IIT Kharagpur MBA Student develops cost effective ways of creating brand awareness in Tier-3 towns for FMCG sector
Kharagpur : FMCG is one of the most sought after sectors by B-School students. Students of MBA programs have often been interning at FMCG companies. In one such summer internship, Chirag Anil Patil, final year student at the Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT Kharagpur, drove the town expansion strategy for Maharashtra and Gujarat, along with innovating cost effective ways of creating brand awareness in these new towns.
“The objective of my project was to expand McCain geographically and innovate to reduce the costs incurred in promotions. McCain provided me the resources and access to experienced professionals working in the company to successfully complete my project. I devised a model, which predicted sales of any new town using multiple parameters. My town visits helped me validate this model. Apart from this, I recommended a new cost effective idea for promotions and validated my idea by executing 3 pilots,” said Chirag. “Such projects help young MBA students to overcome the disconnect they often feel between the courses they do and real life applications. The sales model devised in this project can be implemented across various industries,” said Dr. Barnali Nag, VGSoM-faculty mentor for the project.
“Summer interns help in testing innovative hypotheses for the company,” said Himanshu Garg, Zonal Sales Manager-West India at McCain Foods India Pvt. Ltd. Who mentored Chirag at McCain. The project provided cost-effective expansion for the company in eight small towns. Chirag set up counters to promote McCain’s French fries outside grocery stores to establish his hypothesis.“Apart from doing theoretical research, Chirag has been instrumental in doing pilot project overcoming various on-ground challenges and successfully deliver his project objectives. He has been able to make recommendations which are going to be useful for McCain” added Himanshu.
The project has also won the first prize “Best B-School Project Award” for Business Expansion Plan in Tier-3 towns in India.
“The MBA program at VGSoM enriches the student experience to variety of subjects, which broadens their vision. The summer internship gives them a platform to implement their acquired knowledge to solving real world problems in a structured way,” said Dr. Prabina Rajib, Dean of VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur