The Strategist Quiz (#291)

 

1. This privately held MNC is known to be most insular and secretive. It claims 200 million consumer transactions a day. Its owners (who are part of the board and management team) though officially called associates by its employees are also known as Martians. Name the company 
    
2. Connect the songs written and sung by rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Prince with a car company and its respective brands. 
    
3. During the 80s which American CEO said the ideal strategy for a global company would be to put every factory it owned on a barge and float it around the world, taking advantage of short-term changes in economies and exchange rates? 
    
4. Name the company whose CEO uses his pet name for his staff and addresses them as Fellow Aliren also name the CEO. 
    
5. Name this group which started in the early 70s and focused on how European firms could catch up with the US management practices. It also developed and promoted the stakeholder approach, which based corporate success on managers taking account of all interests: not merely shareholders, clients and customers, but employees and the communities within which they operate, including the government. 
    
6. In which country do people save money in informal interest free savings circles, called ballot committees? They are generally run by housewives, students, shopkeepers, high society ladies. 
    
7. Name the marketing term that refers to the practice of placing direct marketing material into other business envelopes? Ex: Mail order brochures being sent with credit card statements. 
    
8. Name this company and its chairman, who in the mid 90s distributed the company’s newly launched electronic products as new year presents. However, he set the company’s inventory on fire when he heard that the products didn’t work well. After this incident, the company started producing best-in-class products. One of them was the world’s first MP3 phone. 
    
9. Which brand is devoted to denim and dedicated to style since 1908? 
    
10. Identify this organisation that ensures that the common man has access to the broadest range of goods and services at the most competitive prices. 
    

One lucky winner will receive a cheque for Rs 2,000. Send your entries to strategist@bsmail.in. All entries must carry the postal address of the contestant. Last date for receiving entries: February 5, till 8 pm. Previous winners and employees of Business Standard and their families are not eligible to participate.