Wishing Everyone a Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural Happy New Year

Afgani - Saale Nao Mubbarak
Afrikaans - Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Albanian - Gezuar Vitin e Ri
Arabic - Antum salimoun
Armenian - Snorhavor Nor Tari
Assyrian - Sheta Brikhta
Azeri - Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!
Bengali - Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Bulgarian - ×åñòèòà Íîâà Ãîäèíà(pronounced "Chestita Nova Godina")
Cambodian - Soursdey Chhnam Tmei
Cantonese - Sun Leen Fai Lok
Catalan - FELIÇ ANY NOU
Chinese - Xin Nian Kuai Le
Corsican - Pace e Salute
Croatian - Sretna Nova godina!
Cymraeg - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Czechoslovakia - Scastny Novy Rok
Denish - Godt Nytår
Dhivehi - Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen
Dutch - GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR!
Eskimo - Kiortame pivdluaritlo
Esperanto -Felican Novan Jaron
Estonians - Head uut aastat!
Finnish - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French - Bonne Annee
Gaelic - Bliadhna mhath ur
Galician - Bo Nadal e Feliz Aninovo
German - Prosit Neujahr
Greek - Kenourios Chronos
Gujarati - Nutan Varshbhinandan
Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hebrew - L'Shannah Tovah
Hindi - Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
Hungarian - Boldog Ooy Ayvet
Indonesian - Selamat Tahun Baru
Iranian - Saleh now mobarak
Iraqi - Sanah Jadidah
Irish - Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian - Felice anno nuovo
Japan - Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
Kabyle: Asegwas Amegaz
Kannada - Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
Khmer - Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
Kisii - SOMWAKA OMOYIA OMUYA
Korea - Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
Kurdish - NEWROZ PIROZBE
Laotian - Sabai dee pee mai
Lithuanian - Laimingu Naujuju Metu
Macedonian - Srekjna Nova Godina
Malay - Selamat Tahun Baru
Malayalam - Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
Maltese - Is-Sena t- Tajba
Marathi - Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
Nepal - Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana
Norwegian - Godt Nyttår
Pampango - Masaganang Bayung Banua
Papua - New Guinea Nupela yia i go long yu
Persian - Saleh now ra tabrik migouyam
Philippines - Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese - Feliz Ano Novo
Punjabi - Nave sal di mubarak
Romanian - AN NOU FERICIT
Russian - S Novim Godom
Samoa - Manuia le Tausaga Fou
Serbo - Croatian Sretna nova godina
Sindhi - Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
Singhalese - Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Siraiki - Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay
Slovak - A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovenian - sreèno novo leto
Somali - Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican
Spanish - Feliz Ano ~Nuevo
Sudanese - Warsa Enggal
Swahili - Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº
Swedish - GOTT NYTT ÅR! /Gott nytt år
Tamil - Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
Telugu - Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai - Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish - Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian - Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
Urdu - Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
Uzbek - Yangi Yil Bilan
Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Tan Nien
Welsh - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing all my readers "Merry Christmas" !

While you enjoy the spirit of christmas there's some food for thought for all of you.
Here is an observation made by Justice S Mohan of SCI in his judgment in Unnikrishnan, J.P v. State of A.P., AIR 1993 SC 2178. This was a case, inter alia, touching upon the question: "Whether the right to education is a fundamental right? If so, up to what level - primary, secondary, higher, university and/or professional"?

"The fundamental purpose of Education is the same at all times and in all places. It is to transfigure the human personality into a pattern of perfection through a synthetic process of the development of the body, the enrichment of the mind, the sublimation of the emotions and the illumination of the spirit.

Education is a preparation for a living and for life, here and hereafter. An old Sanskrit adage states: "That is Education which leads to liberation" - liberation from ignorance which shrouds the mind; liberation from superstition which paralyses effort, liberation from prejudices which blind the Vision of the Truth.

Interesting Conversation

Today let me share with you excerpts of a conversation that I witnessed. Before sharing the details let me provide you a brief background. We are housed in the GMP village (fully furnished twin sharing apartments) but are required to come down to the MDP Dining Hall for having breakfast / lunch etc. During the mornings there's always a rush since classes are from 8:30 AM.
Today was no different with everyone rushing through their breakfast to reach the class on time. After finishing his breakfast IR was patiently waiting outside the washroom for the 2 people inside to come out. The time was 8:25 AM. After a good two minutes one person emerged from inside the washroom. IR stepped back to make room for the person. Suddenly VK aka visionary emerged from nowhere & tried to wriggle through between them. Now, IR had witnessed such behaviour of VK several times earlier in the past. This time he was determined to teach VK a lesson or two. So he pulled VK by his arm and stopped the latter. Here's the rest of conversation.

IR: Hey, where do you think you are going? Get in the queue.
VK: Oh Oh...sorry I didn't see you.
IR: Why? Are you myopic?
VK: He He, Yes, No, I mean...
Then IR goes inside & shortly afterwards VK joins him. (BTW, there are just 2 basins).
IR: You know what, guess you should learn a bit of courtesy. That sure will take you a long way in life.
VK: He He. In India we do not need courtesy.
IR: Who told you?
VK: Indians are by nature not courteous.
IR: hmm, that's the latest bullshit that you engineered, right. On 2nd thoughts, you are right. Apparently some Indians aren't.
VK: Of course, you are a very courteous Indian.
IR: You bet I am and you are one extremely discourteous Indian.
VK: Oh Oh. I was just joking.
IR: Maybe, but I wasn't...

The reason why I am posting this conversation is to highlight that even in a B-school where apparently one comes across some of the most elite people of the country this type of unacceptable behaviour is extremely commonplace. The same people when they travel overseas though are magically transformed to extremely well-mannered & thoughtful individuals. My question is then why do we not exhibit such nice behaviour towards others while we expect others to show the same towards us. Food for thought :-)

3rd Term Electives

My electives in the 3rd term are as follows:
e-Business
Labour Law & Cyber Law
Marketing Strategy and Implementation
Product and Brand Management
Organisational Change and Development
International Financial Management
Resource Based Strategy
Strategies of Cooperation

You will observe that my concentration areas are IT / Marketing / Strategy.
I have taken a single Finance elective this term - IFM. Next term I will be taking another Finance elective - M&A.
This is a conscious decision since I do not intend to pursue a career in Finance. The only 2 Finance electives that I have chosen are purely out of interest.

Service Science, Management and Engineering

It is widely known that the economies of the developed world are predominantly based on services and those of the developing world are headed in the same direction. However, the businesses within the service sector of most economies are still mostly based on narrow and unsystematic methods, leading to lack of competitiveness, speed to value, and most importantly, innovation.
Today Dr. Guruduth Banavar, Associate Director, IBM India Research Laboratory, Bangalore talked to us regarding IBM's initiative called Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME), which aims to create an ecosystem for developing the knowledge base and train the labor force and to make significant advances in service research and innovation. This is what he had to say "We clearly need to develop a more systematic approach to services innovation if we are to sustain this vital new sector in the economy".
The goal of the SSME discipline is to drive productivity, quality, and sustainability of services, while making the learning rates and innovation rates more predictable across the service sector, especially in complex organization to organization services including business to business, nation to nation and government to population. This new academic discipline brings together ongoing work in fields of computer science, management science, and social science to develop skills required in a services-led economy.
Many leading universities across the world have begun exploring and investing in the field of service science (SSME) to develop exactly these cross-disciplinary skills. University of California, Berkeley, Arizona State University and North Carolina State University are among a handful of universities in the United States which have established programs in service science. Universities in Europe and Asia are also creating programs in this area.

Back to Jamshedpur

I'm finally back to Jamshedpur after an enjoyable Aussie trip. We reached Kolkata on 12th morning (2:00 AM) from Bangkok. The flight was delayed by around 1.5 hours. One hilarious thing happened at bangkok airport. We were waiting in the lounge (before boarding) when a group of gals sitting in front of us suddenly started giggling uncontrollably. When I turned my back towards the direction in which they were seeing & laughing I saw RC, visibly embarrassed, coming out of the men's restroom in a hurry. Knowing RC and her idiosyncrasies this wasn't too surprising for anyone though ;-) As if this were not enough within a couple of minutes their was another roar of laughter from everywhere around me. This time VM (Bacchu Yadav) mistakenly entered the women's loo and hurriedly came out red faced. Three cheers for RC & VM for producing this "Double Dhamaka" in Bangkok and entertaining everyone around :-)

Project @ OUA

I am working on a project work for Open Universities Australia (OUA). Open Universities Australia is owned by seven leading universities and is the country’s fastest growing online higher education service. Over 110, 000 people have already studied with them since they began in 1993. One can choose to study from over 100 subject areas and graduate with qualifications from 15 academic providers. There are no entry requirements to start studying with OUA.
OUA believes India to be an attractive market and they have already had some success in the Indian market following certain recent initiatives. The focus of our project is to prepare a roadmap/strategy for OUA to expand their business in India.

Melbourne Ahoy

Hi guys! Sorry for not posting for quite a while. I'm in Melbourne currently for the international immersion programme. XLRI has tied up with RMIT for conducting this programme. The duration is approximately 3 weeks. As part of the programme we will be attending some classes at RMIT and work on projects for some organizations in Melbourne. Tomorrow the project groups will be allocated. Some of the companies participating in the programme are KPMG, Delloit, Citi Group etc. I'll share more info. with you as and when I come to know.
BTW, over the weekend 5 of us drove down to Sydney & had a blast. I'll post the details and some snaps in my next post.

Alumni Homecoming: Idli boy steals the show

A packed Tata auditorium listened with rapt attention to Sarathababu Elumalai, who was here to share his rags-to-riches story during the XLRI annual Homecoming ceremony.
The other speakers on the topic "Entrepreneurs - Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders" included, Mr S Sivakumar (Chief Executive, ITC Agri-Business), Mr Manish Sabharwal (CEO-Founder, Teamlease), Mr Gautam Mallick (CEO-Founder, LSI Financial Services).
The youth from Chennai, an IIM graduate who refused a brilliant job to start a catering service, said: “I was born in a family of five children in Chennai and my mother worked with the government’s mid-day meal schemes. The money was not sufficient to sustain the large family, so she set up a small idli shop near our home in one of the slum areas of Chennai.”
The founder of FoodKing Catering Services, which today serves home-made hygienic food to offices in Ahmedabad and Goa, recalled how in Class IX his teachers had to persuade him hard not to quit studies.
From selling idlis on the pavements of Chennai to binding books for students, Elumalai had done it all till he reached BITS, Pilani. “I had never heard of the institution as we never got such an exposure. Someone told me that if I study there I will get a job,” he said.
After the engineering degree and a three years’ stint in the corporate world, Elumalai moved to IIM (A).
“The kind of salary and position an IIM graduate is offered is very difficult to turn down. But if I had not taken such a decision, I would have never been able to start my business,” he said.
The business, which started with a mere Rs 5,000 and a small kiosk at Ahmedabad, has today spread to over six branches employing over 175 people whose only job is to supply nutritious home-made food to corporates.
“It was an idea that I chanced upon during my internship at Pilani when I learnt that 30 per cent of the country’s population go to bed without food,” he said. “More than working for somebody I wanted to give jobs to people like me, who did not have other means of livelihood.” Soon his company would venture into other cities and provide employment to at least 15,000 people.
And while Sarathababu surprised everybody with his stories, XLRI today too put its first step in the same direction. After almost three years of negotiations, the much talked about Social Entrepreneurship Trust (SET) was formed today.
Aimed at funding and supporting innovative social entrepreneurship ideas, the trust which is the first of its kind would also work for different tribal upliftment projects in Jharkhand and would provide scholarships to tribal youths for further studies....

ALumni Homecoming

Like the previous 3 years, XLRI will be organising the 4th Annual XLRI Alumni Homecoming during the weekend (Nov 17-18, '07). This annual event brings some alumni from across six decades back to the alma mater, representing different geographies, and companies.

Besides appraising the alumni and the interactions, one of the main events of the Homecoming is the panel discussion which will be held in the evening in the Tata Auditorium (Nov 17th, 6:30pm). Every year XLRI selects a contemporary issue and invites practitioners from the field to share their thoughts and experience on the issue.

This year the topic for panel is Entrepreneurs: Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders?
The purpose of the Panel is to profile the entrepreneurs / entrepreneurial ventures (from various sectors) whose work also aims at initiating systemic changes in the society.

1. Mr E Sarathbabu (the young IIMA graduate who founded the Food King Catering Services Pvt Ltd. to create employment)
He is from the 2006 batch of IIMA, he created a stir when he refused a high-paying job at the campus, and decided to start his own enterprise, The Foodking Catering Services. The vision of his enterprise states (http://foodkingindia.com/). He was inspired by his mother who brought him and his sibling up by working in the mid-day meal scheme and selling sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai. Inaugurated by the Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, Foodking has grown from a small kiosk to six branches (four in Ahmedabad and one each in BITS Pilani campuses in Pilani and Goa).

2. Mr Manish Sabharwal, Founder & CEO, TeamLease Services,
He is the Chairman and co-founder of Teamlease Services, India’s largest temporary staffing firm with over 75,000 employees in 675 cities locations across India. He is also a member of the Planning Commission steering committee on labor and employment for the Eleventh five year plan (2007-12) and is a member of the CII core group on labor reforms.

3. Mr S Sivakumar, Chief Executive ITC - Agri-Business/e-Choupal
He is the CEO of the Rs.3,500/- division, he is also the brain behind the largest internet-based initiative in rural India. 'e-Choupal' services today reach out to more than 3.5 million farmers growing a range of crops - soyabean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses, shrimp - in over 38,500 villages through nearly 6500 kiosks across nine states...

4. Mr Anjan Dutt, Socio-Cultural Entrepreneur, Director/Producer of “The Bong Connection” & “Bow Barrack Forever”
He is a pioneer in Bengali music, and a multi-faceted artist who is a singer, composer, actor and director. He is the producer/director of the cross-over films like “The Bong Connection” and “Bow Barrack Forever”, besides working for Films such as “Mr & Mrs Iyer”, “City ofJoy”, Yugant”, “Antareen” etc. He is known to have rejuvenated the Bengali music by blending it with the modern and contemporary culure and social issues (e.g., his songs about the killing of Christian Missionaries in Orissa, Bandra Blues, etc.)

5. Mr Rajeev Dubey, Dy Editor, Business World will moderate the discussions

My career plans

Although after successful completion of the GMP course a candidate receives a diploma in general management, students can focus on certain key areas of concentration (such as Marketing / Finance) based upon their career interests. For example, in our batch an unusually high proportion of candidates aspire to shift to finance. The reason is that there are a lot of guys from the core sector who have fairly limited career options such as finance / IT domain consulting. Consulting though is another option which is open for the initiated / focussed candidates. Here, of course, I'm assuming that they are not interested to return to the core sector.
As far as I'm concerned I had my priorities clear before coming down to XLRI. I will go back to the IT sector but not in the same function. I am looking for a Business Development role (preferably overseas). I do not have any plan B right now so I'm not too sure what I will do if things do not happen as per my plans. Nowadays, irrespective of size and stature, almost every Indian IT company is planning a ‘big expansion' in scale and scope of operations which implies requirement for new business / clients. Hence, the need for Business Development Managers / Opportunity Managers.

50% MBA

Finally end terms are over...
The last paper was Strategy and it was a 4 hour marathon exam. As I mentioned earlier that this time there were no term-breaks. So 3rd term commenced from today. The schedule was planned this way to accommodate our international exposure programme. As part of this programme we will be travelling to Melbourne for 3 weeks. I will provide more details regarding this trip in my subsequent post. I am planning to go home for a few days. Let's see whether the plan materializes.

Happy Diwali

End Terms

End terms exams have started from today.

The exam schedule is as below:

Nov 5th - Legal Environment of Business
Nov 6th - HRM
Nov 7th - MIS: Technical and Social Perspectives
Nov 8th - Production and Operations Management
Nov 9th - DEEPAWALI
Nov 10th - Financial Management I & II
Nov 11th - Strategic Management

Luckily OMMD paper was scheduled last week along with a host of other submissions & presentations et al. Only LEB exam is open-book.

Here's wishing all of you 'A Very Very Happy Diwali' !

I'll be back soon. This time there are no term-breaks so term III commences on 12th Nov.

Expect the Unexpected

We have a subject called Mgmt Information Systems (MIS) in this term. The focus of this course is on information technology issues facing today’s managers. As part of this course we have to complete a group project. The details of the project are as follows:
1> Form groups of 5
2> Pick up an SME in and around JSR. The business could be Auto ancillary, Construction business, Retail business, Professional Service, etc.
3> The project should provide a brief description of the organization, any internal/external systems that employees use as TPS/MIS and communication & collaboration requirements.
4> If the group feels that there is need for a change in the existing system or need for a new system then the same needs to be justified. Also the group has to design the new system and discuss any constraints that they foresee in implementing the new system.
As luck would have it in my group there are 4 techies (from CTS, TCS & Tech Mahindra) including myself and one guy from Operations background. Now, since I have worked in DW&BI for the last 6 years there was always this danger of trying to showcase my expertise/knowledge and getting carried away in the process.
I have noticed many people (who are experts in their respective domains) somehow getting carried away in similar situations and ending up in a pompous display of knowledge. This may not be appreciated by everyone always. BTW, I have observed the reverse phenomenon as well.
Anyways, there is one thing which amused me. In this project we have to create some DFDs and ER Diagrams. Just prior to writing this post I was creating some stuff in ERwin. I had last worked on these stuff several years ago when I used to be a Data Modeler in IBM. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would be working with Erwin/MS Visio while pursuing MBA in a B-school (especially in a General Management Programme). Life is funny, there are so many unexpected things that just keep happening :-)

Today is Dandiya Night @ XLRI

Beautiful Thoughts

I came across a couple of beautiful quotes today and thought of sharing them with you guys.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
Alfred D. Souza

Life in a B-school

Life has been super busy lately but I feel purposeful and happy. The negative part of it is that I am so wrapped up in the routines of daily life. Days roll into weeks and time just flies by. I’ve been consistently productive for quite some time now, yet the amount of work just continues to pile. It's been more than 4 months that I've joined XLRI and only about 6 months or so remain before I'm outta here. Today I'd like to share with you some observations made during these few months.

1> Students are very competitive, very grade-conscious and work too hard.
2> Majority are focussed towards securing grades rather than towards assimilating knowledge.
3> A lot of students are in a state of flux and have no idea why they are here and/or where they would want to be post-mba.
4> A 1-year mba is extremely intensive & quite stressful and you always keep wondering why there are only 24 hours in a day!
5> Peers evaluate you in terms of your scores/grades.
6> Friendship & camaraderie are passe.
7> Finance & Consultancy rule!
8> Quite a few students would make excellent secretaries (to bosses) since they are able to start taking notes even before the Prof. has uttered a single word.
9> Finally, if MBA is a religion then Profs are God...period!

These are observations based upon my personal experience and you have every right to agree/disagree.

GMP - Admission

Dear Readers,
As many of you may be aware that applications are being invited for admission into 1 year GMP @ XLRI. If anyone has any questions regarding the admission process, course, pedagogy, placements or anything else for that matter then I'll be more than happy to take your queries. I have also been responding to prospective applicant's queries at pagaalguy. So do let me know if you have any queries/doubts.

XLRI ahead of all private B-schools

XLRI has made it to the top slot for the best B-school in the country. In a recent survey by Clore, a market research organization and a business magazine, XLRI, Jamshedpur, was ranked 1st in the private B-schools category. SP Jain & NMIMS are at 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. The IIMs have retained their position on the list of top government B-schools in the country.
"It is indeed a matter of pride for all at XLRI to be ranked at the top. Prior to this, XLRI was only next to the IIMs but the bifurcation between private and government sectors has surely helped us scale new heights," said E.M. Rao, former dean of XLRI.
XLRI has also made it to the number one position as far as the faculty salaries among all B-schools go - the highest being Rs 27 lakh per annum and the minimum Rs 4.2 lakh annually. IIMs are the lowest, at number 17, with the maximum salaries being only Rs 6 lakh per annum.

Competence / Incompetence

There are 4 possible levels professional aptitude/know-how which could be used to categorize anyone working in an organization. They are as follows:
Unconscious Incompetence - I know not that I know not
Conscious Incompetence - I know that I know not
Conscious Competence - I know that I know
Unconscious Competence - I know not that I know
It is not necessary that a particular individual has to go through all the above phases. However, it is desirable for a competent manager to try and attain the level of Conscious Competence. I was told that Unconscious Competence is probably the hardest to achieve. The problem is that if one is aware of one's capabilities then complacency sets in which restricts one from achieving the highest level of competence.

2nd Term starts

I reached Jamshedpur late last night. I was glad that we had only 3 classes today since I didn't get enough sleep. The POM faculty handed over 2 cases and pre-reads for tomorrow's class.
This term we have the following 7 subjects:
Financial Management (FM)
Human Resource Management (HRM)
MIS : Technical and Social Perspectives (MISTSP)
Production and Operations Management (POM)
Strategic Management
Optimization Models for Managerial Decisions (OMMD)
Legal Environment of Business (LEB)

Free Riders!

Today I will talk about a special breed of MBA grads (in the making) whom I've encountered during these 2.5 months at XLRI - the free riders!
How does one define free riders? Non contributing members of a project who are a liability on the remaining team members are affectionately called free riders. They are really a sad breed among MBAs. They fail to understand the responsibilities which they are expected to shoulder. These are people who believe in the theory of symbiotic living but only partially. They will stick on with you, contribute nothing, reap the benefit and move ahead. Their focus is solely on how not to come in limelight and how to hide their incompetency. They do not show any sense of self consciousness or shame in blatantly copying other people's work. True believers of social theory of justice. The worst part is that some of these people even go to the extent of calling themselves smart workers.
There are many competent people who free-ride. These people can be of 2 types - those who are plain lazy and do not give a damn and those who will do all their individual assignments arduously but will slack off when it comes to group work as they know that someone else will surely do the job.
So, how to stop this menace? I have a simple solution. In general, each member of the group receives the same grade on the project/assignment. However, there may be times when one or more members of a group will free ride on the work of other members. The grades of such free riders should be substantially reduced (up to 25% from the total grade) if consistent evidence of free riding is found. To discover free riding, each member of a group may submit an individual Group Peer-Evaluation Form around the time when the group’s project/assignment is submitted. If someone does not submit a Group Self-Evaluation Form, the Professor will assume that, from this student’s perspective, at least, no free riding problems existed.

25% MBA complete

End terms are over :-)
I haven't done too badly but there are a few areas for improvement...the most important being time management. If you ask me what is the single most important skill that you need to master in order to survive in a B-school then I'd say it's time management - more so in a 1-year MBA.
It's been 2.5 months and it seems like y'day...time really flies in a B-school with all the assignments / quizzes(announced & surprised) / mid-terms / end-terms / projects (individual & group) et al.
2nd term is gonna be more hectic so I'll recharge my batteries & be back on the 5th of next month.

P.S. Loads of stuff to share with you guys so don't go anywhere...I'll be blogging daily during the term breaks to compensate for not blogging enough during the 1st term

End terms are here !

End terms exams have started. Today we had the BECC paper. Tomorrow we have 2 exams - Mktg & Mgr Comm. followed by Mgr Eco on tuesday, QT on wednesday and finally MANAC & OB on thursday. I will be leaving for Kolkata on thursday night. All exams other than MGE & OB will be open notes. Looking fwd to another 4 sleepless nights :-(

Two Xlers in News

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) joins Expedia as India Head
Sharath Dhall (93BMD) has been appointed online travel portal Expedia.com as its head of India operations.
...Prior to joining Times Internet Ltd (TIL) as its Director (e-Commerce) about a year-and-a-half ago, Dhall was working for HLL (now, HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti. He has 14 years of experience and has also worked with Asian Paints.
Expedia created buzz in October 2006 when it said it was looking for a person to head its imminent operations in India. The company now has an office in Gurgaon, but has not announced any other plans. Expedia offers the ‘Expedia Best Price Guarantee’ which guarantees customers the best rates for all types of travel -- it offers vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and in-destination activities. Since Expedia is very strong globally on hotel bookings, the company is expected to follow the same route when it officially launches in India.



Madhukar Kamath (76BMD) is AAAI President
The Hindu (July 31): Mr Madhukar Kamath (76BMD), Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, has been unanimously elected as the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2007-2008.
The AAAI is the apex body of advertising agencies in the country and comprises 84 members who account for approximately 80 per cent of all the advertising business in the country.
Commenting on his appointment as the President of AAAI, Mr Kamath said, “The Indian advertising industry is undergoing tremendous change. I believe marketing communications play a valuable role in the economy. The task at hand is to improve the image of the industry and to promote the interests of the advertising agencies so that they continue to make an essential and ever-increasing contribution to the nation.”

The Goal

As part of our OB (MHB) course we have to complete a book review. I just finished the book assigned to me which is "The Goal" written by Eliyahu Goldratt. Plainly speaking The Goal is a book on Theory of Constraints. However along with the message, another important side to this book is the method the author has adopted to deliver the message.
Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager who is continually fighting to meet the output requirements of his business. There are ongoing conflicts between marketing, accounting and production in the organization. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant - or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a colleague from student days - Jonah - to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done. Through some suggestions from Jonah, Rogo learns to identify and manage the problem areas in the operation. Specifically, Rogo identifies production bottlenecks that are the critical points determining the rate of production of the operation. Then he develops strategies for overcoming or living with the bottlenecks.
Eliyahu Goldratt uses the approach of Socratic inductive reasoning to teach his Theory of Constraints. He does this by presenting ideas in the form of a fascinating novel about people dealing with the problems managers face at home and at work every day. Goldratt's ideas are surprisingly applicable in manufacturing and service environments. By studying and applying these ideas, one could improve the organizational effectiveness and productivity, free up capital tied up in excess inventory, reduce customer frustration and reduce organizational anxiety. The Goal should be on the "must read" list for most managers.

XL - Pics

XLRI Learning Centre



Campus at Night



Way to Class



MDP Residence



MDP Dining Hall

M&A: Human Capital Challenge

Last month SAPPHIRE invited Mr Sunit Sinha to talk about M&A: Human Capital Challenge. Mr Sinha is a M&A Consulting Business Leader at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, India. Incidentally, he happens to be an XLRI alumni.
M&A transactions continue to boom, driven by increasing globalisation, healthy financial results and an increase in available financing. Yet many deals fail to meet the strategic, operational and financial objectives underlying the deal rationale. Why?
The most common reason for this failure is lack of attention paid to the human capital aspects of due diligence and integration.

Ek Ruka Hua Faisla

We had Prof. D. P. Ghosh of ICFAI visiting us over the weekend. He took 3 sessions in 'Integrated Marketing Communications' & 'Pricing'. There were a lot of takeaways from his Marketing class. He is an alumni of XLRI (73 batch).
We were also shown a movie on saturday as part of the MHB course. The name of the movie is "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla". The story goes like this -> 12 male members of a jury gather together in an enclosed room to deliberate their decision on a charge of murder against a young man who has been accused of killing his father. All of the jury, save for one, are convinced of this young man's guilt, and they would like to convince their colleague also to come to the same unanimous decision. However this dissenting juror slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court. It's an adaptation of the English movie "12 Angry Men". Go & check it out (I mean the English version).

Adventure Trip

Hi guys, I'm back after a long hiatus. Some of you have mailed me. I'll try to write more regularly henceforth. We (GMP students) recently went on a three-day adventure trip co-ordinated by Tata Adventure Sports Foundation (TASF), Jamshedpur. This is a regular annual event to be taken up by all students.
This program aims to inculcate management lessons among the students the natural way. TASF, a professional body under dynamic leadership of Ms. Bachendri Pal, is engaged in organizing such adventure programs for corporates and institutions all over the country.
The three days trip involved students admiring the hardships of nature as well as actually enjoying the same by means of several exciting management games which brought out their mental and physical prowess to the fore. The events included rock-climbing, caving, trenching, abseiling at a place near Jamshedpur and water rafting at Dimna Lake.
Ms. Bachendri Pal, the first Indian women to climb Mt. Everest, gave a pep talk to the students on leadership skills. She was all praise for the enthusiasm and high degree of involvement shown by the students. The trip ended with the event of water rafting at Dimna Lake and the names of the overall group members were announced by a senior TASF official. The trip ended on a sweet note with recapitulations of learning spread over three days. GMP students were upbeat with the rigor and relevance of this program. Some of the learning's from the program include leadership skills, working in teams, building strategies, making optimal use of available resources, overcoming the fears of unknown, leadership, and introspection skills.

1st Term Begins

Academic year starts from tomorrow... Here's wishing everyone in our batch all the very best ! In the meanwhile we are trying to come up with a collaborative GMP blog. I'm sure that there are a good number of bloggers/creative writers in our batch so that there will be no dearth of contributors. Keep watching this space for more info. regarding the collaborative blog.
P.S. We have also elected the 2 CRs of our class this week. A lot of work ahead of them :-)

1st Week @ XLRI

I'm trying to settle down here. We are having a preparatory programme during the 1st week. Prof. Madhukar Shukla took us through the history of Indian Business starting from the post independence era till the late nineties. We were introduced to Case Methodology with the case of "Ross Abermathy and the Frontier National Bank". For anyone interested this case has been taken from Peter Drucher's 'Management Cases'. Since I have an engineering background I was quite skeptical about Accounting & Finance. However, after attending a couple of sessions of Prof. Sabyasachi Sengupta all my demons have vanished. In fact, I have started to believe that I will probably enjoy the subject. The way he introduced the concepts is simply amazing. Kudos to him.. Registration is tomorrow...

Reached XLRI

I reached XLRI on 19th evening. It's been raining here lately. Unfortunately some of us could not be accomodated in the MDP Residence so we are temporarily put up in St.Thomas Men's Residence. Hopefully we would be able to shift to the MDP Residence by month end. In fact a new residential facility is coming up in the campus where all the GMP participants would be housed. This facility is expected to be operational by 1st week of September. So, a lot of packing/shifting ahead of us :-(

Here I come !

The countdown has begun...I shall be leaving for XLRI on 19th June. I'll be travelling with 3 other friends, Shailendra, Suman & Nikhilesh. Santosh was also supposed to travel with us but unfortunately he couldn't make it due to prior professional commitments.
Hopefully the weather at Jamshedpur would be better this time around with the Monsoon setting in. Anyway, that's not my prime concern since from what I heard the Classrooms and the MDP Residence are all centrally airconditioned.
The academic calendar is as follows:
1. Welcome & Preparatory Programme : June 20 - 24, 2007
2. Registration & Briefing for GMP Programme : June 24, 2007 (3 PM)
3. Term 1 Begins - June 25, 2007

XLRI Campus Pics

While browsing through some MBA student blogs I stumbled upon these excellent pics of the XLRI campus. Kudos to the photographer for capturing some really breathtaking snaps. Please see for yourself here !

Educational Loan

I was in Jamshedpur last week to arrange the education loan. I could have paid the entire course fee from my personal funds but decided against the same after some contemplation. My decision to go for the education loan is not based upon financial reasons but to avail the tax advantage associated with the repayment of the loan. Section 80-E of the Income Tax Act contains a provision for availing deduction on the total income on account of educational loans for the purpose of computing taxable income, provided the loan is in the name of the assessee.
For anyone interested the details are as follows:
GMP Course Fee - Rs 6,26,000
Disbursing Bank - State Bank of India
Loan Sanctioned - Rs 5,94,000 (approx 95 %)
Rate of Interest (Floating) - 11.25 % per annum
Repayment - 84 EMI of Rs 10,249
Security/Third Party Guarantee - Waived

XLRI Search Engine

Google’s Custom Search Engine restricts the search only to the sites specified by target user community. The target websites can be collaboratively maintained and managed. I was inspired to create a custom search engine for XLRI after seeing Bharani create one for ISB. Currently the search is targeted to 10 sites including the XLRI Website and XLRI student blogs. Check it out for yourself and let me know your feedback.
I welcome my readers to add many more relevant sites to this search engine, by clicking the “Volunteer to contribute to this search engine” link on the search home page.

G-Day Result

On Nov 21, 2006 I took the GMAT and scored a 720 (96th Percentile). The breakup of my score is as follows:

QA - 49, VA- 40, AWA - 5.0

I was not too satisfied with the overall score, but I was confident that this score would keep me competitive for the top MBA programs that I would eventually apply to.

In the near future, I'll write a detailed follow up of my test experience, as well as a summary and reflection of the entire preparation process which would hopefully help future GMAT aspirants.

GMP 2007 - Placements

I have already mentioned in one of earlier posts that XLRI had for the first time this year offered placement to it's GMP students.
49 students, 26 participating companies and 106 offers – that pretty much sums up the XLRI GMP Placement 2007. The highest international offer was USD 100,000, the highest domestic offer stood at a whopping Rs 35 lakhs and the average salary offered for the GMP Class of 2007 was Rs 15 lakhs. Offers poured in from diverse sectors like Investment banks, FMCG, Telecom, Banking, Management Consulting, Manufacturing, IT and ITES. Firms such as ADAG Group, Atos Origin, CTS, Feedback Ventures, Godrej Consumer, HCL, ICICI, ICRA Management Consulting, JSPL, L &T, Mindtree Consulting, Patni, RPG group, Satyam, SBI Caps, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors etc. participated in the placement process.
The Information Technology (IT & ITeS) sector lapped up 35% of the students, Financial sector 30%, Manufacturing 15%, Telecom 10%, and the remaining 10% were picked up by Consulting firms.
The placement performance vindicated the confidence that the students placed in a bold new open-format, flexible, rolling, placement-process. The slot free transparent process was aimed at finding the right organization fit for the candidates who were seeking roles of their interest. The process also offered a menu of location choices to recruiters, with the Institute bringing the entire batch of students to Mumbai for one part of the process. This facilitated an interaction between the candidates and top management of the participating organizations. The feature was much appreciated by the participating organizations especially given the fact that multiple rounds of interviews were often necessary to decide the best fit for candidates based on their prior experience, interests and organizational needs.
In the words of Prof. Uday Damodaran, the chairperson of the XLRI placement committee: “Given the care with which we selected participants for this programme, the thinking that went into the design of the programme and the quality of delivery of the programme, we were always confident of the success of the Placement Process. But the enthusiastic response of the recruiters exceeded even our own expectations. Notably so, because a significant number of participating companies even had their Managing Directors on their interview panels”.

Placement Snapshot
Number of candidates - 49
Companies participated in the placement process - 26
Total offers - 106
International offers - 2
Average Salary - 15 Lakhs
Highest International Offer - 1,00,000 USD
Highest domestic offer - 35 Lakhs INR
Number of offers per candidate - 2.16

XLRI - GMP

XLRI has evolved a one year consolidated programme in general management with the objectives of providing the participants a substantial exposure to theoretical foundations in management as well as to provide them a holistic perspective of business.
The programme consists of Core & Optional courses specially designed for fast track executives with work experience. In order to enrich the GMP and make it more contemporary, XLRI has increased the number of core courses to 20, while that of electives to 12. The entire programme spans for more than 1000 contact hours in class spread over four terms. The programme incorporates a group project which will be based on live problems from the industry and involves an important part of the learning process. The Institute is in the process of further restructuring the programme by making the courses more appropriate and contemporary by introducing a complement of international exposure. The international immersion is designed to prepare the participants to take on challenges anywhere in the globalized world.
XLRI awards the Executive Postgraduate Diploma In General Management to the participants who successfully complete all the requirements of this programme.

AICTE trying to play spoilsport

Now, this one is simply hilarious.
One would imagine that the prestigious Indian School of Business with it's World Class Infrastructure and all the International Exposure would be in the Government’s good books.
However, that does not seem good enough for the All India Council for Technical Education, which has bracketed ISB with a bunch of unapproved B-schools operating in the country.
WHY? Apparently ISB has not bothered to kowtow before the council, seeking its approval or ratings. Instead, the institute is busy lobbying for an international accreditation from the US-based Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB).
The AICTE has, since the institute’s inception, sent several warnings and more recently legal notices asking it to get the council’s approval. ISB, though, has been looking the other way. Director (communications) Bhuvana Ramalingam acknowledged that the AICTE has written to them. “But we are not interested" she said.
One important point to be noted here is that none of the past, present or future candidates seem to be unduly worried over the fact that ISB is not recognised by the AICTE...

Why XLRI ?

I have already discussed my reasons for opting for a 1-year MBA.
The 1-year MBA has come out of it's nascent stage and today there are several excellent B-schools that are offering a 1-year MBA.
My pick would be the following: (in alphabetical order)
1> IIM A
2> IIM C
3> ISB
4> SP Jain
5> XLRI

There are others but I would chose to restrict the discussion between the above 5 premier B-schools.
1> IIM A (PGPX)
As national and international rankings of business schools in recent years confirm, IIM A occupies the top slot not only in India but also in the entire Asia Pacific region. The PGPX programme is targetted at executives with substantial work experience (avg. exp of the first 2 batches are around 9.5 years and 9.75 years respectively). Also, the average ages of the participants of the first 2 batches are around 31.5 years and 33 years respectively. This is natural since PGPX aims to place the participants mainly in senior management positions. The placement statistics is really enviable and is testimony to the quality of the students admitted and the quality of training they receive. The cost of the programme is a hopping Rs 14 lacs though.

2> IIM C (PGPEX)
As we all know IIM C is rated as one of the premier B-schools in the APAC region. However, the student response to the first batch of PGPEX is not known to be as good as IIM A. We still need to wait for the performance of the first batch. The programme fees are reasonable - Rs 8 lacs.

3> ISB
The sprawling campus, cutting-edge facilities and faculty members of international repute at ISB is truly unmatched. However the effectiveness of the programme is questionable especially when one takes into account the 420 cattle-like mass at ISB. Also ISB is indecently expensive (~ Rs 18 lacs) and it can hinder one’s career growth. ISB grads are forced to take up high paying jobs rather than the jobs that they would like to take up. Again, if you closely look into the placement statistics then the numbers tell a very different story. If the highest domestic salary is Rs 42 lacs & the average domestic salary is Rs 15 lacs then it doesn't require a genius to calculate the standard deviation and since ISB doesn't report the actual lowest salaries one can imagine the pittance of salaries that are offered to ISB grads who belong to the wrong side of the median.

4> SP Jain (PGPM)
SP Jain has consistently ranked among the top 10 B-schools in India. The thrust given to the course by SP Jain Administration and the locational advantage of being in Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country is indeed impressive. The placement record is fairly decent. The programme fee is extremely reasonable - Rs 5.5 lacs. Unlike the other programmes which offer a General Management programme (and are quite flexible in that respect), SPJIMR offers only 2 specializations - Operations Management & Information Management. Not too sure whether this is due to lack of quality faculty or any other reason.

5> XLRI (GMP)
XLRI is one of the premier Management Institutes of the country. They are the pioneers of the 1 year MBA programme in India. The minimum work experience for GMP is 5 years. A candidate has the option of either taking XAT or GMAT as per their convenience. The slim batch size of GMP (55 students only) is clearly a great advantage. The course fees are very reasonable - Rs 6 lacs (which includes International Trip etc). The GMP placements have been quite impressive (average salary of 15 lacs/exciting profiles offered) considering the B-School had for the first time this year offered placement to it's 55 students.

My Post-MBA Plan

As of now my plan is to take up technology and marketing courses at XLRI and try for Business Development roles in IT companies, preferably in the US. I also have the option of returning to my current organization, but again it depends on what role I am offered here.
The reason for going for MBA at this juncture in my career is because I want to move from the IT Project Execution side to the Business Development side. An MBA is the ideal vehicle to make this job function switch.
Finally I did not want to get into a 2-year MBA programme, as being out of the workforce for two years is suicidal in the fast-changing IT industry.

One Year MBA

An MBA today comes in many variations: the full-time 2 year MBA, the full-time 1 year MBA, distance-learning MBA, part-time MBA, executive MBA - all options that have evolved to suit specific needs of the customers (us). However, all the good MBA programmes irrespective of their duration mainly focus on developing 3 competencies: knowledge acquisition, leadership skills and the ability to network.
The 1-year MBA is specifically designed to suit the requirements of experienced professionals like myself who are looking for a change in or add a zest to their careers. The student profile of a 1-year MBA is quite different. They are slightly older, with a minimum of 4-5 years (or even more) of experience. The 1-year MBA also provides a cost advantage for self-funded students. The cost, in terms of tuition and living expenses, as well as the opportunity cost of leaving their job is proportionately lower. This model also helps students on a sabbatical to return to their workplace quickly. Companies intent on equipping their employees with General Management skills prefer a 1-year programme for the same reasons.
Now, the 1-year programme is quite intensive and requires a high degree of commitment. However, there is no doubt that it is a good preparation for achieving success in a corporate setup where effective time management and priority-setting are essential skills. The 1-year programme also aims to improve job effectiveness and ability to respond swiftly to newer situations. Networking with experienced peers is another important outcome.
I personally see the 1-year programme as a faster way of reinventing myself. Finally, it's a matter of individual choice to suit individual needs.

Why MBA ?

The MBA degree is increasingly being accepted as a measure of acquired business skills and management acumen. The most compelling reason for a lot of us is a promotion into a managerial role. For instance, there are many IT professionals, who have been doing extremely well in their technical jobs. These people also have great soft skills. They now wish to move up the ladder into middle and senior management roles. Finally they would like to move up to head major corporations someday.
To do that, one needs to know concepts of General Management, which only an MBA program could provide. An MBA also gives one a great network of batchmates and alumni. For some, MBA is the vehicle of choice for a career shift. For example, an MBA could help an Army officer or a Marine Engineer to enter the Corporate world for a desk job. In many careers, an MBA is a rite of passage. Investment banks typically expect their Analysts to get an MBA before promoting them as Associates. Lastly, higher compensation package is also a good reason to do an MBA. Many people double their salaries after completing MBA. So, at the end of the day an MBA definitely has a great value proposition.
For me the objective is pretty simple. I feel that at this point in my career I require a lot of exposure to the theoritical foundations in management and a holistic perspective of business so that I can evolve as an effective manager/leader and prepare myself to shoulder greater responsibilities in the future as I move up the Corporate hierarchy.

Hello World

Hello World,
This is my very first post.
Let me start with a brief introduction.
I'm your regular guy-next-door. By profession I'm just another software techie employed with IBM. I have around 5.5 years experience out of which 2 years were spent in the US of A.
I have recently got an admit from XLRI in the 1 year General Management Program (GMP).
In this blog I will try to capture the highs and lows that I would experience during the 1 year MBA.
I hope you will enjoy my experiences as much as I am sure I will enjoy sharing the same with you.