Shaastra |IIT-Madras Annual Fest Estimus Case

A multinational retailer conducts its operations in 12 countries including US, UK, Canada, China, Brazil, India, Japan, Argentina and Mexico. The United States contributes over 30% of the organizations revenues. Over the last few years, economic conditions and competition have resulted in revenue growth becoming stagnant. The companys typical response in the past has been to expand rapidly and aggressively into new markets. The senior leadership looking into international strategy is therefore planning the optimal allocation of around $200Bn to fund expansion and growth efforts in these emerging markets. They hope to invest in various strategic initiatives - real estate purchase, remodeling of existing stores (if already present), marketing and promotions etc. They are interested in developing an optimal portfolio allocation strategy. This would involve the quantification of risks and returns associated with strategic initiatives in each country. Heres what theyd like you to provide: 1. A summarization of the problem

2. Factors and data that youd consider along with details of where such data could be procured from 3. 4. 5. The analytical approach that youd use to solve this problem Assumptions and limitations A prioritized country-wise quantification of risk and returns

Also bear in mind that the client prefers solutions that are clear and free of consulting and market research jargon. They are very focused on the future and would like to ensure that most of the uncertainties are accounted for. They are aware of the fact that the time provided for you is quite short and would like to reduce a few of the constraints that you may have to consider. They believe that constraints involving availability of people, resources, land and the risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations can be overlooked (for now) and wouldnt mind terribly if you left them out of your analysis. It can be safely assumed that all internal data from the retailer is available for this analysis.

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