Case Study: Athletics Authority of Indraprasthan

A t h l e t i c s A u t h o r i t y o f Indrapras than (AAI ) i s responsible for organizing the national athletic meet annually in the country. However this year, with a p p r o v a l f r o m t h e 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 t h i s p r e s t i g i o u s meet scheduled in December (just four months away). Among other aspects to be planned, an important activity isorganising 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 organize 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 (Exhibit II and Exhibit III). However, Dr. Mathur was not sure that the recommended quantum of foods (by each company) would meet the efficiency objective set by 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 weeks 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?