KQA Bizkashi Business Quiz 2014 finals

Bizkashi 2014 Finals
09-MAR-2014
KQA’s Annual Business Quiz by
KARTHIK SHASHIDHAR and VENKATESH SRINIVASAN

Ticker Tape Parade
W R I T TEN ROUN D
1 0 P OI N TS EACH

BON US 1 0 FOR G E T TING ALL 6 R I G HT

2. This chart
shows how
many of this
country’s
currency buys
one Euro.
Which country’s
currency?

3. Which company, which has a NYSE ticker of BKS?

4. Ticker of the main stock index of a particular country
from the late 2000s. Which country?

Pakistan.
Downward stock price movement was banned
during the 2008 crisis

5. Movement of which currency against the US Dollar?
(Note Y axis is logarithmic)

6. Stock price movements of three companies suspected to
have been responsible for a certain disaster. Eventually, MTI
was found responsible, showing the stock markets were right.
This incident is used as an illustration of The Wisdom of Crowds
in the book of the same name by James Surowiecki.
Which disaster, and which company is MTI?

Challenger disaster, Morton Thiokol

Clockwise
18 QUESTIONS
+10 ON INFINITE BOUNCE, NO NEGATIVES
+10 ON POUNCE, NO NEGATIVES
3 STRIKES AND NO MORE POUNCES (ACROSS THE
CLOCK AND ANTI -CLOCK ROUNDS)

1.

Bolivar was rejected because he was “irrelevant in Brazil,
Mexico and the Southern Cone, and because his political
legacy was a conservative one”. Humboldt was German,
and was known for several other things. Miranda was
rejected because “to English ears is simply a girl’s name”.
Bochini the Independiente midfielder was considered, but
rejected since it would be insulting to Brazil. Macondo,
where Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is set,
was rejected since it would be a folk-lorish caricature. The
one that came closest, but got rejected was (Joachim)
Nabuco, a Brazilian politician who abolished slavery in
Brazil. Also considered was maracuja or the Brazilian
Passion fruit. All these were rejected, however.
Who was finally selected, and what are we talking about?

Bello
The Economist’s column on South America

2.
Writing in Econlib: The Library of Economics and Liberty,
David Henderson says that the so-called XYs are neither Xs
nor Ys. They are not Xs, he says, because “they got money
the old-fashioned way – they earned it”. They are not Ys, he
says, because “…Y is a title of nobility, one granted by a
king…” and the XYs “… started their business from scratch
and received no special privileges. Henderson, in fact,
credits these XYs for being responsible for breaking
monopolies and thus helping consumers.
What is XY?

3.
Like other Abrahamic religions, Judaism forbids usury, and
consequently all lending. Despite this, in the Jews became
moneylenders in Medieval Europe.
How did they get into this business despite their religion
forbidding the practice?

The rule is “thou shalt not lend to thy brother”,
implying a Jew cannot lend to a fellow Jew. Nothing
prevented them from lending to the Christians
(who were not their “brothers”), though, so they
exploited their minority status to become
moneylenders

4. In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
credit the growth of this European city to this form of a Joint
Stock Company called a “commenda”. A commenda was set up
for the purpose of just one “mission”, and had two partners.
The sedentary partner stayed in the city, while the traveling
partner traveled. Most of the money would be put in by the
sedentary partner, while the traveling partner’s job was risky.
This system allowed young men without hereditary money to
get into the business by joining a commenda as a traveling
partner. Usually, the sedentary partner contributed 100% of the
capital, and received 75% of the profits from the mission.
In 1310, however, commenda was banned by the Great Council
that governed the city, and Acemoglu and Robinson argue this
led to the subsequent downfall of the city.
Which European city?

5. The driving force behind this kind of financial transaction was
an instrument known as “Highly confident letter” which was
“invented” by Michael Milken and his team at Drexel Burhnam
Lambert. Drexel would simply write a letter saying that they were
“highly” confident that one of the parties to the transaction
would be able to raise debt in time to fulfil the transaction.
Despite such letters having no legal status, the reputation of
bankers such as Milken meant that they could get the transaction
done.
Interestingly, such transactions have become legal in India for the
first time since January 2014, though they are permitted only
when one of the companies involved belongs to a particular
category.
What transaction am I talking about, and what kind of
companies is this transaction limited to in India?

Leveraged Buy Out (LBO)
Distressed companies

6.

In the 1990s and earlier, the Indian film industry usually
depended upon informal (and usually shady) means of
financing their films.
What rule change did Sushma Swaraj, the Information and
Broadcasting Minister in the NDA government, bring about
in 2000, which allowed films to get rid of their dependence
on informal and shady sources of capital?
It can be argued that this single rule change was
responsible for the corporatization and professionalization
of Indian cinema.

Cinema was granted “Industry” status.
Prior to 2000, the film “industry” was not considered
to be “industry” and was starved of bank finance,
leading to a reliance on informal sources of funding.

7. This sports goods store in Wigan, originally started in the
early 1900s, was bought by a former footballer in 1971. This
footballer turned the store into a nationwide chain with
over 120 stores, and the firm went public in 1994. In 2007,
the footballer sold his remaining stake in the store chain,
and soon after, the store went into steep decline. There was
an attempt at restructuring in 2011, but the firm fell into
administration in 2012, and the brand was purchased by a
rival sports goods firm.
Football fans could describe this last transaction as “one
Premier League stadium buying another”.

Name both the original sports goods chain and the sports
goods chain that acquired it.

JJB (JJ Bradburns)
Sports Direct

8. This Bundesliga team and this IPL team have collaborated this year
thanks to a German corporation. The now Bundesliga club was playing
in the amateur leagues in Germany when Dietmar Hopp, one of the
co-founders of the corporation, invested in the club in 2000. The same
year, the club was promoted to the German fourth division. The club
continued its rapid rise through the echelons of German football in the
2000s, getting promoted to the Bundesliga in 2008, where the club has
stayed ever since.
The corporation got involved with an IPL team ahead of the 2014
auctions. The corporation believed that getting involved in the
auctions was a good way to showcase its big data platform. Why the
IPL auctions would need “big data” expertise was lost on analysts,
though, since the total number of balls bowled in international and
top-level T20 competitions is of the order of 3 million!
Name the Bundesliga club, the corporation and the IPL team. No part
points.

9. Based in Narimogeru in Puttur taluk of Mangalore District,
this brand claims to be the third highest selling cola brand in
South India. Satish Shankar of the Shankar Group, which
produces this drink, once tested the water from a stream
that runs through his land and found that it was pure enough
to be sold as bottled water, and he started off with a bottled
water business. It was after a trip to North India that he got
an idea to start making what is currently his best-selling
product.
The company doesn’t advertise, and relies on word-ofmouth. The product is sold exclusively in plastic bottles,
unlike other local cola manufacturers who prefer glass
bottles.

Which “cola” brand?

10. Following the emergence and popularity of this parody
twitter account, this organization reportedly put out a memo
to its employees banning conversation in a particular area of
the office.
Recently the owner of the parody account outed himself, and
it was found that he had never worked for this organization.
Following this revelation, the organization withdrew the ban
on conversation in this particular area of the office.
Some of the tweets from this parody account:
My garbage disposal eats better than 98% of the world
The lottery is just a way of taxing poor people who don't
know math
Which organization, and conversation was reportedly
banned in what part of its office?

11. Started in 1947, this organization lost a “landmark” to a
sportsperson in 2000. Which organization is this, and which
sportsperson did it lose a “landmark” to?

Oriental Junction became Anil Kumble circle

12. If you go to the “sponsorships” page of the website of this
Indian company, this is what you will find.
Which Indian company?

13. Famous telephone conversation. Identify both voices.

Raj Rajaratnam and Rajat Gupta

14. This organization was set up in 1966 to help sell
products produced by state government organizations.
• 1967-89 sold soaps.
• 1969-2007, sold lottery tickets
• In the 1970s, distributed imported cement and exported
rice

• In the 1980s, started manufacturing and selling
notebooks.
• 1989-2003, distributed liquor
• In 2005, started a chit fund
• In 2013, they announced a plan to get into liquor retailing.

Which multi-faceted organization?

15.

Newspaper report
from the 1970s
(Ottawa Citizen).

Which two
names have
been blanked
out?

16.
In June 2013, this Indian industry body launched a unique
Rs. 500 Crore venture capital fund. What is unique about this
fund is that only entrepreneurs from a certain section of the
Indian population is eligible for these funds.

The industry body now has over 3000 members, who are all
(rupee) millionaires. The organization has the motto,
“Be job givers, instead of job seekers” (sic).
Which Indian Industry trade body, which has local chapters
in each state, and which was founded by Milind Kamble and
Chandra Bhan Prasad, and what is unique about its venture
capital fund?

17. Everton Football Club’s flagship store, through which it
sells club merchandise, has the nonsensical sounding name
“Everton Two”. Why this unusual name?

It is situated in a mall named “Liverpool One”.
So the address of the store is “Everton Two,
Liverpool One”.

18.
A mechanical engineer from IIT Madras, D Nazareth worked in the
software industry in the United States before returning to India in
2000 to set up this venture. His was the first company to set up a
“micro-distillery” in India.
The company has “back-end” facilities in Chittoor District in
Andhra Pradesh and “front-end” facilities in Goa, and has only 20
employees. The product is sold in bottles designed by Reboni
Saha.

The product, in terms of specifications, is similar to a well-known
product of Mexico, but Nazareth cannot use that name to
describe his product since the Mexican product is protected by GI.
Instead, this product is named after a raw material.
In 2013, they introduced a new product called “Pure Cane”.
Which brand?

Anti-Clockwise
+10 ON INFINITE BOUNCE, NO NEGATIVES
+10 ON POUNCE, NO NEGATIVES
3 STRIKES AND NO MORE POUNCES (ACROSS THE
CLOCK AND ANTI -CLOCK ROUNDS)

1. Connect and complete this exhaustive list, with a
biblically-referenced name

Books by Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath

2. What important entity in India, that is under
controversy due to a government ruling, is jointly owned
by these two companies? What entity (sharing an
abbreviation with an Indian nuclear research facility) is
proposed as a replacement on October 1 this year?

TAM Media Research
Broadcasters Audience Research Council
(BARC)

3. The font used in the film accommodates the film’s theme – a
young country girl-turned-socialite trying to figure her way
through the bustling life in the metro – because of the sense of
class it exudes. _______’s typeface is an interesting variation of
the Bodoni typeface. This typeface has been around since the
18th century and was made by Giambattista Bodoni.
It’s also interesting that _______ (the company) also uses a
modified version of the Bodoni type, and must be the
inspiration for the movie’s typeface; the only difference is that
the company uses a combination of uppercase and small
capitalization in their branding.
Which movie and company?

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Tiffany & Co.

4. Identify a city and a company, and connect
Odysseyus’ delayed return to this island is one of the centre
points of the Odyssey by Homer. Today, it is an island
located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 45
square miles and a little more than 3000 inhabitants. A city
in the US is named after it and has among other things, the
North American seat of the current Dalai Lama.

Ithaca
SC Johnson
Cornell’s University’s graduate business
school is called the SC Johnson School of
Business, and is located in Ithaca

5.
• Connemara
• Savoy
• West End
These are three heritage hotels that were part of the X
business group, which has been in India since 1863; the
management of the hotels was leased out to the Y business
group.
In 1989, when Z (in the picture) acquired the X business
group, he did not want to take over the hotels business that
he knew nothing about, so the hotels continue to be run
with the same arrangement. Name X, Y and Z

6.
The name of this brand is a Greek word and the scientific
term _______ derived from it means beetle. The reason why
is is named is probably because it has the ability to inhabit all
kinds of terrestrial and water environments, the right kind of
features a product like this should have. It is manufactured
by the JV company whose logo you see here.

Name the brand and the company

7.
Chief Ion, Chief Noisy Ion, Chief Tech Ion, Chief Engineering
Ion and Chief Product Ion – the designations of five founders
of a Bangalore-based company, who all met during their
stints at Rational Software/IBM. They based their key
product on five things about apps that irritate most mobile
users:
Drain battery
Eat up data
Disc Space
Slow Response
Hanging handsets
Which company, and why is it in the news?

Little Eye Labs
Acquired by Facebook

8.
Launched in Mumbai in 2010 by MJ Akbar, this newspaper is
now published from Delhi and Chandigarh as well. It is
possibly one of the few of its kind from India, and is also
available in London as “India on _______”.
Now owned by the INX Network, name this newspaper and
it’s London publication

The Sunday Guardian
India on Sunday

9.
This prestigious design award is presented annually at a
design museum with the same name, which is located in the
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site structure in Germany. They now have a
museum and award in Singapore as well. The awards are in
the categories of Product design / communication design and
design concepts. Name the award.

10. A major tourist attraction in New York, which store
will you find this in? Which major brand now operates
this store?

Different Strokes
ALL WRIT TEN
+15/10/5 DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF TEAMS
WHO GET IT

3. Identify the two
states blanked out

4. Authors of a best selling “business and life
management” book, PC Balasubramaniam and Raja
Krishnamoorthy, seen here with the subject of their
book. Identify the subject or the title of the book.

5. Identify the lady or the Indian institution she heads

Chitra Ramakrishna
National Stock Exchange

6. Brett Wilson is an
entrepreneur, who is famous
for being a panelist on a
Canadian reality show based on an internationally
franchised format in which
aspiring entrepreneurs pitch
business ideas to a panel of
venture capitalists in the
hopes of securing business
financing. Name the show –
alternatively name the NHL
sports team that Brett
Wilson owns

Dragon’s Den
Nashville Predators

8. Fill in the blank with a
family name

Final Countdown
LAST 8 QUESTIONS

ANTI CLOCKWISE

11.
When this movie was released in
2004, a certain red wine grew in
sales all over America, because the
lead character in the movie refuses
to drink Merlot.
This wine, one of the noblest wine
grapes, is difficult to grow and goes
very well with chicken, lamb and
Japanese dishes.
What red wine, that means ‘Black
Pine’? Also, name the film

12. It is defined as a form of barter that involves a company
selling an unused asset to another company, while at the
same time agreeing to buy back the same or similar assets
at about the same price. This is often used as a technique
for tax evasion and/or money laundering.

It is also used to refer to the practice of individual investors
buying and selling the same security in the same trading
day, thereby artificially inflating trading volumes.
What two-word term, that travel agents/planners will be
more familiar with?

13. Titan Aerospace is a company that produces solarpowered drones. These aircraft can travel in around the
globe, relying on the sun for power to stay aloft for years at
a time.
The company has been in the news this week (early March
2014), due to reports that company X is looking to acquire
it.
Which company is looking to acquire Titan Aerospace and
why? (no half points)

Facebook
Broadband Internet for developing countries

14. This London building is the home of the Goldsmiths’
Company, an enterprise created to regulate the trade of
goldsmiths in England.
Since 1300, this firm has been responsible for testing the
quality of gold and silver articles – and, since 1975,
platinum, and, since 2010, palladium where goldsmiths
would officially attach a ____ - a distinctive characteristic to certify that the material was tested and verified to be
true.
Based on this activity, what was the name of the building,
that is also the name of an unrelated brand in India
associated with celebratory occasions/gifting?

Hallmark
The Goldsmiths used to attach a mark on the
material to indicate it was officially tested; i.e. the
mark of Goldsmith’s Hall

15. Which company’s webpage is this from? What is
their brand of packaged water called?
Our legacy began over two
decades ago. With the sole
purpose of providing India
with juicy and zestful thirst
quenchers. Over the years,
our ambitions grew. And with
that, our family. Well, we love
to boast about it. So please
excuse us. We are one of the
biggest companies in our
sector with an annual turnover
of Rs.10 billion that is expected
to touch Rs.30 billion. And
we’re growing at a pace that
surprises many, sometimes
even ourselves. Today, every
member of our family
contributes towards our
mission of ‘Refreshing India’ by
seeping through to millions of
hearts with a gush of fun.

16.

Bausch and Lomb sold off the luxury brand Ray Ban to
Luxottica in what was viewed by both competitors and
analysts in the space as a commitment to the eye care
segment.
In 2010, what did the firm do to reaffirm their
commitment to the eye care segment?

Added the medical symbol + to the logo

17.

• Gateway Luxury Apartments
• Andromeda Premium Apartments
• Altair Furnished Apartments
• Orion Mall & Multiplex
• Galaxy Club
• ___________Hotel
• The Brigade School

• ______________ Hospital
• World Trade Centre

Fill in the blanks and give the location

Sheraton
Columbia Asia
All co-located in the Brigade Gateway Enclave
in Malleswaram, Bangalore

18. This company traces its roots back to the village of the
same name near Mysore, from where the founder _______
Nagappa hailed.
They created the royal insignia for the Maharaja of Mysore,
and adopted the same for their logo.
In the business since 1889, their flagship store today is on
Infantry Road.
Which brand?
What is this insignia?

Ganjam Jewellers
Ganda Berunda

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KQA Bizkashi Business Quiz 2014 finals

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