Question 2) Apply the Eleven Laws of Systems Thinking (see Chapter 2) as Assurance of

Learning (AOL8) that studies any market phenomenon. Explain each Law and its potential for
explaining and predicting behavior in the Case you have chosen for investigation. Illustrate the
application of each Law by past, current or projected examples.
Law 1: Todays problems come from yesterdays solutions
Explanation: This law states that every problem of our present has its root in some solution we came
up with in the past. The main reason for this occurrence is our myopic view of problems. This
shortsightedness often does not take into account the underlying consequences of a certain action.
Although undertaken as a solution, these actions have implications which often administer themselves
in the form of new problems in the system.
A good way to avoid this flaw is to incorporate multiple viewpoints, so that a problem is analyzed
from every possible angle before arriving at a solution and thus avoid unintended harmful
consequences.
Example: The very conception of IPL was done in a bid to solve the problems of younger and lesser
known players not getting the chance to represent at bigger stages. However, as the tournament has
progressed through its various stints through the years, we have seen that only the more familiar
names have grown as brands and sold for ostentatious prices.
This has led to a sense of dissatisfaction among the budding players and has manifested itself in forms
of these players taking in money for spot-fixing and betting. This has deeply scarred the face of the
game and tarnished the image of entire sport.
IPL has further created problems and led to widespread protests wherein massive amounts of water
was being used for preparation of the cricket grounds amidst draught in the states.
Another problem that IPL had created was that of players ignoring their own national representations
and taking in early retirements so as to play in the much better paying IPL and Champions League.
Law 2: Harder you push, harder the system pushes back
Explanation: This law is based on the fundamental that every system has its feedback system. Often,
when a system is overburdened, albeit for a good cause, it gives a negative feedback and thereby
aggravates the problem. This happens in conversation, government programs, business and personal
wellness efforts.
Example: This is in link with the example given under law 4. To increase the popularity of the sports
and hence the money that could be cashed in, new franchises were auctioned. However, this
overburdened the system by increasing the amount of money that each club was required to spend to
secure better players and also the difficulty of the tournament.
This pressurized the system to such extents, that many clubs were unable to pay up the franchise fees
and player salaries and were hence defunct; while some clubs in bid to win and make more money got
involved in spot fixing and match fixing and entire clubs were suspended.
This shows that the system was pushed beyond its equilibrium and the whole thing blew up in the
faces of the organizers in terms of bigger scandals.
Law 3: Behavior grows better before it grows worse

Explanation: This also relates to the shortsightedness of systems and the actions they undertake. A
short term solution always eases off the pressure in the very beginning, so much so that it seems like
the best thing ever; however, as time passes the short term solution runs its course and is not able to
adapt to the changing environment and thereby things start going south. Sometime this is seen when
organizations are more concerned with impression control than dealing with the actual problem.
Example: In 2008, Sreesanth was involved in a manhandling incident with Harbhajan Singh, where
the former was slapped by the latter. Although Harbhajan was banned from the rest of the season and
was given a heavy fine penalty, Sreesanth was let go with a mere warning.
Following this, Sreesanth had some good seasons and was thought have mended his ways and bad
habits on the pitch. However, as the story unfolded in 2013, Sreesanth was involved in betting and
fixing scandal and was banned and suspended.
Law 4: The easy way out usually leads back in
Explanation: This law is sort of a conglomerate of all the previous laws. It is based out of the
orthodox nature of systems and their high dependence on solutions that are tried and tested. Due to
past record and the ease of implementation, these solutions are taken up immediately; however, due to
lack of proper suitability and compatibility these quick-fixes backfire and lead back to the same
problems of the past.
Example: To increase the popularity of the tournament and hence increase the money and stakes
involved, new franchises were proposed as a quick fix solution.
The auction for expanding the initial eight franchises for the Indian Premier League was held on 22
March 2010. The cities involved in the auction were Pune, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Nagpur, Kanpur,
Dharamsala, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Cuttack, Vadodara, Indore and Gwalior. Two new teams were
selected out of 12 teams, which bid for 2011 IPL matches.
The Sahara group, the biggest patron of sports in the country, became owners of the Pune franchise
after offering a staggering US$370M. The other new franchisee is a consortium of five companies
called Rendezvous Sports World, which bid US$333.33M for Kochi.
In 2011, two new franchises were thus added in the Indian Premier League. These were Kochi
Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors India. The two new franchises were sold for a combined sum of
money, which was greater than the combined purchase price of all the original eight IPL franchises.
Ever since its inception, the Kochi franchise was at the center of many controversies. BCCI had given
the franchise ultimatum to dissolve factionalism and infighting or face scrapping. Later on, the IPL
Governing council decided to give them a 30-day termination notice which meant that the franchise
would have to reply to the notice within 30 days and if the IPL accepted their agreement then the
franchise would no longer face the prospect of being terminated. After much speculation it was finally
announced by the BCCI that it was satisfied with the agreements signed by the franchise owners and
the team would participate in the 2011 IPL Season. After a few months, the Kochi Tuskers franchise
failed to pay the 10% bank guarantee of the total franchise fee that it was supposed to pay before the
season began. On 14 October 2011, the IPL Governing Council announced that there would be only
nine teams participating in 2012 after the Kochi franchise was expelled from the league.
Thus the system was back to square one.

Law 5: The cure can be worse than the disease

Explanation: This refers to a cure which is an intervention and becomes addictive. As dependence
on the intervention increases the systems ability to cure itself lessens. This is just like medicines.
When the same anti-biotic is taken up for the same bacteria again and again, the bacteria becomes
immune to it and often mutates to something more drastic. Thus the cure to be actually led to the
formation of a new disease. If an intervention is needed then we have to make sure the intervention
doesnt weaken the entire system causing more and more dependence.
Example: This can be seen in many cases where a team invests heavily on selective players but those
players due to clashes with national tournaments or injuries often do not perform well and hence the
team suffers.
This could be seen in case Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had heavy dependency on Virat Kohli.
Kohli was considered to be the one-stop solution for all the problems of the team. The team was so
much dependent on him, that whenever he failed to score big, the team was not able to win that
match.
Law 6: Faster is slower
Explanation: This is something akin to the turtle and hare story, where the hare though seemingly
faster is actually slower. This is something which happens when systems have a penchant for bigger,
faster and grander things. Like economies which in an attempt to grow fast often also suffer high rates
of inflation and the whole system melts down.
Example: This can be seen in cases where the teams usually focus on a stronger opening line-up to
build a faster run rate at the beginning of the matches.
However, this leads to less focus on the middle order which is usually the spine of the team and drives
the score to a sustainable and defendable level. And since, the opening two or three players get out in
the first half of the match, the team is in shambles thereafter as there is no strength and focus on the
middle and lower end batting lineups.
Hence, the supposed faster start is actually the slow death of the scorecard and run rate.
Law 7: Cause and effect are not closely related in time or space
Explanation: Contrary to popular opinions, not everything has an immediate effect. This law works in
both directions. Not every action undertaken as a solution will have an immediate reaping and
improvement in the system. Similarly, for a problem that has occurred, we often look at the immediate
predecessor, thinking that that will be the root cause of the problem. However it is not so. There is a
domino effect, a chain reaction in place, because of which the cause and effect arent always
neighbors.
Example: This can be again traced back to the spot fixing scandals that have scarred the face of IPL.
While the immediate reason that is preached in the media is the greediness of the players involved it is
far from the sole thing responsible or even the central problem.
There are issues with the salary system amongst the players. While the bigger known named are paid
mullahs, the unknown and often the consistent ones are paid in pennies and dimes. The difference
often is from around a million dollars a match to a few thousand.

One also needs to look at the illegal and therefore unregulated side of betting in matches. If in some
manner betting in these tournaments can be legalized, it can be better monitored in public and
therefore better controlled.
Therefore, the most obvious and immediate reason of greed is not the sole reason for occurrence of
such scandals.
Law 8: Small changes can produce big results but the areas of higher leverage are often the
less obvious
Explanation: This law could be called the Butterfly Effect. It says that changes in a small targeted
area, which may seem insignificant, if properly executed and leveraged can lead to very big changes.
The problem, however, here is that these areas of high significance and leverage are often
camouflaged amongst issues which have higher face value but insignificant implications. The
challenge, therefore, for any organization becomes to identify these areas and act on them.
Example: This can be seen in the case of Kolkata Knight Riders. The team despite being one of the
most expensive and proficient on paper was not able to perform well in the tournament.
To tackle the problem, the team after 3 seasons of struggling in IPL decided to change the leadership
of the team. They replaced Saurav Ganguly with Gautam Gambhir as the team captain. Although the
decision was met with heavy criticism from fans and critics alike, the move struck gold as the team
went on to win two editions of the tournament.
Law 9: You can have your cake and eat it too but not at once
Explanation: This is a simple fundamental. You can either possess a cake, or you can eat it; it cannot
be both. The moment you eat your cake, you no longer have possession of it. This has a simple
implication that all things have a trade-off involved. One needs to prioritize their options and think
strategically to reach an optimum solution.
Example: What has happened in majority of the cases in IPL is that a team in a bid to attach a big
name with itself has spent lavishly on one or two players only, while there was another option of
having a well balanced team instead of a single crowd-pleaser. As a result, the teams were short of
cash and had heavy dependency on just that one name. And when that single person failed to perform
the team suffered.
This is a classic example of strategically balancing two options build a shiny brand or build a
sturdy brand. This was seen in case of Delhi Daredevils spending a whopping $2.6M on Yuvraj Singh.
Singh failed to perform in the entirety of the tournament. Although Delhi Darevdevils got their shiny
branding with Yuvraj Singh, they compromised on a strong team and thus suffered horribly in the
tournament.
Law 10: Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two elephants
Explanation: The law explains the inability of organizations and people to look at the bigger picture.
Although breaking a bigger problem into smaller fragments and analyzing them independently helps
by making the process easier, it usually ignores the fundamental that each of these fragments have
interdependencies. Being entwined intrinsically, any change to one piece has an overall impact. Since
the positive changes to one system can act as a negative for another system, it is not prudent to study

them in isolation as it has the potential to decrease efficiencies and lead to much bigger problems
instead of reaping better benefits.
Example: In the case of IPL, this can be specifically seen when teams usually focus on one element of
their team lineup. At the beginning of each season they focus on one aspect say batting lineup or
bowling lineup and spend heavily on securing some star player or big name in that particular
field only. And since there is only limited amount of money that a team can spend, they usually end up
with a skewed system wherein they get a better batsmen / bowler but the overall chemistry of the team
and the overall quality remains unchanged, or worse is degraded.
Law 11: There is no blame
Explanation: In a system involving multiple stakeholders both internal and external there is no
space for blame games. All the stakeholders must work together instead of shifting the burden, only
then can the system progress. Each and every stakeholder has ownership and therefore must stand up
to it.
Example: In the 2012 betting and spot fixing scandal, what happened was that each party involved,
i.e. the players, organizing teams, organizing body and bookies, they all blamed each other. Some
cited as teams not paying players enough money as the reason while some blamed the players and
their integrity itself. Since collective responsibility was not shared and necessary changes were not
made, the scandal again happened in 2013 on a much wider scale.
Question 3) As Assurance of Learning (AOL9) that studies any market phenomenon, create at
least two Laws of your own similar to the Eleven System Laws for explaining and predicting
Case-related market behavior that is not covered by the Eleven Laws. Explain each new Law
and its potential for explaining and predicting behavior in the Case you have chosen for
investigation. Illustrate the application of each Law by past, current or projected examples.
This question tests our ability to Put Knowledge into Action. As per
assurance of learning (AOL 9) which studies any market phenomena, our
objective in this question is to synthesize two new laws which has the potential
to explain and predict market behaviour. The eleven laws are a good
representation of most of the phenomena however there are a few things they
fail to capture some of the behaviours of big system. The first law which I
propose is:
1. Todays failures is tomorrows success provided you keep putting
efforts: Basically it says that if you are failing today it may be an
indication of succeeding tomorrow provided you keep putting efforts.
There are numerous examples that validate the empirical correctness of
this theory. To quote examples from IPL we can see the following:
(i)

Story of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2015: Mumbai Indians started

badly. They had a very promising line up. With the likes of some of
the greats it was projected that it had very high chances of winning.
However, despite playing a very good game, it lost the first 4
matches in a row. It stood at 8th position in the IPL table at the end
of 4th match. Everyone had started writing off this team. No one
believed in them. However, this law says that todays failure is
tomorrow success provide you keep putting efforts. And since MI

was consistently putting great efforts, it went on the win all the 10
remaining matches in the group stage. They finished at second
position. Then, they won the semi-finals and finally went on to win
the finals against Chennai Superkings.
(ii)

Story of Australian Player David Hussey: David Hussey is one

of the best players of T20 format of the game. In fact, he is also a
very good player when it comes to international and test cricket.
But during the age of 20 to 30 he did not get any opportunity to
prove himself. This was a failure because despite having immense
talent he was not able to showcase it. However, it was observed
that he kept on knocking and practicing. He even performed well in
the local teams This was noticed by the Australian Selectors. So, he
got opportunities towards the fag end of his career. But he utilized it
very well. He played well. Seeing his performance, he was selected
by one of the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. He has been an
immense success. So the validity of the law holds true here as well.

2. Greediness is contagious: We have seen that IPL could not maintain its
clean image. The game was tainted by some of players who took bribes
from the rookies to fix the outcome of the match. This led to severe action
against them. So the question which arises is why do players get involved
in such unethical and unsporting behaviour despite strict laws that have
already been made. This particular theory caters to this problem. The
reason is that greediness is contagious. It spreads from person to person.
Let us understand this theory better with a relevant example from the
context of IPL Cricket:
(i)

DNA analysis of S. Sreesanth spot fixing issue: S. Sreesanth

was considered to be a very talented player. He was compared to
the likes of Javagal Srinath. He had an amazing speed. Also his
energy and enthusiasm towards the game was remarkable. But all
of us have seen that he was accused on spot fixing. One of the
prime reasons for this is that rookies pay a hefty sum of money for
fixing the match. This entices many players into falling into the trap
of fixing. If suppose one player takes the bribe then, other players
who are initially of the view that they wont take bribe feel that
taking bribe is safe. And it would help them to make some extra
money along with their regular income from their particular
franchise. So this spot fixing thing spreads. Consequently, we saw
that from Rajasthan Royals three players were caught at the same
time. This clearly shows that action of whoever started taking the
bribe influenced the behaviour of other two. So, this law shows
some validity.

(ii)

Case analysis of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Superkings:

We all know the case of Rajasthan Royals. These are the teams
which were ousted from IPL last season. This was due to the fact
that some of their actions were not in the best spirit of the game.
But why was it that two of the biggest IPL teams were thrown out
together. Are these two events independent? The answer is no if we
apply this particular law. In their pursuit of profits these teams

started pursuing ways which were not falling within the ethical
practices as charted in the constitution of the IPL. This was giving
unfair monetary advantage to them as they tempered with the
game. And since one team was doing this, it in a way also
influenced other teams to indulge in a practice like this. So this
particular example shows that greediness can be contagious.
Question 4) Apply now the Ten Archetypes of Systems Thinking (see Chapter 2A) as Assurance
of Learning (AOL10) that studies any market phenomenon. Explain each Archetype and its
potential for explaining and predicting, past or expected structures of market behavior in the
Case you have for investigation. Illustrate the application of each Archetype by past, current or
projected examples.
Limits to growth
Like products which follow product lifecycle, even organizations follow a cycle. A
product follows the four steps of entry, growth, maturity and decline similarly for
organizations after experiencing a growth phase due to initial attempts there
comes a time when growth is limited or even reversed. At this time instead of
reinforcing the levers for growth like R and D, hiring new talent etc. managers
should look at identifying the factor which is limiting the growth and change it.
The Indian Premier League in India started off with a huge success, apart from
being an entertainment blockbuster and redefining Indian cricket and
strengthening the T-20 format, IPL generated revenues for India, the 2015 IPL
season generated a revenue of 11.5 Billion rupees, and the brand value of IPL in
2015 as estimated by Duff and Phelps is 4.5 billion dollar. Initially it was started
to compete with ICL by Zee, but not only did IPL surpass it but became a household name in India and is now ranked sixth among all the sports leagues in the
world.
But IPL currently is embroiled in controversy and with it BCCI has also been
dragged in the mud. Several ethical questions are raised, through this report we
will try to address a few of these questions. Unless IPL India addresses these
issues it cannot move ahead. It tried to reinforce the levers of growth by
introducing additional team, getting more sponsors and aggressive marketing,
but the primary issue of addressing the limiting factor which in IPLs case is the
common members between BCCI and IPL and the conflict of interest that arises
subsequently. For instance Srinivasan who served as the head of BCCI also had
an interest in the Chennai Super Kings team
For IPL then redefining the balance would mean, setting up clear guidelines and
selecting leaders who can take up this responsibility of ensuring these
guidelines.
Also as the complexities in the system grew it became increasingly difficult to
keep track of the irregularities, in the limits to growth archetype, increasing size
is recognized and the succeeding increase in complexity is stated as a reason for
limiting growth.
The crux of this archetype is unless the right issues are addressed the problems
will keep re-surfacing and act as limiters for growth. So for IPL to reach the

number one from its current sixth position would mean addressing the root
causes that is limiters for growth instead of reinforcing the generic growth levers
Shifting the Burden
This archetype explains how by fixing the symptoms alone the problem never
gets addressed that is by shifting the burden from root cause to symptom does
not fix the problem, only the painful task of addressing the root cause fixes the
problem, for instance during a snake bite tying a knot and restricting the flow of
poison in the body alone cannot save a person, the poison removal which can be
viewed as the root cause in this case, alone fixes the problem.
2012-Spot Fixing Case
In 2012 an Indian News channel claimed that it had conducted a sting operation
and found five players to be guilty of spot fixing, also around the same time
Monish Mishra who was a part of the Pune warriors team admitted to the
franchises paying black money, in both the instances the problem was resolved
symptomatically by suspending all the persons found guilty, the much deeper
nexus and black money existed in the whole set up. On deeper probe they could
have uncovered the flaws in the system but just by providing the IPL found itself
in a similar quagmire in the next year
2013-Spot Fixing
3 Players of Rajasthan Royals were arrested by Delhi Police for charges of spotfixing. Among them was Sreesanth. Later that year Gurunathan Meyappan was
arrested in relation with illegal betting, the similarity of these incidents is noteworthy, had the issues in 2012 been addressed earlier maybe these issues would
not have arisen. Also in the case of Gurunathan Meyappan arose the issue of his
father-in-law Srinivasan being the official responsible for providing information to
the investigating agency, this was a serious conflict of interest.
By just going for symptomatic solutions and not addressing the root-cause in
spot fixing and betting, the board had to face the problems again
Fixes that Backfire
This archetype mainly talks of those fixes that are done in an ad-hoc manner and
later due to the lack of effort and thought that goes into the fix they back-fire.
And hence they are like the squeaky wheel problem, where by watering the
squeaky wheel the problem gets alleviated by rusting the wheel.
Any fix a quick solution for a long-lasting problem, the fix just alleviates the
temporary troubles caused by the problem, it is not a solution in itself. For
instance during IPL firing of players who were involved in spot-fixing was the
quick fix , and it back fired , by re emerging the next year involving players who
were famous like Sreesanth , he was removed from the Indian team.
A look at Sreesanths history would reveal that he was a squeaky wheel for a
long time. He was noted for his behavior both on and off court , BCCI on previous
occasions had warned of serious repercussions in the future , it went for the
quick-fix solution of warning a player for misconduct , if it had probed deeper,
then it would have identified Sreesanths and maybe would have drawn a few
inferences .
Also while coming up with a major game like IPL it is natural to expect betting
and spot-fixing but how one addresses these issues is the question. Even spotfixers would do their research before narrowing down on a player, again it boils
down to addressing the root causes , observing players with exuberant behavior ,
keeping a track of their history and passing this information to the key stake-

holders , that would help in keeping such things in check and not just removing
the player.
Tragedy of the Commons
The tragedy of commons is a corollary of the archetype , Limits to growth ,
where a common resource shared by everyone is overused that it reaches a
stage beyond repair and thus affects the whole group which uses this resource ,
even those who are involved in conserving this resource.
Since no one individually benefits from taking care of the resource, the stakeholders are usually only involved in maximizing their share of the pie, instead of
trying to preserve the pie, with time the resource crashes leaving everyone
worse-off.
This can be seen in the case of IPL where players can be viewed as the common
resources , although there might not be dramatic consequences such as the
entire system crashing , there are repercussions to not taking care of this
essential resource . Consider the following Example
Conflict with the England and Wales Cricket Board
The ECB and other county clubs raised their concern over IPL as the players from
their home-land were missing a few of the country matches, this resulted one
English player signing up for the 2008 IPL , also in response there was the
proposal to launch Twenty 20 English premier , media is already cluttered with a
multitude of cricket matches , and not all get footage , here footage can be seen
as the pie or the common resource , multiple country can work towards a few
premier leagues , if every country comes up with its own premier league the
message is lost on the audience , instead a few well managed programs would
benefit all, to people who argue otherwise can think of a case where every
country has its own Olympics .
If experts from several countries came together then they could better manage
the IPL, the common resource can be managed better if the interested stake
holders come together instead of fighting for common players
Accidental Adversaries
This archetype explains how when individual organizations work for the same
goal they sometimes become adversaries, while this is normal , even when
organizations are working for different things they end up becoming adversaries.
A classic example is when organizations have different marketing strategies
which target diverse customers, but the organizations assume one at the cost of
the other and think unless cannibalization happens they cannot meet their goals
In case of IPL this was seen when the boards of other countries denied issuing
No Objection certificate to players, and thus resulting in fewer players from
these countries representing in the IPL, each of these countries had several
players, competent enough to play in both IPL and other competitions, by
segregating IPL and non-IPL players. If the players gained recognition their homecountry also gained the same, for instance Virat Kohli was made the Indian
captain due to his exceptional performance in the IPL among several other
factors. When England let its players play for the IPL it viewed it as English
players choosing India over England, instead if it looked at it as a strategic tool to
increase the recognition of English players and England itself it would not have
ended up becoming an accidental adversary.
Success to the Successful

There seems to be a vicious cycle where success goes to the successful , what
does this mean , for instance consider a B-School where some students are
determined more successful than the others right from the onset due to factors
like academic performance in the past or due to the fact that they are from
premium graduate schools ,, now these students go ahead and secure some of
the best placements reach CEO/CXO positions faster than others , does that
mean that those who are at the bottom of the period should always stay there ,
no ; it just means that the system is evaluating the students on the strengths of
the winner and there is as much as a chance of the latter being successful as
there is a fish developing wings and winning a flying contest .
In the context of IPL let us look at the criteria of selection for players. IPL is
something to look up to in this aspect as it selects from diverse backgrounds, it
does not care if the player is poor or rich, it only cares for people who can play
well, unlike the Ranjhi where the players have to go through several regional
rounds before being able to play for their trophy IPL scouts for raw talent and
goes for it, so it does not restrict success to the successful but to everyone who
wants to be successful. One such example is KC Cariappa who never played for
the Ranjhi but directly played for Kolkata Knight Riders after he was spotted by
few IPL scouts, in a traditional cricket match he might never have gotten the
chance to play against the top players, but IPL gave him a chance to do that.
Thus it helped the zero-sum game and the cycle of successful players spelling
failure for others by widening the platform to accommodate all kinds of players.
Balancing Process with Delay
This archetype talks about how the processes have to be matched with the delay
in result, it means when results are delayed people take corrective action
preemptively and when results are further delayed they do not stop but continue
taking these corrective measures , even when not necessary .
One corporate example is the case of hoarding of onions in India, when the
prices of onions started rising, traders started hoarding onions, they continued
doing so and with time the prices drastically fell as all players started flooding
the markets at the same time.
One such example in context of IPL is the case of ECB and Sir Allen.
In response to the IPLs growing popularity and several English and international
players preferring to play in the IPL over English matches ECB decided to come
up with the English Premier league, instead of speedily looking for investors to
match the IPL should have carefully evaluated its funding options, it should have
balanced the process of finding investors with the delay that could be expected
with finding the right investor. An example backs these findings
The case of Sir Allen Stanford and the English premier league
Sir Allen was a Texas billionaire and a cricket promoter, he had previously been
the brain child behind the Stanford 20/20 and so the ECB brought him to invest in
the EPL, but later in 2009 the news that there was a fraud investigation against
Sir Allen became public and ECB had to severe ties with him and look for
alternate investments.
Growth and Under Investment
This archetype talks of firms setting lower standards and in trying to meet these
low standards, expectations are set lower, and this follows a vicious cycle, while
this archetype typically might refer to monetary aspirations and goals related to

top and bottom line, one way of looking at it is under investment in key factors
that contribute to growth.
In the case of IPL one such factor is a different version of this archetype where
firms have not had the money to invest in their teams, and thus some of them
had to be scrapped out.
IPL is a huge market and any new entrant in the IPL needs funds, initially the
team owners came up with grand plans for each team, but later they could not
follow it up, in some cases it was the poor financial performance of the parent
companies that led to the fall of the teams, for example Vijay Malaya and Royal
Challengers Bangalore.
Also Pune warriors owned by Sahara group was scrapped ad they failed to pay
the full franchise fee. Initially what started as booming investment industry later
saw decline due to the poor financial performance of a few firms. The underinvestment in the teams led to their decline. In the IPLS structure each franchise
was expected to pay the franchise fee in instalments , several major firms
started off with a bang and proclaimed to sponsor teams , but later they could
not live up to the promise. Under investment apart from hindering the team, also
causes low morale.
But, why then was there underinvestment? , It was found that several of these
firms had poor financial performance, for example India cements which was the
owner of Chennai Super kings was performing poorly and so it could not pay the
franchise fee, later it was found that their owners were involved in a betting case
and the team was suspended for two years.
Escalation
This archetype talks about of how competition if unhealthy could lead to the
escalation of the woes of both the parties in place, this is similar to the prisoners
dilemma in economics which talk about individuals being worse off as they alter
their actions believing in the worst from their opponent.
For instance as the IPL progressed the teams became really aggressive and
winning became essential for the teams to survive , so some team owners
resorted to spot fixing to maximize their returns , two such teams were Pune
Warriors and Chennai Super kings.
While trying to maximize their returns and trying to second guess the actions of
their opponents these teams took the easiest way out and got involved in
betting, the players who were involved were aggressively trying to make money
when the grass was green, and so other players as competition so in order to
beat the competition they got involved in spot fixing.
In both instances the troubles of the parties were escalated as their actions
ensured that their returns would be destroyed.
Eroding Goals
This archetype talks about adopting a short term goal and compromising on the
long term goals, lowering the goals when goals are not met. Lowering does not
solve the problem as problems re-emerge. For instance in the case of poorly
performing IPL teams there was a pressure for investors as they wanted returns ,
so instead of focussing on improving the game by fair means, these teams were

involved in practices like spot fixing and betting which promised quicker returns ,
but he erosion of goals led to the dis-qualification of teams.
For instance consider the case of Chennai Super Kings, CSK was owned by India
cements, the company reported a poor financial performance as it was in a tough
completion with Ramco cements, so this translated in the team being a major
game changer for the industry, but under pressure it succumbed and took the
easy way, but this erosion of goals came with a cost. The Supreme Court ordered
the arrest of Meyappan and the suspension of the team for two years.
Question 5) Synthesize all the Laws under questions 2 and 3, compare and contrast them, and
judge which Law has the best explanatory and predicting power of the Case phenomenon under
investigation, and why? Illustrate by market examples. [10 marks].
Going through all the Laws under questions 2 and 3 and analysing them one by one in the context of
IPL, we compare and contrast them and try to identify one Law amongst all, which tries to encompass
the case phenomenon that we have undertaken. The idea is to identify that one Law which captures
almost all the moral and ethical issues from a holistic viewpoint and can be related to the issues raised
in other Laws.
What we can see is that the Law: The easy way out usually leads back in is the most important
law that covers the major issues in IPL. The most significant and critical issues revolve around
irregularities in team allotment and expulsion of Kochi Tuskers and hence this Law is most important
for our case as it beautifully takes care of these issues and in simple words- had this law been
followed, the image of IPL would have been completely different.
The easy way out usually leads back in
The most interesting thing about this Law is that it basically is a integration of the first three laws.
Being based on the orthodox nature of systems and their tendency to rely upon solutions that are tried
and tested easy to implement and historically preferred, this Law talks about the backfiring of such
quick fixes which are not suitable and compatible in every environment, leading to recurring of past
issues. Example:
Kochi Tuskers: the team was expelled from the tournament in 2012, when they were not able to pay
the ownership fees. This created a lot of hoopla in the media and negative publicity for the IPL. There
were many bidders for the teams and Rendezvous Sports World which became the owner of Kochi
Tuskers was already creating negative buzz in the media, due to lack of transparency in declaring the
owners and association with a Congress politician Mr Shashi Tharoor and his wife. Their inability to
pay 10% of the total franchise fees puts a huge question on the credibility of BCCI to identify the
most suitable bidders and the whole process itself. Also later on Sahara Group faltered and its owner
Mr Subrata Roy is still facing various charges. Same was the case with Mr Vijay Mallya who fled the
country after defaulting on multi-crore loans.
What does this this trend say? Four team owners facing such shameful charges, miles away from
moralities and ethics of the System, that there was no real effort from the BCCI to find the right
owners. This was the easy way amount, to just find owners who are willing to pay high, oblivious of
the fact whether they can actually pay or not, whether these people have shown the most ethical
behaviour in the past, without thinking of the consequences that how much IPL would suffer if these
owners become irresponsible in the future.

The expansion plans of BCCI to expand IPL took a hit and they were back to square one, illustrating
the importance of this law. When the bidding was done, BCCI was in a hurry to expand IPL and failed
to do due-diligence on the bidders. The owners play an integral part in the functioning of the
tournament and being the face of the clubs, their behavioural ethics reflect that of the entire IPL brand
as a whole, hence the importance of selecting the right buyers.
The Law can also be used to describe the whole spot-fixing saga which has caused the biggest damage
to IPL till date. How the BCCI tried to come up with easy solutions to cater to spot fixing allegations
in 2012 leading to huge fiasco in 2013 ultimately leading to the banning of 2 big teams, resignation of
BCCI Chairman, arrest of national level players. There was no effort taken by the officials to identify
the real culprits, behind the scenes mafia and the nexus between illegal gamblers and players. Had this
been done then 2013 could have been avoided. The massive loss in revenues due to banning of clubs,
damage to brand equity of IPL, dent in BCCIs vision to make IPL global giant, loss of face for BCCI
as Chairman was forced to resign, all this and most importantly, the loss of faith of fans in the
tournament, which might play the biggest role in the decay of this tournament.
This Law has the best predicting power because the banning of 2 teams and arrest of national level
players has been the biggest controversy to hit IPL so far and this Law basically comes with a warning
sign that if a disease is just taken care on symptom level then the disease might aggravate into an
epidemic and harm the whole system. As a learning, we need to ensure that such Laws must be
implemented when the responsibility is beckoning and short term greed can lead to long term
bankruptcies. The ethics of a system even if visibly flawed should not lead us to compromise on our
self-developed moralities.
Question 6) Synthesize all the Archetypes under questions 4, compare and contrast them, and
judge which Archetype has the best explanatory and predicting power of the Case phenomenon
under investigation, and why? Illustrate by market examples. [10 marks].
Going through all the ten archetypes and analysing them one by one in the context of IPL, we
compare and contrast them and try to identify one archetype amongst all, which tries to encompass the
case phenomenon that we have undertaken. The idea is to identify that one archetype which captures
almost all the moral and ethical issues from a holistic viewpoint and can be related to the issues raised
in other archetypes.
What we can see is that Shifting the burden and Fixes that backfire are two archetypes that
cover the major issues in IPL. The most significant and critical issues revolve around illegal betting
and match and spot fixing and hence this archetype is most important for our case as it beautifully
takes care of both the issues and in simple words- had this archetype been followed, the image of IPL
would have been completely different.
Shifting the Burden
It talks about the short sightedness of the IPL management to solve critical issues. They were never
interested in diagnosis of real problem, instead they just tried to fix the visible symptoms. Problems
cannot be eradicated completely by shifting the focus from root-cause to mere curing the symptoms.
As the example that we saw in an earlier question, after a snake bite, the root problem is poison and
removal of poison by any means is the only feasible thing. So rather than just focusing on one way of
removing poison, we need to ensure that the best practical way is implemented so that there is no trace
of poison in the body. Now let us talk about the spot-fixing cases of 2012 and 2013 from the point of
view of this archetype. Example:

2012: Spot-Fixing:
We know that symptomatic solution was undertaken by the IPL committee and BCCI to suspend the
persons found guilty. But no root-cause analysis was done, had this been done, this situation wouldnt
have repeated in 2013, tarnishing the reputation and image of IPL. Illegal betting is one of the core
reasons for spot-fixing, which itself is backed by the nexus between underworld and corporate world
backed by the corrupt politicians and police-force.
No measure was taken to curb the practices of rampant gambling practices which has today even
captured the imagination of school going kids. So the main problem never went away. The
management was happy that they came up with an instant solution and their only interest was to
ensure smooth operations for that season, but what they lacked was a vision as to what the long term
implications will be if this kind of saga repeats again, and this is what happened the next year.
2013: Spot-Fixing:
When the son-in-law of the chairman of the parent committee of one of the biggest sport
extravaganzas is caught for spot-fixing, imagine the reputational risk that this sports event is exposed
to. This coupled with the fact he is the owner of the most successful franchise in the history of this
tournament. This is what happened in 2013 and IPL lost its TRP rating, because many sports fans
were disappointed with the notion that the tournament which they follow so passionately, might be
rigged completely.
The global aspirations of BCCI to make IPL as big a brand as EPL took a major hit and Indian
Judiciary had to finally intervene to remove the Chairman from his post. Another major spot-fixing
controversy came and national players such as Sreesanth were arrested. This brings us back to our
archetype that had the approach of BCCI not been so symptomatic, this kind of situation wouldnt
have come wherein eventually two teams were banned from the tournament leading to loss of
revenue, loss of faith of fans, global brand image of IPL.
This archetype has the best predicting power because the banning of 2 teams and arrest of national
level players has been the biggest controversy to hit IPL so far and this archetype basically comes
with a warning sign that if a disease is just taken care on symptom level then the disease might
aggravate into an epidemic and harm the whole system. As a learning, we need to ensure that such
archetypes must be implemented when the responsibility is beckoning and short term greed can lead
to long term bankruptcies. The ethics of a system even if visibly flawed should not lead us to
compromise on our self-developed moralities.
Question 7) Synthesize all the Laws and Archetypes under questions 2-4, compare and contrast them, and
judge which Law or Archetype or a combination of the two has the best explanatory and predicting power
of the phenomenon under investigation, and why? Illustrate by market examples.

S.N
o.

Laws applicable
here

1.

Law 2: Harder you

push, harder the
system pushes

Archetyp
es
applicabl
e
Limits to
growth

Relevant example

The Indian Premier League in India started

off with a huge success, apart from being an
entertainment blockbuster and redefining

back.
Law 3: Behavior
grows better before
it grows worse.
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 10: Dividing an
Elephant in half
does not produce
two Elephants

2.

3.

Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays
Solutions.
Law 3: Behavior
grows better before
it grows worse.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 8: Small
Changes can
produce big Results
Law 11: There is no
Blame
Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays

Shifting
the
Burden

Fixes that
Backfire

Indian cricket and strengthening the T-20

format, IPL generated revenues for India, the
2015 IPL season generated a revenue of 11.5
Billion rupees, and the brand value of IPL in
2015 as estimated by Duff and Phelps is 4.5
billion dollar. Initially it was started to
compete with ICL by Zee, but not only did IPL
surpass it but became a house-hold name in
India and is now ranked sixth among all the
sports leagues in the world.
But IPL currently is embroiled in controversy
and with it BCCI has also been dragged in
the mud. Several ethical questions are
raised, through this report we will try to
address a few of these questions.
Unless IPL India addresses these issues it
cannot move ahead. It tried to reinforce the
levers of growth by introducing additional
team, getting more sponsors and aggressive
marketing, but the primary issue of
addressing the limiting factor which in IPLs
case is the common members between BCCI
and IPL and the conflict of interest that
arises subsequently. For instance Srinivasan
who served as the head of BCCI also had an
interest in the Chennai Super Kings team
In 2012 an Indian News channel claimed that
it had conducted a sting operation and found
five players to be guilty of spot fixing, also
around the same time Monish Mishra who
was a part of the Pune warriors team
admitted to the franchises paying black
money, in both the instances the problem
was resolved symptomatically by suspending
all the persons found guilty, the much
deeper nexus and black money existed in
the whole set up. On deeper probe they
could have uncovered the flaws in the
system but just by providing the IPL found
itself in a similar quagmire in the next year

During IPL firing of players who were

involved in spot-fixing was the quick fix, and
it back fired , by re emerging the next year

4.

5.

Solutions.
Law 3: Behavior
grows better before
it grows worse.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 2: Harder you
push, harder the
system pushes
back.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 6: Faster is
Slower
Law 7: Cause and
Effect are not
closely related in
Time or Space
Law 8: Small
Changes can
produce big Results
Law 10: Dividing an
Elephant in half
does not produce
two Elephants
Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays
Solutions.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 6: Faster is
Slower
Law 8: Small
Changes can

involving players who were famous like

Sreesanth , he was removed from the Indian
team.

Tragedy of
the
Commons

The ECB and other county clubs raised their

concern over IPL as the players from their
home-land were missing a few of the country
matches, this resulted one English player
signing up for the 2008 IPL , also in response
there was the proposal to launch Twenty 20
English premier , media is already cluttered
with a multitude of cricket matches , and not
all get footage , here footage can be seen as
the pie or the common resource , multiple
country can work towards a few premier
leagues , if every country comes up with its
own premier league the message is lost on
the audience , instead a few well managed
programs would benefit all, to people who
argue otherwise can think of a case where
every country has its own Olympics .

Accidental
Adversarie
s

In case of IPL this was seen when the boards

of other countries denied issuing No
Objection certificate to players, and thus
resulting in fewer players from these
countries representing in the IPL, each of
these countries had several players,
competent enough to play in both IPL and
other matches , by segregating IPL and nonIPL players . If the players gained recognition
their home-country also gained the same, for
instance Virat Kohli was made the Indian
captain due to his exceptional performance
in the IPL among several other factors. When
England let its players play for the IPL it

6.

produce big Results

Law 9: You can
have your cake and
eat it too but not
at once.
Law 11: There is no
Blame
Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays
Solutions.
Law 3: Behavior
grows better before
it grows worse.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 7: Cause and
Effect are not
closely related in
Time or Space
Law 8: Small
Changes can
produce big Results

viewed it as English players choosing India

over England, instead if it looked at it as a
strategic tool to increase the recognition of
English players and England itself it would
not have ended up becoming an accidental
adversary.
Success to
the
Successful

7.

Law 6: Faster is
Slower
Law 8: Small
Changes can
produce big Results
Law 9: You can
have your cake and
eat it too but not
at once.

Balancing
Process
with Delay

8.

Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays
Solutions.
Law 2: Harder you

Growth
and Under
Investmen
t

In the context of IPL let us look at the criteria

of selection for players. IPL is something to
look up to in this aspect as it selects from
diverse backgrounds, it does not care if the
player is poor or rich, it only cares for people
who can play well, unlike the Ranji where the
players have to go through several regional
rounds before being able to play for their
trophy IPL scouts for raw talent and goes for
it, so it does not restrict success to the
successful but to everyone who wants to be
successful. One such example is KC Cariappa
who never played for the Ranjhi but directly
played for Kolkata Knight Riders after he was
spotted by few IPL scouts, in a traditional
cricket match he might never have gotten
the chance to play against the top players,
but IPL gave him a chance to do that. Thus it
helped the zero-sum game and the cycle of
successful players spelling failure for others
by widening the platform to accommodate
all kinds of players.
In context of IPL the case of ECB and Sir
Allen is particularly interesting. In response
to the IPLs growing popularity and several
English and international players preferring
to play in the IPL over English matches ECB
decided to come up with the English Premier
league, instead of speedily looking for
investors to match the IPL should have
carefully evaluated its funding options, it
should have balanced the process of finding
investors with the delay that could be
expected with finding the right investor. An
example backs these findings
IPL is a huge market and any new entrant in
the IPL needs funds, initially the team
owners came up with grand plans for each
team, but later they could not follow it up, in
some cases it was the poor financial

9.

10.

push, harder the

system pushes
back.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 7: Cause and
Effect are not
closely related in
Time or Space
Law 1: Todays
Problems come
from yesterdays
Solutions.
Law 4: The Easy
Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 7: Cause and
Effect are not
closely related in
Time or Space

Law 4: The Easy

Way Out usually
Leads back in
Law 5: The Cure
Can Be Worse Than
The Disease.
Law 8: Small
Changes can
produce big Results

performance of the parent companies that

led to the fall of the teams, for example Vijay
Malaya and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Also Pune warriors owned by Sahara group
was scrapped and they failed to pay the full
franchise fee. Initially what started as
booming investment industry later saw
decline due to the poor financial
performance of a few firms.
Escalation

Eroding
Goals

As the IPL progressed the teams became

really aggressive and winning became
essential for the teams to survive , so some
team owners resorted to spot fixing to
maximize their returns , two such teams
were Pune Warriors and Chennai Super
kings.
While trying to maximize their returns and
trying to second guess the actions of their
opponents these teams took the easiest way
out and got involved in betting, the players
who were involved were aggressively trying
to make money when the grass was green,
and so other players as competition so in
order to beat the competition they got
involved in spot fixing.
Consider the case of Chennai Super Kings,
CSK was owned by India cements, the
company reported a poor financial
performance as it was in a tough completion
with Ramco cements, so this translated in
the team being a major game changer for
the industry, but under pressure it
succumbed and took the easy way, but this
erosion of goals came with a cost. The
Supreme Court ordered the arrest of
Meyappan and the suspension of the team
for two years.