Ref. No.

: QM0021

Athletics Authority of Indraprasthan

Athletics Authority of Indraprasthan (AAI) is responsible for organising the national athletic
meet annually in the country. However this year, with approval from the Government, AAI decided
to organise a regional athletic meet by inviting athletes from neighbouring countries. Mr. Prabhu
Kane, the Chairman of AAI and his team is currently busy planning for this prestigious meet scheduled
in December (just four months away). Among other aspects to be planned, an important activity is
organising balanced and nutritious diet for the athletes during their week long stay at the national
capital, the venue for the event. With athletes expected from neighbouring countries, Mr. Kane is
very clear that there should be no compromise on the diet aspect. Mr. Kane asked Dr. Rohit Mathur,
the nutritionist at AAI, to personally take charge of the matter and organise the purchase of foods in
an efficient manner.
Specialised foods for athletes have a limited market. Hence there are only two suppliers in the
country. The other option is to import, but that is a costlier option. Kher & Associates Limited (K & A),
a hospitality firm specialising in nutritive diets, is located in Navi Mumbai and produces eight sports
foods. Chawla Sports Foods Limited (CSFL), a Chandigarh based firm, produces six types of sports
foods. Mr. Arjun Kher, CEO of K & A, is elated at the possibility of getting an order to supply food
items for athletes in the forthcoming athletic meet. And so is Mr. Deepak Chawla, CEO of CSFL.
Dr. Mathur began his task earnestly. Based on his professional knowledge, he identified six
nutrients considered important for athletes, along with the ‘per day minimum requirement levels
of each nutrient’ (Exhibit I). These nutrients were Energy, Protein, Carbohydrates, Calcium, Iron
and Fat. On enquiry from Dr. Mathur on behalf of AAI, both the companies supplied the composition
of respective foods manufactured by them and each recommended a combination of their respective
foods that would meet the daily nutritional requirements of the athletes. Each company also indicated
the prices of their respective foods (Exhibits II and III). However, Dr. Mathur was not sure that the
recommended quantum of foods (by each company) would meet the ‘efficiency’ objective set by

This case study was written by Prof. L. Shridharan, Department of Decision Sciences, IBS, Hyderabad. It is intended to be used as the
basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was
written from generalised experiences.

© 2009, IBSCDC.
No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever
without the permission of the copyright owner.
License to use for the Class of 2012,
Semester I, IBS Hyderabad.
Course: Information Systems for Managers
 Athletics Authority of Indraprasthan

Mr. Kane. Dr. Mathur vaguely recalled from his college studies that there is a scientific way of
handling such a situation, but he is unable to recall the details. Could you help him?
Having resolved the problem with your help after a week’s joint struggle, Dr. Mathur was very
happy to report the same to Mr. Kane the very next morning. However, Mr. Kane felt that Mathur
should be addressing the problem head on, by identifying the worth of the nutrients within the given
limitations for each of the companies.
This query once again put Dr. Mathur back on a recall track of his graduation lessons without
success. Could you help him once again?

Exhibit I
Per Capita Nutritive requirements per day
Nutrients Requirements per day
Element Unit
Energy K.Cal. 3800
Protein Gms. 60
Carbohydrate Gms. 560
Fat Gms. 20
Calcium Mgms. 400
Iron Mgms. 28

Exhibit II
Nutritive Composition and Prices of different Foods:
Kher & Associates Limited
Nutrients Nutrients per 100 grams of each Food
Element Unit F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8
Energy K.Cal. 342 432 27 97 26 348 65 32
Protein Gms. 11.1 43.2 1.8 1.6 1.7 24.1 1.6 0.6
Carbo-hydrate Gms. 66.2 20.9 4.6 22.6 4.5 6.3 14.5 7.2
Fat Gms. 3.6 19.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 25.1 0.1 0.1
Calcium Mgms. 10 240 39 10 50 790 10 17
Iron Mgms. 2.3 10.4 0.8 0.48 0.61 2.1 1.79 0.5
Price per kg INR 26 45 12 10 15 130 17 11

2
 Athletics Authority of Indraprasthan

Exhibit III
Nutritive Composition and Prices of different Foods:
Chawla Sports Foods Limited
Nutrients Nutrients per 100 grams of each Food
Element Unit F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6
Energy K.Cal. 349 335 21 25 567 729
Protein Gms. 10.4 22.3 2.1 1.6 25.3 0
Carbo-hydrate Gms. 72.6 57.6 2.5 4.2 26.1 0
Fat Gms. 1.9 1.7 0.3 0.2 40.1 81
Calcium Mgms. 25 73 50 20 90 0
Iron Mgms. 4.1 2.7 2.4 0.61 2.5 0
Price per kg INR 18 55 27 15 52 210