to me and preferred applying the same in my marketing style’. Eventually, Ashutosh occupied the central place in the company, giving it a drastic boom of profit. He got promotion to a senior marketing officer of the company in the year 2006. ‘My confidence had now become stronger towards my dream, as I believed that the track I was going through was the proper one’. Research for marketing promotion To give more efficient effort to his performance and maintain the present status of the company, Ashutosh decided to closely study the distribution market of Bollywood. For this research to conduct, he required to apply the following approaches: Market analysis theory to draw out the market value and situation. Cognitive behavioral approach to meet the demands created out of psychological need. Structural approach to study the pattern of working style that distributers have. Organizational Theory to evaluate the organization’s objective (a b 2007). The above mentioned applications helped Ashutosh to enhance in the quality of approaching the people and promoting the films in the market in a successful way. Keeping all the ideas about the market situation and psychological needs of the people, it would be easier to convince the people in a particular framework of business. ‘ I learned through my experience in the Reliance company that the modern approaches to the marketing practice are the most important need of a business to keep balance between market and profit’ (Paauwe 2009). In the course of time, Ashutosh went to Europe and America for the overseas business promotion and signed long run deals with several companies on behalf of the Reliance Entertainment. Now, Ashutosh had a very strong lobby among his business circle. For the distributers, Ashutosh was important rather than the company. He was dealing with the companies for more than 3 years with a good reputation. ‘In that point of time, I was a precious piece for the company; because, each and every film deals were under my influence. I was given a hike in my salary and incentives but what I was looking for was to get the promotion to the post of Manager as that was just lying vacant. I applied for the same to the company but I was not heard’. Within a week the company appointed a new manager in the company. The issue of rejection of promotion request somehow affected Ashutosh; due to which he was discouraged and gradually he becomes less interested in an effective marketing. He was letting things go on, as usual. ‘I had a great expectation of promotion because I was the only liable candidate in the company at that time. They disregarded my experience and commitment to the company, which I felt like a disgrace to me’. Ashutosh thought that he was putting extra effort for the company, which the other employee does not do in normal circumstances. He also started keeping himself as the others usually do. But the distributers and the film makers were regularly coming to him with new deals every day. ‘ In that situation, I thought of doing some deals for my own profit only, since I was not interested to bring in deals for the company’. With a view to make a deal for him, Ashutosh signed a personal deal for the promotion of a film, which was in a ready status. Nobody knew about this deal, as that would have been a threat to his job in the company. In a way he was cheating the company, but his idea on this was a bit different, ‘I was doing the work in the company for which they paid me but as far as the extra effort is concerned, that will be consistent if one is rewarded. I would have put more effort as a manager, but if they didn’t want me to come up, I can’t help’. But unfortunately, the Ashutosh’s secret deal no longer remained as a secret; that came to the company’s knowledge. CEO called him to his office and gives him a termination letter and said ‘do not forget to swim when you are in an ocean’. Ashutosh didn’t say a word buy said within him, ‘I will be in your position one day’. ‘That was a turning point in my life; I had to look for some other option to carry on my life. One of my friends advised me to start a company of my own, for the first time, I could not think anything on that; but latter I found the idea to be the best suited for me. Nevertheless, I was the key person to handle the whole business of film promotion in Reliance Entertainment; comparing to that, running a film promotion company of my own was not a big deal for me. I went to the license department the next day and applied for the permission to establish a company ’. Ashutosh had all the experiences that are required to operate a film company. His ideas of market research and analysis along with a reputed relation among film business circle and in addition, his excellent communication skill was the other advantage factor. Now Ashutosh has started a new company, which he named as ‘cine minds’. There were two rooms; one for reception and other one was his personal cabin. He had one office boy and a receptionist to help him run the company. He proceeded with the project which was already signed. Gradually, Ashutosh started approaching the people in his business circle to make deals for his company ‘cine minds’. However he faced a bit problem in the beginning, since the company was new. Normally, people are afraid to make deals with new companies. But Ashutosh did not give up, as he knew that his ideas were going to work. He started making rounds, and kept on convincing the people for new deals. In addition, he also approached some star actors and convinced them to come together to make a film. He finalized a film, making a team and started the project under his own banner. ‘I knew, my systematic planning was not going to fail at any cost, some changes in my policy were required but I was waiting for some more deals in my hand, I wanted to give a strong competition to my previous company and I was preparing for that ’. With a full confidence, Ashutosh was set to stand against Reliance Entertainment. He decided to apply some approaches to meet the goal, which are as follows: Decreasing the deal value to attract more companies. Maintaining positive relation with companies even when deal is not done. Highlighting other’s profit rather than oneself. Frequent study of the market situation to learn day to day fluctuation. Decreasing the risk factors by cutting extra costs. Recruiting skilled and creative workers to carry efficient business. Maintaining the policies as per the situation in the market. Selecting better quality film in comparison to rival (Towers 2007). With 20 member staffs now, ‘cine minds’ took shape into a major film distribution company in Mumbai. CEO of the company Mr.Ashutosh Agnihotri was now thinking of extending the distribution business to overseas countries. The company is earning a huge profit with several hit films. And that was a strong counter to Reliance Entertainment from a new CEO. At present, the ‘cine minds’ company is operating in more than 30 countries in the world, distributing Hindi and English films. Its main office is in Mumbai and Los Angeles. Ashutosh is now a happy man with his ambition in his hand. Synopsis Ashutosh, at the age of 24 with MBA degree comes to Mumbai to achieve the post of CEO of private company. His leadership quality persuaded him to take a long step, which reach him to Mumbai. With a hard struggle of one year, he is able to get a job of field marketing officer in a film marketing company. He puts every effort in that company to make the best use of his post. As a result he was promoted to the post of senior marketing officer, however his thirst to become a CEO urged him to ask the company for further promotion and rejection of the same becomes a matter of dissatisfaction for him, which leads to his inefficient performance. Eventually, he is caught for cheating the company for making personal deals in the name of the company. That leads to his termination from the job. Being a jobless, he decided to establish a new company of his own, which he named as ‘cine minds’. Though the company faces some obstacles in the beginning but at the latter stage, it remains successful to extend itself in India and America. The CEO, Mr. Ashutosh is now a man of success with his wealthy company ‘cine minds’. Teaching notes This case study is prepared for postgraduate entrepreneurship and management teaching courses. The case is narrative-based in order to demonstrate the owner’s thoughts and feelings and facilitate deeper understanding on the success and potential failure of a company that relates to the leadership style employed. The major issues revealed during the study of this case are: (a) that turning a business into being profitable and successful is particularly challenging and (b) the leadership style employed in a business needs to change and evolve along with the business growth. The study further shows the use of the business theories in the application of innovative ideas to gain maximum return and assure sustainability in the market. Finally, this study makes the entrepreneurs cautious about the risks in the competition market, which is the major deciding factor for a business to success or failure. Learning Objectives • To identify the business goal in capitalist and competitive market. • To identify the relationship between personal and market goals. • To recognize the problems in modern marketing system. • To discover the business potential in oneself and apply it in practice. • To learn establishing a new business in marketing. Issues of group discussion 1. How to select a right carrier? And, how successful is Ashutosh in choosing marketing business? To choose a right career one should be able to identify the best part in him and accordingly, one should plan for the same with planning and hard work. Ashutosh is a successful man in choosing his carrier in marketing business as he successfully achieved the expected target. That was possible due to the effectiveness of his natural talent in marketing since his school days. Further, he prepared himself with required academic knowledge for his dream to be a success. For that Ashutosh did MBA and started struggling for the job in marketing. While in job, he applied all the required theories in marketing and gained maximum experience in the field giving in him a best CEO. 2. What are the problems faced by Ashutosh in two different stages of his business carrier? The problems faced by Ashutosh while in job were: 1. Hard competition in the market. 2. Judgment on the theory to be applied. 3. Risk of loss. On the other hand, getting an establishment in the market was little hard for Ashutosh in the beginning stage due to the lack of human resource management and organizational approach. To overcome the problem he required to apply his business with proper strategic planning giving an organizational shape to it. 3. What might have Ashutosh learned from the advantages and disadvantages in marketing business? From the disadvantages he might have learned to apply the solutions of the same in his business and the advantages gave him the new thoughts of extending his business approach. This practice helped Ashutosh to maintain a balance between market and his business, which is the most important requirement in business according to modern business approach. 4. How good Ashutosh was in marketing research and how successfully he applied the same in his practice? With the help of researches, Ashutosh was successful in applying the theory of Human Resource Management, The organizational theory and Theory of strategic management and resultantly, the company reaches the pick of success. Since, his marketing strategies were based on the market study, Ashutosh was successful in making his market policies as required and simultaneously the application of theories was appropriate. Conclusion Considering the case of Ashutish in marketing business, it has become apparent that the respective use of different theories in marketing business are essential in different stages of development as every new stage brings fresh challenges. In his business Ashutosh applied Theory of Human Resource management in the first stage and the theory of strategy in the second place as those were the requirement if the circumstances. Hence, the theories are made to cope with the different situation in the market and there need to have a good sense of judgment quality to gain the maximum out of it. The organizational theory gives the idea on how to make the business organized and create an effective organizational approach in business. The theory of strategic management, on the other hand, encourages on building long and short term to promote the business which intern reflects the strength of quality business the company is pursuing. And finally, the application of risk management theory would help the business sustain in the market without any loss as it decrease the possibilities of risk (a b 2007) & (Golding 2010). Hence, a business done in a systematic pattern applying the essential theories is certainly going to get an easy establishment in the market. References a b Jacobides M G 2007, The inherent limits of organizational structure and the unfulfilled role of hierarchy, Lessons from a near-war. Organization Science, Gummesson. Golding N, 2010, Strategic Human Resource Management, A Contemporary Approach, FT Prentice Hall. Paauwe J, 2009, HRM and Performance: Achievement, Methodological Issues and Prospects, Journal of Management Studies. Towers David, 2007, Human Resource Management essays, < http://www.towers.fr/essays/hrm.html. Read More