Socratix is a intra company pan-India case study competition that saw participation from more than 300 teams. Attached presentation was presented by our team, that eventually won the competition in 2021
2. “To expand humanity’s
potential by offering new
abilities through avatars”
Avatarin – Executive Summary
OPEN
INNOVATION
Fostering creativity to solve
business problems & creation of
an ecosystem for innovation
through external stakeholders
KEY PARTNERS
Oita
KEY INITIATIVES
WINDOW OF
OPPORTUNITY
COVID-19 accelerated a
change in mind-set, creating
overfull demand
5.0
SOCIETY
LIFE’S
BIGGER PURPOSE
Team No. 94
3. 1953
AVATARIN – THE JOURNEY SO FAR
2020
ANA founded as an
aviation start-up.
Becomes Japan’s largest
airline by 1980
Avatarin spun-off as a
separate entity after
receiving go-ahead from
board
In-house Development
& Launch of flagship
robot, newme
2019
2018
Launch of ANA Avatar XPRIZE
& creation of ecosystem
through collaboration with
technology partners
2016
Participation in XPRIZE
Visioneering Summit &
conceptualizing vision of
Robotic Avatars
2010
Akira and Kevin meet each
other & gravitate towards the
common interest of solving
complex global problems
Team No. 94
4. Write your
paragraph
here
Weakness
SWOT Analysis
O T
S W
✓ Open Innovation
✓ Strategic Partnerships
✓ Strong Brand Equity
✓ Huge war chest
✓ First Mover Advantage
✓ Primitive & basic
version of Robot
✓ Lack of skilled talent
pool
✓ Changing dynamics of
human interaction
✓ Govt. support
✓ Favourable industry
environment
✓ Data privacy & Cyber
security risks
✓ Threat of product
imitation by
competitors
n
PESTEL Analysis
✓ Policy Support from
Govt.
✓ Society 5.0
✓ Developed
economy with High
disposable income
(24th in per capita)
✓ Ageing population &
affinity for technology
adoption
✓ High internet
penetration (92%)
✓ Hub for Robotics
✓ Alignment with
SDG goals
✓ Strong
cybersecurity
laws
All the macro-economic factors strongly
favour Avatarin’s vision
Team No. 94
5. Question 04
(Click on the button to navigate to a question)
?
? ?
Q1
Entrepreneurial Culture at ANA
Q2
Avatarin spin-off & soft launch
Q3
Business Model & Business Plan
Q4
Supply-side Priorities & Issues
Team No. 94
6. ANA - Harnessing Entrepreneurial Spirit
VRIO Analysis of Entrepreneurial Culture at ANA
Inimitable as it’s far
reaching and involves
both internal &
external stakeholders
Valuable since it
generates new ideas
and opens doors for
new business
propositions
Rare since employees
are given creative
freedom to think
outside their core
business verticals
Organised as they
have proper
structures that are
supportive to nurture
new ideas
Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage
❖ Entrepreneurship & Innovation was looked at from an ecosystem perspective, rather than an in-house
initiative
❖ New ideas nurtured from outside the company were valued in equal regard as the internally generated
ones
❖ Various employee-led initiatives enabled employees to think out of the box, which was ably supported by
management
Team No. 94
7. Virtual Hollywood Council
✓ A conducive consortium that creates synergies
by utilizing the diversity & learning from each
other
✓ Fostering an ecosystem for companies that are
committed towards innovation
Virtual Hollywood Book,
launched by the Council is a
repository of various proposals
developed by ANA Group
employees and the inside scoop
behind them
Key Takeaways
✓ Employee led initiative under which employees with shared passions
collaborate on projects that extend beyond their core business
✓ Participation from 1600+ ANA group employees creating more than 180
proposals
✓ Identifying and nurturing the potential of human resources
✓ Promoting group cohesiveness & open communication
✓ Leverage strengths & diversity of different industries & individuals
✓ Fostering a culture that prioritises the group’s collective vision
✓ Driving innovation mindset among employees
Flower Jet Drone Project
Community Development
at a monastery
Team No. 94
8. Key Takeaways
✓ Subsidised airfares for social entrepreneurs who strive to solve
global problems
✓ Acts as a catalyst for the general public to contribute towards a
social cause by either donating flying miles or sponsoring part of
their air tickets to Changemakers
PARTNERSHIPS
Collaborated with
Ashoka, an NGO that
champions the cause for
social entrepreneurs,
with presence in more
than 89 countries
Supports Endeavor, a
global NPO focussed on
employment creation and
economic development
of communities
Key Takeaways
✓ Nurtures entrepreneurial spirit at ANA through its commitment
to support entrepreneurship in the external environment
✓ Encourages employees to actively involve in solving social
problems and create a difference to the society
✓ Promotes entrepreneurship by providing a platform to
showcase and commercialize projects
✓ Brought about a cultural shift by changing the perception
towards raising funds for new ideas and ventures
✓ Crowdsourcing platform aimed at fostering ideas of
entrepreneurs
✓ Provide a common platform to bring investors and
entrepreneurs together
✓ Provide a go-to-market strategy for entrepreneurs to take
their ideas to the customers
Team No. 94
9. Analysis of Current Culture
Gap between Corporate & Operational Levels
Pigeon-holing operational personnel as just implementers
and discouraging their ideas
What could have been done better? - Conduct town hall
meetings to engage and connect with employees across
domains to open up lines of communication
Talent Management & Career Progression
Non-deployment of personnel at right positions, resulting
in lack of motivation & dissatisfied employees
What could have been done better? - Take employees’
aspirations into account and chart career plans to
facilitate their professional development
No Fear of Failure
(BlueWing 2.0) Viewing
failures as an opportunity
to learn and signalling a no-
blame culture
Promoting Disruptive
Innovation
Nurturing ideas based on
merit, without fear of
disrupting the core business
Creative Freedom
Liberty to think out of the
box and encouraging
people to pursue their
passions
Playing the long game
Focussing on long-term
vision even if it means not
achieving short term payoffs
Significance of Human Touch
Overcoming cultural and
geographical barriers through
in-person meetings and open
communication
Top Management’s backing
Key personnel in upper
echelons who imbibe and
support entrepreneurial
spirit
Team No. 94
10. TIME
RATE
OF
ADOPTION
INTRO GROWTH MATURITY DECLINE
Law of Leadership
It’s better to be first than
it is to be better
22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF
MARKETING
ADOPTION CURVE OF AVATAR ROBOTS
Normal Curve
Accelerated adoption due to
Covid-19
✓ It’s much easier to get into the mind first than to
convince the customer about a better product
that is to be launched in future
✓ In today’s VUCA world, timing is of critical
importance. Your first could be too late
✓ Covid-19 changed the way of living, accelerated a change in
mindset & ignited public interest to adopt avatar robots
✓ With the market primed for acceptance, it is important for
the product to hit the market ASAP Team No. 94
11. Product & Technology Leadership
Control of Value Chain
❖ Forge & secure long-term strategic partnerships
with component manufacturers & assemblers
❖ Establish robust
relationships with players
at all levels of value chain
❖ Identification of new use cases
through feedback from market
Leveraging ready customer base
❖ Become a name to reckon with in
the market, which helps draw
talent in fields like Haptics, AI
and VR
❖ Collaborate with Govt. on
regulations & favourable policy
making
❖ Tap the overfull demand stemming from
change in mindset of customers
❖ Evaluation of product-market fit to
enable better product iteration
❖ Creation of technological moat by
developing & iterating superior
product offerings
❖ Gain head start in manufacturing &
achieve economies of scale
Why Soft Launch?
Team No. 94
12. Opportunities Challenges & Mitigation Strategies
Avatarin – Spin off
Focused talent with
technical expertise to
innovate & having a
formal structure
Dedicated Resources Agile Decision Making
Avatarin is free from
corporate bureaucracy that
inhibits speed & innovation,
enabling faster value creation
Fund Mobilisation
Since avatars are the core
value proposition, they gain
access to unconstrained
budgets for R&D and
innovation
Nil Agency Costs
Corporate Identity
Eliminates conflicting
interests between
shareholder & mgmt.,
resulting in efficient
utilisation of time & money
Unique identity that
resonates with Avatarin’s
vision; non-interference from
ANA’s identity as a
conservative company
Investors will get a clear
view of business
operations through KPIs,
which will attract
investment
LACK OF DEDICATED PERSONNEL
Since ANA didn’t have expertise in the field Robotics, there is a
dearth of talent & technical expertise in Avatarin
Mitigation - Build talent pool immediately in line with the vision
& mission of Avatarin to plug knowledge & skill gap
ABSENCE OF DEFINED KRAs
Since the market is in its nascent stages, employees may not know
their KRAs, which can result in loss of productivity & morale
Mitigation – Clearly communicate roles & deliverables with
employees and take periodic performance reviews
Distinguished Reporting
Team No. 94
Avatarin has to freshly draft major contractual obligations
like vendor contract, support agreement etc.
Mitigation – Employ a legal firm to revise and draft contracts
& ensure that agreements are in place
RESTRUCTURING OF CONTRACTS
13. Business Model Canvas
Channels
Value
Proposition
Cost
Structure
Revenue
Streams
Customer
Segments
Organisations that use
newme robots for internal
business purposes
Businesses that sell
products/experiences
using newme robots
Customers seeking
experiences through
avatarin platform
Enabling humanity to
overcome barriers of
time, distance & physical
limitations
Establish an ecosystem
that democratises human
skills to solve societal
problems
Mobility platform that
enables humans to
interact seamlessly in a
remote environment
through robotic avatars
Create additional revenue
streams for businesses by
opening access to
geographically dispersed
customer groups
From Business owners –
Platform fee, monthly
fee & service fee
From customers – Fees
to access remote
experience
Connect with
businesses/organisations
through newme robots
Engage with customers
though avatarin platform
Customer
Relationships
Periodic servicing of
newme robots
Customer support that
enables navigation of
platform
Key
Activities
Fostering innovation
through a collaborative,
trust-based model
Production of newme
robots
Establish and maintain
supply chain & distribution
network
Key
Resources
Leadership that facilitates
open innovation
Huge war chest from ANA
Employees
Strong relationship with
industry players
Key
Partners
JAXA
XPRIZE
Oita Prefecture
Consortium Partners
Japanese Govt.
Robot manufacturers
Raw material suppliers
Robot manufacturing
Research & Development
Personnel Costs
Platform service &
maintenance costs
Team No. 94
14. Lower Entry Cost
✓ Better affordability
encourages quicker
adoption by customers
✓ Expenditure shift from
capex to opex enables
better acceptance by
businesses
✓ Efficient management
of variable demand &
seasonality
✓ Avoidance of sunk
costs
Scalability
Optimum Resource
Utilization
✓ Reduction of idle time
associated with ownership
✓ Optimum resource
deployment in alignment
with Society 5.0 and SDG
goals
Ease of Maintenance
✓ Frees the customer
from the hassles of
maintenance
✓ Customers can avail
the benefits without
burdens like
insurance
✓ With rapid pace of tech
innovation, service model
eliminates possibility of
owners getting locked up with
outdated version of robots
Avoidance of Tech
Obsolescence
Advantages of
Service based Model
currently
Team No. 94
15. ✓ Future iterations of robots will have superior technological
capabilities, resulting in rise of monthly lease rentals from the
current value of ¥ 69800*
✓ As people become well versed with using avatar robots, they
become ubiquitous, resulting in more efficient utilisation (i.e.,
Reduction in Idle Time)
✓ Taking the aforementioned factors into account, in addition to
service model, ownership model should also be introduced
from 2026
✓ Ownership model will enable addressing the fixed demand of
businesses
✓ 2026 emerges as a pivotal year owing to the following factors
▪ Sufficient time for development of fully functional product
▪ Ramping-up manufacturing capabilities to achieve
economies of scale
▪ High adoption rate by customers
Parameter Value
Monthly Lease 2026 (¥) 1,20,000
Annual Lease 2026 (¥) 14,40,000
Usage period (Years) 4
Discount Rate** 5.72%
Present Value Annuity Factor 3.49
Ownership Threshold (¥) 50,21,911
Analysis of Ownership Threshold in 2026
✓ Lease value in 2026 arrived at by factoring product development,
economies of scale, inflation & adoption rates of avatar robots
✓ If selling price is greater than Ownership Threshold, customers are
better-off paying the lease and embracing the already existing service
model
✓ If selling price is lesser than Ownership Threshold, opting for ownership
will be beneficial to customers
✓ From a customer’s perspective, initially they can go for service model to
test the waters. Once they realise the benefits, they can explore
ownership as a long term option
*Avatarin Website ** https://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/wacc.htm
Proposed Changes in Business Model
Changes in Business Landscape in Future
Team No. 94
16. ✓ A typical zoo in Japan will have two seasonality where there will
be surge in footfalls
➢ Summer vacation (Jul – mid Sep)
➢ Year end holiday season (Dec – Jan)
✓ Companies should adopt ownership model to address fixed
demand & use service model to cater to seasonal peaks in
demand
✓ This hybrid model will enable businesses to scale up without
significant capital outlay, addressing scalability issues
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
No.
of
visitors
(in
thousands)
Monthly Footfall Pattern of a Zoo in Japan
Fixed
Demand
Seasonal
Peaks
n
Service Model & Ownership Model - Coexistence
Stable yearly demand for Newme (nos.) 4
Variable demand for Newme (nos.) for 4 months 6
Total 10
Useful life (years) 4
Lease rental in 2026 (¥) 1,20,000
Proposed Selling Price of Avatar (¥) 44,00,000
Particulars
Service
Model
Ownership
Model
Hybrid
model
Total Annual lease (¥) 86,40,000 0 28,80,000
PV annuity factor @ interest
rate of 5.72%
3.49 - 3.49
Total lease outflow (¥) 3,01,31,469 1,00,43,823
Total Purchase value (¥) 4,40,00,000 1,76,00,000
Cash outflow (¥) 3,01,31,469 4,40,00,000 2,76,43,823
Excess outflow vis-à-vis
Hybrid model (¥)
24,87,646 1,63,56,177
✓ For businesses with seasonality, Hybrid model is most
optimum in terms of cash flow management
Team No. 94
17. - 5 Year Business Plan
2022 2027
2025 2026
2023 2024
❖ Talent Acquisition
❖ Expand category of
experiences
❖ Series A Funding
❖ Ramp-up Manufacturing Capabilities
❖ Business Development
❖ Establish Distribution Network
❖ Expansion at global
level
❖ Introduce Ownership
Model
❖ Ecosystem creation
Technology & Product Development [R&D]
PHASE I - GENESIS
PHASE II - PROPULSION
PHASE III - TRANSCENDENCE
Team No. 94
18. ❖ Perpetual process to keep up pace with the market’s demands
❖ Invest heavily in R&D to become a technology leader & parallelly reduce costs through Economies of
Scale
❖ Collaborate with industry players to gain expertise & improve capabilities
❖ Build a team of technically
qualified personnel across
domains to support the steep
technology curve
❖ Defined Organogram by creation
of functional blueprint, reporting
structure & clarity of roles
Talent Acquisition
❖ Raise capital to build
infrastructure & capabilities
❖ Approach VCs for Series-A
funding
Raise Funding
❖ Identify new use cases by taking
feedback from the market and
through brainstorming
❖ Validate the use case and build
service offerings around them
Expand Category
of Experiences
PHASE I - GENESIS
Technology & Product Development [R&D]
Team No. 94
19. ❖ Identify suitable international markets
to introduce the offering and improve
global footprint
❖ Target developed countries initially
where infrastructure is robust and tech
adoption rate is high
❖As avatars become technically advanced
and EOS is achieved , introduce
ownership model to co-exist with service
model
❖This opens up new revenue streams
PHASE III – TRANSCENDENCE
Global Expansion Introduce Ownership
Model
Ecosystem Creation
❖ Promote an all-inclusive society through Avatars
with focus on collective benefits to
communities
❖ Partner with Govt. bodies to develop Avatar
powered smart cities
❖ Align Avatar’s vision with Society 5.0 and ESG
goals through resolution of social problems
PHASE II - PROPULSION
❖ As customer base increases, establish
distribution network to have wider
reach
❖ Improve service levels & reduce lead
time through efficient distribution
Distribution Network
❖ Identify and enlist new clients &
businesses to provide a plethora of
options for customers to choose from
❖ Enlisting new vendors creates positive
network effects to draw more customers
Biz Development
❖ Develop technology in-house and forge
partnership with third-party assemblers
❖ Ramp-up manufacturing capacity to
match demand & achieve economies of
scale
Ramp-up Manufacturing
Capabilities
Team No. 94
20. ✓ Monthly lease fee increases every year due to better iteration of
robots made available with superior capabilities
✓ The no. of robots deployed at each location witness a steady
growth owing to increased demand
✓ Platform fee assumed to be 10% of monthly lease rental
Particulars Key 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
Listed Experiences (nos.) A 100 280 650 2500 3300 4500
Business Establishments (nos.) B 250 500 1250 2300 3800 5800
Avg. Fee Per Experience (¥) C 3100 3400 3700 4000 4400 4800
Avg. Time/experience/robot (in mins) D 35 40 45 60 65 70
Utilisation Factor E 45% 50% 65% 65% 70% 75%
Monthly Lease Fee (¥) F 69800 73988 78500 84700 120587 125410
Approx. Unit Sale Price (¥) G 0 0 0 0 5000000 5000000
Avg. Shopping Bill (¥) H 5000 5500 6050 6600 7300 7500
Robots at Each Location (nos.) I 3 5 8 10 15 18
Monthly Transactions/Location/robot (nos.) J 50 80 120 150 180 200
Avatars sold (%) K - - - - 10% 20%
Avatarin – Revenue Projections
(contd..)
Premises & Assumptions
✓ Listed experience nos. surge in 2025 due to international expansion
✓ With more experiences being added, the avg. time per experience
steadily increases due to higher levels of engagement
✓ With new use cases being identified, the utilisation factor of robots
increases every year
✓ Monthly lease fee for 2022 Source - Avatarin website Team No. 94
21. Lease model Annual Lease fee (A+B)*F*I*(100-K)*12 879 3,462 14,305 48,788 1,38,699 2,23,210
Ownership model Sale realisation value (A+B)*G*I*K 0 0 0 0 53,250 1,85,400
Platform Fee (Assumption) Increase in (A+B)*F*10% 2 3 8 24 28 40
Service Fee* A*C*60/D*10*E*I*20% 1 7 33 130 281 500
Transaction Fee (Shopping)* B*H*I*J*12*15% 338 1,980 13,068 40,986 1,34,816 2,81,880
End User Service Fee* A*C*E*I*365*(60/D*10)*10% 262 1,303 6,086 23,725 51,367 91,229
TOTAL (X) 1,483 6,756 33,502 1,13,643 3,78,442 7,82,259
Business Owners
Revenue (in million ¥)
No. of Institutions L 50 200 500 1200 2300 3500
No. of Robots M 2 3 4 6 8 10
Monthly Lease N 69,800 65,612 61,675 57,974 1,20,587 1,20,587
Annual Lease fee L*M*N*12*(100-K) 83.76 532.7 1,882.3 7,318.2 23,964 42,138
Sale realisation value L*M*G*K 0 0 0 0 9200 35000
Platform fee Increase in L*F*10% 0.4 1.1 2.4 5.9 13.3 15
TOTAL (Y) 84.1 533.8 1,884.6 7,324.1 33,176.3 77,153
Institutions
Revenue (in million ¥)
TOTAL (Z) 0.00 2.63 4.41 9.84 17.62 29.99
Year 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
Individuals**
Revenue (in million ¥)
Total Revenue for the Year (X+Y+Z) 1,567 7,292 35,391 1,20,988 4,11,636 8,59,443
*https://biz.avatarin.com/plan/
**Based on average number of bookings, usage time and lease rentals charged to individuals
Segment wise Projection
Team No. 94
23. Risks
Supply Side Priorities & Issues
I) Component Sourcing & Manufacturing
✓ Ensure sufficient availability of hardware components
& ramp-up software capabilities
✓ Enter into long term purchase contracts with Chinese
companies to source raw materials & components
✓ China produces 5.6 MMT of Silicon, accounting for 68% of
global production (Source – Statista)
✓ Source components from Shenzhen province to Tokyo
✓ Global semiconductor shortage exacerbated
by Covid lockdowns
Mitigation Strategy
✓ Most companies rely on short-term forecast
driven and Just-In-Time delivery models for
sourcing chips
✓ Avatarin should do away with such inefficient
models and enter into long terms purchase
agreements to hedge against such risks
Sea Route from
Shenzhen to Tokyo
Team No. 94
✓ Establish back-end IT infrastructure (Servers, CRM &
operating system) & cloud storage to support the
burgeoning demand
✓ Employ cybersecurity firms to develop state-of-the-art
network security since large volume of sensitive data is
exchanged
24. Supply Side Priorities & Issues
III) Product Innovation
II) Establish Distribution network
✓ As adoption increases, it becomes difficult
for Avatarin to manage the huge customer
base
✓ Appoint distributors to take care of
servicing aspect of value chain & efficient
management of credit
IV) Creation of ecosystem
✓ Efficient utilization of Avatar robots is of prime importance to cater to the huge
customer base
✓ Deploy Predictive Algorithms to gain insights about usage time & pattern of avatar
robots
✓ This enables optimum resource utilisation, thus creating a shared Avatar
ecosystem
✓ Better utilisation also leads to energy conservation, thus aligning business
operations with UN’s SDG goals
✓ Develop all-purpose Avatar bots to serve
multiple use cases
✓ With rapid pace of innovation, product
obsolescence is an area of concern
✓ Can be thwarted by taking a proactive
approach and keeping a tab on the pulse of the
market
Gantt Chart showing utilisation of Avatar robots
Team No. 94