My MBA Journey @ XLRI

My Last Post

2008-12-31T23:16:00.001+05:30

Here's wishing everyone 'A Very Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year 2009' !
This is going to be my last post in this blog. I had started this blog to provide my readers an insight of life in a fast paced MBA program. I am not sure how successful I have been in my attempt. I do admit that given the time constraint I have not been able to share a lot during the one year at XLRI.
I have a regret. I wished to share details about the placement process et al but due to certain obligations I had to abandon that idea.
After graduating from XLRI I had continued this blog so that I am able to provide my readers an idea of life post-MBA. However, I realize that I have not been regular in providing information about my work life. In fact, lately I have been wavering from the central theme of this blog. I realize that there may be many future MBAs who may stumble upon my blog with the hope of getting an insight into the life of an MBA but my recent posts may confuse them with irrelevant information.
Hence, I am calling it a day. For anyone who would still occasionally like to hear from me I will start posting in my personal blog. You can access it over here!
Asta La Vista !

Current IT Scenerio

2008-12-30T17:52:00.000+05:30

Worldwide spending on information technology will slow significantly in 2009 as a direct result of the global financial crisis that began in September 2008.
However, I feel that IT is in a better position than ever to resist the downward pull of a slowing economy. Technology is already deeply embedded in many mission-critical operations and remains critical to achieving further efficiency and productivity gains. As a result, worldwide IT spending will continue to grow in 2009, albeit at a slower pace.
Although the revised forecast and the downside scenario both reflect a grim outlook for global economic growth over the next several years, IT spending actually fares well when compared to the previous downturn after the events of September 11, 2001.
Companies currently don't have the asset and spending 'overhang' that enabled them to put off purchases after Y2K and the dot-com bubble. As a result, there will be greater pressure for them to continue making IT investments in order to stay competitive.

Pune Trip

2008-12-14T12:12:00.003+05:30

I was in Pune last week to attend a business meeting. The trip brought back some old memories. Last time I visited Pune was around 7 years earlier while I was still a fresher. I had come down once to attend a GD & PI at Symbiosis and later to deposit my first trimester fees. Its another story that I didn't pursue my MBA over here and jumped into the software bandwagon.
This time around I was able to catch up with a few close friends. Its always nice to get in touch with people who are close to your heart. The Cognizant campus at Pune is awesome. I remember having lunch at a place called 'Lemon Tree'. The city though has changed since my last visit here.

My baby

2008-11-22T21:18:00.005+05:30

I am a dad now ! My son was born on 3rd Nov. I cannot express the high I experienced when I saw him for the first time.
I find myself gazing at my son and seeing my own reflection in him. I think I have found my life's mission - Ensuring that all his dreams are fulfilled..

My new address - An aerial view

2008-10-20T19:00:00.003+05:30

I have bought a swanky new apartment recently. We plan to move in sometime early next year. Although it cost me a fortune, I am kinda convinced that the investment decision is justified. With the addition of new members in the family its necessary to have a lot of space for everyone. Here's what my new address looks like when viewed from above :-)

Business Consulting

2008-10-05T20:17:00.002+05:30

Quite a few of you have mailed me / called me and enquired about my work and about business consulting. So let me give some gyan about business consulting.
Let us ponder a little on the recent history of consulting. During the earlier 1990s, consulting engagements could be won w/o a lot of effort. Clients used to tolerate mediocre, even poor performance from the consultants. However, post the dotcom bubble bust, there has been a sea change in client behaviour. There are so many clients who harbour bitter memories of the time & money they spent on a succession of management initiatives - from business process re-engineering and ERP, through e-business to CRM - which yielded little quantifiable benefits.
This has led to the need for the current crop of consultants to bridge the credibility gap. The consulting industry's challenge is to be more pragmatic and to focus more on delivering tangible and sustainable benefits. Demand for general strategy consulting seems almost dead. My personal experience is that today, clients continue to be very demanding. Clients make substantial investments in the work that we do and have increasingly high expectations in terms of the relevance of the work we undertake and the quality of the service that we deliver. Consulting is a serious business which addresses serious things.
BTW, I believe I still haven't answered the primary question 'What is business consulting?'. Well, business consultants are supposed to improve businesses: they are not hired to maintain the status quo but to change it. This might be changing a company's strategy or taking over a process in order to transform it but it does not include managing an existing process in order to deliver the same levels of service at a lower cost.

Work Update

2008-07-19T02:37:00.003+05:30

I'm back again to update you guys about what's been happening at my end. I will try to post at least once a month since anything beyond that will probably be a bit ambitious.
I joined Cognizant on 20th May. Its been a good 2 months here and I can safely say that the transition from the academic world to the professional world has been smooth.
As I have probably mentioned earlier that I have joined the Life Sciences vertical at Kolkata. Now, the LS vertical was earlier based out of Chennai & Pune (also B'lore). So, everything is practically very new. Its an extremely small community here at Kolkata. One apsect is that everything is still quite fluid at the moment. However, on the positive side there is a very bright scope to establish this competency over here and of course, a lot of initiatives are in the pipeline. We have ambitious delivery targets over the next few months and coupled with that an aggressive ramp up plan.
As far as I am concerned, I am trying to acquire the LS domain knowledge necessary for consulting assignments. Apart from that I'm getting a taste of responding to RFPs. That's all from my end as of now. Take care. Ciao.

Convocation Pics!

2008-05-18T09:25:00.010+05:30

Hey guys, I'm finally back after a long hiatus...before you jump to any conclusion let me tell you that my absence from blogging was due to 2 reasons. Firstly, my laptop had conked & secondly I was out of town for a while. This is precisely the reason why I haven't replied to my mails. Apologise for the same.
I had been to XLRI during 9-10th May to attend the convocation. It felt really nice to meet everyone one last time before we embark upon our respective journeys. Today I have uploaded a few convocation pics.

GMP Placements - Part 2

2008-05-01T20:12:00.007+05:30

As promised earlier, I will talk about my interview experiences over here. The placements were conducted in Mumbai during 9-16th February at Renaissance (Powai). While my batchmates (except placecom & logistics team) were travelling via train from JSR to Mumbai I decided to catch a flight on 7th morning.
Our accommodation was arranged at Hotel Lake Side which was around 10 minutes walk from the placement venue. Internet facility was not available so a lot of guys availed the Tata Indicom data card facility. At hindsight it was a wise decision. I relaxed during the next couple of days since I knew that there was a tough week ahead of me. The rest of the guys reached on 8th morning.
I had heard a lot about NITTIE and could not resist exploring the campus since it was just 5 min walk from our place. Every night we had dinner at the NITTIE canteen (pure vegetarian). The IT companies that were scheduled for Day 1 were CTS, Accenture, IBM S&C and Satyam. Among these 4 companies I had shortlists from all but Accenture. So, "Day One" was gonna be a hectic day for me...to be continued in the next part.

Finally, done with my MBA!

2008-04-28T18:34:00.002+05:30

The 1st thing I did today morning was submit the PJM Mid-term & Term-papers. After that I rushed to get the signatures on the Clearance Form, from the various depts...wasn't too surprised to find nobody in office even though the clock was showing 11 AM. Basically, had no time time to even glance at the B2B book. The duration of today's B2B end-term paper was 2 hrs but I submitted my paper in less than an hr. After that I quickly grabbed lunch & again rushed to get the signatures. Once this job was complete, I rushed back to my room, completed the SDM project & mailed across the same to the faculty. Luckily I also remembered to take a printout of my train ticket - I'm leaving for home tomorrow :-)
Now, finally I have got some time to publish this post. BTW, I just remembered that I have to pack my bags now since there's a party at 10:45 PM which I cannot miss - probably the last bash at XLRI. So, I gotta go now but you guys keep watching this space since I will be posting daily from home regarding placements et al. Ciao!

One more to go!

2008-04-27T23:32:00.003+05:30

Today I had the Project Management end-term. Although the duration was 2.5 hrs I doubt whether anyone was able to finish the paper. Any exam which exceeds 1.5 hours is quite tiring & so I'm of the opinion that no exams should exceed 1.5 hours. This makes sense especially when the weightage is usually only 30-35% of the entire marks.
To think of it during the 3rd term, on a couple of occasions I had taken up 3 end-term exams in a single day - 1st Day: Organizational Change & Development, Product & Brand Management & E-Business and 2nd Day: Strategies of Cooperation, Marketing Strategy & International Financial Management.
Thankfully, tomorrow I have B2B Marketing. I do not intend touch my book before the exam primarily because of 2 reasons - 1> The exam is an open-book (MCQ format) 2> More importantly tomorrow I have to submit my PJM mid-term assignment, PJM term-paper & SADMAN project and so I have absolutely no time.
I remember the 1st time when I entered the hallowed portals of Fr. Prabhu Hall (exam hall of XLRI) - it was for the QT exam. I was quite nervous at the time :-) but slowly during the course of the exam all my fears subsided. At the time I was trying to do a fast-forward in time & wondering what will it be like when I enter the Fr. Prabhu Hall for the very last time. Well, the moment has come now & I will be entering the same place for the last time tomorrow in my academic life @ XLRI. Guess, I should be feeling very happy but somehow I'm feeling a tinge of sadness - dunno why..

A long awaited break :-)

2008-04-23T09:34:00.004+05:30

Today thankfully I do not have any endterm paper. I've been taking up exams right from 19th. We also have endless assignments & submissions. I' m currently working on 3 project submissions simultaneously - IT Strategy Whitepaper, B2B Project (IBM - From Product to Solution Selling), SDM (Sales & DIstribution strategy of AMUL).
Tomorrow I have the Retail Mgmt paper. Friday is the BIG one - IT Strategy. After that another break on saturday followed by the PJM & B2B endterms on sunday & monday respectively.
I have already booked my tickets for Kolkata. I'm planning to leave on 29th morning. Will return on 9th May to attend the Convocation.

Last Class @ XLRI

2008-04-22T07:41:00.007+05:30

Today we will attend our last class at XLRI and a 1 year long journey will come to an end.
I vividly remember my first day...the Prof. started discussing abstract concepts like linearity of a circle while explaining the case methodology & also stressing the importance of putting our thoughts in spatio temporal coordinates and explicitly stating the implicit assumptions. At the time, I used to wonder what the hell is going on :-)
The 1 year journey has been an overwhelming experience for all of us. For me it was filled with fun, laughter & jokes all the way. I would take this opportunity to acknowledge that its been a privilege sharing the same space with a group of diverse & brilliant set of individuals like the current batch of GMPians. The GMP spirit will continue to remain forever in our hearts...

GMP Placments - Part 1

2008-04-21T22:35:00.005+05:30

Many of you have requested me to share my personal experience of the GMP placements. I will share my interview experiences with you so that it may give the future candidates some insights regarding the actual process.
However, it will be possible for me to do this only next week since I'm currently busy with my end-term exams.
For starters though, let me share with you that I had received 4 job offers -> Cognizant Business Consulting (CBC), TCS Global Consulting Practice (GCP), HP and MindTree Consulting. I will take you through each of the interview experiences so that you can get a feel of it.
I gotta go now since tomorrow morning I have the INM end-term & B2B presentations. Catch ya soon!

End Term Exams!

2008-04-18T23:44:00.006+05:30

End Term exams commence from tomorrow...
My schedule is as follows:

Date & Subject
19-04-08 - CAPEX & Contemporary Business Practice

20-04-08 - Services Marketing

21-04-08 - Sales & Distribution Management

22-04-08 - International Management

24-04-08 - Retail Management

25-04-08 - IT Strategy

27-04-08 - Project Management

28-04-08 - B2B Marketing

I can hardly wait for 28th to arrive :-)

Nice Pics

2008-04-14T10:23:00.007+05:30

CTS - Joining Details

2008-04-13T23:02:00.003+05:30

Got my #1 choice of vertical and location – Life Sciences in Kolkata! Few people have been so lucky to get exactly what they wished for. I had specified Pune as my preferred location since Life Sciences was not there in Kolkata. However, CTS is now setting up this vertical in Kolkata & I'll be a part of the process. Its always nice to be associated with a competency from its inception stage - provides a very good learning platform.
It reminds of my IBM days - at the time I joined IBM the DW&BI competency was in its nascent stage & I witnessed its explosive growth to where it is today :-) The opportunity provided me a lot of visibility & career growth.
My doj is 20th May. It suits me fine since the convocation is on 10th May. Two of my batchmates will also be joining CTS. My wife may come down to JSR to attend the convocation ceremony. I wanted to get my parents as well but they may be out of town during the time so lets see what happens.

2 down, 6 more to go!

2008-04-12T22:48:00.003+05:30

Today I attended the last lectures of 2 electives - IT Strategy & International Management. This week & the next are predictably the most hectic phases of this term. I have 3 lectures tomorrow (sunday). Currently I'm working on the SDM midterm quiz (take-home).
While at face value it seems that take-home exams are a safe bet the reality is that they are a lot more time consuming & difficult in terms of complexity. I guess that's the faculty's way of ensuring that he / she normalizes any benefit that you derive from a take-home quiz.
I'm still not feeling nostalgic about the fact that these are my last few days @ XLRI. Maybe, next week I'll be in a more contemplative mood. One thing is for sure, for experienced folks like us a 1 year MBA is always a very safe bet. The reason is that by the time you reach the 9th/10th month the novelty starts wearing down. This is however not the case with freshers in the 2 year MBA. For them its fun, laughter & joy (with a sprinkling of studies as well) and the halo effect tends to stay for quite a while. This is my perception & anyone else has a right to disagree.

GMP 2008 Placement Report

2008-04-09T21:03:00.002+05:30

Number of students in the batch - 60
Number of students who sat for placements - 53
Highest Domestic Offer - 33.82 Lakhs INR
Highest International Offer - 130000 USD
Average of individual offers - 17.81 Lakhs INR
Total Number of Offers - 105

"With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.

Beautiful Thought

2008-04-08T02:17:00.001+05:30

True glory is to be found not in the golden prizes or ego gratification, but in the silent conquest of oneself.

Busy days are here again!

2008-04-02T21:26:00.004+05:30

In my last post I mentioned that I've relaxing for quite sometime. Well, that is about to change now. I have 2 quizzes on friday - 1> SMRM and 2> CAPEX (MCQ). This time around we do not have any midterm for CAPEX. Instead we will have to submit 2 case (take home). I wish if this were the norm instead of the exception (at least in the 4th term).
Anyways, this term my resolution is to put only the minimum effort required and relax. I've never been too grade conscious so this attitude suits me fine ;-) I'm amazed to see the energy level of some of my batchmates. They have been consistent in their efforts throughtout these 10 months and are still slogging away to glory even at the fag end of the course. Anyways, priorities differ and they surely have their own reasons which I'm definitely not questioning.
Just an observation -> The people who crammed the most are not the ones who performed the best during placements - in fact its just the reverse. This may come as a surprise for some of you but the important thing to consider is the individual's focus. Those of who were focussed towards grades have very high CGPA but not necessarily the best jobs in campus while those who were focussed towards their goals (read placements) were all extremely successful in their endeavours. Hardwork always pays!

Relaxed Mood

2008-04-01T19:10:00.004+05:30

Today I had only one session - Sales & Distribution Management. So I slept like a log of dead wood throughout the day. Thesedays, I'm either attending classes or sleeping. We've reached almost the midpoint of the 4th term & till now its been quite relaxed so I'm just wondering whether life could continue in a similar fashion for the next 3 weeks also. Tomorrow we have a quiz in IT Strategy. We have to analyse a case - 'Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT'.
Every term becomes pretty hectic during the end phase due to assignments, submissions & presentations (not to forget the quizzes) etc. So this time around I have decided to proactively complete at least all the individual assignments etc so that the course doesn't become end heavy (pun unintended).

American Gangster

2008-03-30T23:52:00.004+05:30

After a long time I had a day entirely to myself. I didn't touch any books and instead watched a movie - American Gangster. It is based on a true story.
Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the quiet driver for one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. However, when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade and floods the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, which makes them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation in which only one of them can come out on top.

ROI of an MBA - The Tangibles

2008-03-28T19:25:00.009+05:30

If you guys remember in one of my recent posts I was discussing about the intangible benefits of an MBA program. I have put together an ROI calculator to provide a clear assessment of the feasibility of an MBA program in course of my career.
ROI is an essential criterion to judge the effectiveness of any program. This calculator does not take into account non-tangibles like value addition. The tool takes into account aspects like tuition fees, annualized personal/incidental expenses of the person, opportunity costs, and expected hike in salary after a job from MBA. Here, I have not accounted for Time Value of Money (assumption is that rate of growth of future salary will be higher post-mba).
I am attaching the screenshot for a sample calculation. Just click on the picture to view the enlarged image. If you need the ROI calculator just drop your e-mail id & I will send across the tool.

Lost in thought

2008-03-27T18:43:00.003+05:30

Finally, the CTS offer letter has arrived (albeit a softcopy) today. It contains the terms of the offer & compensation breakdown. The details regarding the date of joining and location will be communicated later.
A very close friend of mine is doing his MBA from ISB. His convocation is on 5th April and he will be joining the new job anytime around mid-April. I cannot help but envy him at this point of time. Although the experience at XLRI has been awesome I can hardly wait for my own convocation date to arrive.
I have interacted with a lot of guys from the incoming batch and they seem to be a highly energetic & spirited set of individuals. It sometimes puts me in a reflective mood as I tread one year back in my memories. It seems like y'day when I first came down to XLRI and its about time that we must vacate the campus. The show must go on..

The End is Near !

2008-03-24T18:42:00.002+05:30

Got a mail today - 28th April will be the date for last end-term Exam.
We have to take no-dues clearance( libraray, a/cs etc) before the Convocation.
The Convocation will be on 10th May (saturday).
We are expected to be present at 10 AM for rehearsals & other formalities
The actual Function will be held in evening followed by a dinner.
Another 29 days before classes are over...lot of work before I reach that point.

ROI of an MBA - The Intangibles

2008-03-19T01:13:00.003+05:30

One of the most popular topics among prospective MBA students is the return on their investment. After all, when you calculate the lost wages, promotions, bonuses, and the money spent on tuition & incidentals it really starts to add up.
Of course, an MBA degree will provide you with deep business knowledge, expand your ability to think critically about strategic issues facing large, mid-sized and smaller corporations, and, perhaps most valuable of all, will provide you with a lifelong network of professional resources.
So should we view the MBA simply as a way to "rediscover ourselves", this would indicate that the ROI is not the key measure, but rather the answer to the question, "Is my life better today than it was before I started?"
If anyone were to ask me why I decided to join XLRI, it was certainly not for the financial return. I did well before I came back to study, and by some measure I am not really light years ahead on the other side. I actually wanted a change in my life...a change of role/function...and most importantly a change of scenery. The MBA was my vehicle to the life I imagined rather than the ticket to a financial windfall. I believe that many people share this view, and if you do I believe that you will not be disappointed with your MBA from any institution.
P.S. In my next post I will discuss how to calculate the ROI of an MBA - The tangibles.

Observation

2008-03-16T12:18:00.007+05:30

Last night I had gone out with a few friends to a dhaba. It was supposed to be a relaxing evening but ultimately it ended on a different note. What started as a seemingly funny discussion over a few drinks blew out of proportion and spoilt the mood of everyone.
I have observed two things in people. Firstly, most individuals have great difficulty in accepting/acknowledging that another individual maybe significantly different than himself/herself in terms of characteristics, goals, aspirations etc. E.g. An academically inclined person who literally scavenges for every mark expects that folks around him also have similar objectives - or else they must be lying. Now, that's something I find unacceptable.
Secondly, whenever people are involved in a passionate discussion they rarely view a situation objectively. They tend to extrapolate arguments into entirely non-related areas and consequently fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. Again, some people are very good at passing 'experts' comments regarding situations where they are not stakeholders and/or do not have any idea of what's going on. E.g. George W. Bush advising P. Chidambaram regarding the Union Budget OR While watching Sachin Tendulkar batting in a one-day match, Maninder Singh (of all people) comments in Aaj-Tak about how the former should go about with his shot selection.

Satyajit Sen OR Amartya Sen

2008-03-15T12:26:00.005+05:30

Today an unforgettable incident happened during the IFM class. The faculty was discussing about the contributions of eminent personalities in the field of Finance. He went on to quote the examples of Modigliani-Miller, M. J. Gordon, Scholes, Fischer, Shapiro etc.
Now he decided to cite an Indian example. After some deliberation he could only recall 'Sen' & 'Nobel Laureate'. Even after repeated attempts he was unable to recall the first name. Finally, the poor fellow concluded that the guy is 'Satyajit Sen'. Amidst peels of laughter in the class someone sitting on the front row explained that the correct name is 'Amartya Sen'.
One friend just now mentioned that we should thank our lucky stars that he didn't say 'Aparna Sen' :-)

Mishraisms

2008-03-15T01:17:00.002+05:30

Today, I'd like to share a few gems by Musa - Mishraisms (similar to Siddhuisms). This were uttered by him during various class presentations/discussions/responses to Prof's queries etc.
Here you go..
1> The economy is growing like HELL...
2> Whenever you refresh the webpage the DARNED THING just comes up...
3> Only a FOOL can be FOOLED...
4> I was involved in Production Support & other STUPID STUFF like that...
5> HeHe...This concept is nothing...Its SO BLOODY SIMPLE...

Will keep posting more in future :-)

1-Year MBA Recruitment vs 2-Year MBA Recruitment

2008-03-11T01:38:00.005+05:30

Some of you have been lately asking me regarding the difference(s) in the nature of 1-year recruitments & the traditional 2-year recruitments.
Job placement for experienced folks like us is a whole lot about specific roles and fit - A lot of emphasis is on specific profiles and positions. So, this makes fit extremely important. There is very little of "We'll come in a bus, pick a bunch of grads, and then put them anywhere in the organization" which happens in case of freshers in the traditional 2 year MBA. This is a critical difference between the recruitment style for experienced hires vs. recruitment style for freshers.
The other question was how important are grades in terms of getting placed in one's dream organization. For freshers one can quite easily infer that "Good marks equal good money". Grades are probably the only way by which recruiters can hope to separate the wheat from the chaff in a homogeneous bunch of youngsters who walk, talk & breath alike. One observation about the freshers campus placements here at XLRI is that the whole ritual borders on mass hysteria. With students unwilling to walk on anything but the beaten path, choices get determined by a systematic caste system of grades and placement-day rankings that show scant regard for individual choices.
For us, understandably, there is absolutely no correlation between the academic performance and the quality of job placement. Placements are more a function of the incoming profile, target industry and the level of (interview) preparedness.

Cognizant MBAs

2008-03-10T00:13:00.002+05:30

MBAs join CTS in the areas of consulting, analytics, business development, opportunity assessment, relationship management, corporate development and domain excellence. CTS does not retrofit B-Schools graduates into technical roles.
Cognizant is increasingly hiring more MBAs. Today, it has one MBA/Domain expert for every 30 software professionals. Four years back, this ratio was one for every 40 to 45 software professionals. In 2007 alone, Cognizant hired more than 700 MBAs from premier campuses as well as from the lateral market.
There are 3 broad reasons why MBAs are more important to an IT company than ever before.
Firstly, clients are looking to their partners like Cognizant to pro-actively provide solutions to their business pressure points, leveraging a deep understanding of their industry trends and competitive landscape, rather than mere technology capability.
Secondly, clients are moving to a broader range of complex solutions, system integration and consulting solutions offshore which need a higher proportion of industry knowledge, domain depth, business analytic capabilities, and business-to-technology requirements translation.
Finally, with business going global and markets getting globalised, clients want domain professionals who have an intricate understanding of the business dynamics in every location and the technology alignment required.
As such, CTS sees its investment in MBAs as a critical differentiator. Their domain depth has helped the organization marry industry knowledge with technological excellence and farm out solutions to business pressure points of customers, rather than mere technology solutions. They have also played a dominant role in winning new customers and in client-facing roles, especially as client partners or relationship managers.

CTS it is for me!

2008-03-05T21:48:00.010+05:30

I have decided to accept the offer from CTS. Today was the last day for acceptance of offers. Over the last couple of months I have had lengthy discussions with my friends here from CTS. I also spoke with several alums in CTS and Raja Banerjee from ISB. I am convinced that this is the best choice for me. There is a strong probability of getting placed overseas within the first six months.
I have communicated my location and vertical preference. I have given Pune, Bangalore & Chennai (in that order) as the top choices and Life Sciences as the vertical of choice.
In case you guys are wondering why Kolkata does not figure in my list, the reason is that Life Sciences practice is not in Kolkata. I could always get CSP (Customer Solutions Practice) but it doesn't excite me. Initially I was in a dilemma regarding whether to go for my preferred location or for my preferred vertical and in the end head won over heart. Furthermore, my wife could easily shift to any of the above mentioned 3 locations since IBM has a strong presence.
If you guys remember that I had mentioned in one of my very first posts that I wish to get into a business development role. Over the course of this one year there has been a change in my thought process. My understanding is that pure business development is a sales function and is typically the territory of people with strong sales background.
Personally I feel that I am more suited for a consulting role - hence the decision. The designation is Consultant (equivalent to Assistant Manager Business Development).
The typical responsibilities would involve leading pre-sales and post-sales support, driving solution identification & development, business analysis & requirements gathering for complex projects, lead or contribute as a key member in Consulting assignments etc.
CBC (Cognizant Business Consulting) is an elite group @ Cognizant (comprising of 1700+ MBAs). The typical profile is Engineer-MBA with IT experience / Experience in Industry domains. The roles are also diverse - Consulting / Business Development / Business Analysis / Competency Building etc.

Strategic Alignment

2008-03-04T23:25:00.002+05:30

I recently came across an interesting article about IT Strategy. Let me share it with you guys.
IT has evolved from its traditional back-office role towards a more strategic role. However there is a lack of any fundamental framework which can be used to understand the potential of IT. The inability to realize value from IT investments is partly due to the lack of alignment between the business and IT strategies of organizations.
The authors have come up with the ‘Strategic Alignment Model’ which is defined in terms of 4 fundamental domains of strategic choice: Business Strategy, IT Strategy, Organizational infrastructure & processes and IT infrastructure & processes.
The concept of strategic alignment is based on 2 building blocks – strategic fit & functional integration.
Strategic fit recognizes the need for any strategy to address both external and internal domains. There are 3 external components of IT strategy – IT scope, Systemic competencies & IT governance. Also, there are 3 internal components of IT strategy – IS architecture, IS processes & IS skills. Traditionally managers think of IT strategy in terms of the latter 3 components that reflect an internal orientation. As IT emerges as a critical enabler of business transformation it is imperative that firms also pay attention to the 3 external components of IT strategy.
Functional Integration considers the need to integrate IT strategy & business strategy. 2 types of integration – Strategic Integration & Operational Integration.
Strategic integration – Deals with the capability of IT to both shape & support business strategy.
Operational integration – Deals with the Organizational infrastructure & processes and IT infrastructure & processes.

Am in Kolkata!

2008-03-03T10:40:00.003+05:30

I am currently in Kolkata for medical reasons. Over the last couple of months I observed a localised swelling (not painful) on my right arm. Now, the typical treatment for any cyst is surgical removal. However, due to the hectic academic schedule & the placements week I wasn't getting an opportunity. Immediately after the conclusion of the placement week I took time off to visit Goa with my wife. This time around I decided not to neglect the issue any further.
Yesterday, I went to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals since I had heard about its quality healthcare facilities & global healthcare standards. Sure enough the consultant physician recommended surgery & I requested him to perform it on the same day. The procedure itself was painless & was over in 10 minutes flat.
At the end of the day, my conclusion about Apollo Gleneagles is that while patients can be totally assured of the best treatment it is certainly beyond the reach of the common man and also a lot needs to be done in terms of cordination between the various facilities e.g. O.T., Emergency & Outpatient Care. If a healthcare provider wishes to provide a comprehensive range of specialized healthcare services under one roof then it needs to invest not only on diagnostic and treatment facilities but also on ensuring coordination between all the departments/facilities.
I'll be returning to JSR tonight. I plan to meet the GMP candidates who have decided to attend the PI @ JSR.

Fitness Regime

2008-02-25T07:12:00.003+05:30

I have decided to hit upon a new fitness new regime this term. I woke up early today and went for a run to Jubilee park which is just a 10 min walk from the XLRI campus. The 600 acre park is a gift from Tata Steel to the town of Jamshedpur. It has its own lake, a zoo, beautifully manicured lawns with fountains and flower beds.
I plan to continue this routine for the next 2 months (i.e. till April end). The food at MDP is quite spicy and oily (also tasty) which means that I have put on quite a few extra kgs. I need to get back to shape before getting back to the corporate world.

4th Term begins !

2008-02-22T23:21:00.002+05:30

Today marked the commencement of the 4th term. Only 50% of the batch turned up..most of the guys are expected to reach JSR on Sunday. I think everyone is trying to recuperate from the stress / tiredness of the placement week.
I have decided to take it easy during this term which is the reason why I have not gone for any heavy duty elective. My electives in this term are as follows:

Capital Expenditure Planning and Control
Project Management
Services Marketing
IT Strategy
Contemporary Business Practices
International Management
Sales and Distribution Management
Business to Business Marketing

While I have not opted for M&A, I plan to attend Prof Sengupta's classes since he's one of the very best that I have ever come across during my academic tenure.

Back from Mumbai

2008-02-21T13:14:00.004+05:30

Hello Everyone,

I am finally back !
Many of you must be wondering about the reason for taking such a long break from blogging.
To be honest it was a personal decision to lie low & try to focus only on the placements. To that extent, not only blogging but also studies, personal relationships etc everything took a backseat.
The placements have been quite satisfactory from a personal point of view. I have multiple offers in hand from some of the most reputed IT organizations. I must admit though that the scenerio of the job market is not very rosy at the moment.
In general, the batch placements have been excellent. However, my personal impression is that it could have been even better but for the apprehension of a US recession.
I will share some more details about the placements later.

Looking Back !

2008-01-05T19:56:00.001+05:30

Another new year has ushered. However, this year is different than last year. Last year around this time I was in New Jersey. I had a well-paying job ! However, I was determined to get admission into ISB/XLRI since these were the only 2 schools to which I had applied. I subsequently messed up big time in the ISB (telephonic) interview. Nevertheless, I converted the XLRI interview into a final admit.
Prior to joining XLRI I was contemplating whether to give another shot @ ISB/IIM C or join XLRI GMP. I finally decided to join XLRI primarily for 2 reasons. Firstly, I wasn't getting younger with every passing day and the longer I postponed my MBA plans, the longer it would take my wife to settle down in her career. Incidentally, she also works with IBM. Secondly, I was due for a promotion and I knew that if I accepted the same then it would become increasingly difficult for me to get back to full-time studies at a later point. In other words, I'd get into a comfort zone and then it would be very challenging to come out of it.
Today when I look back at my decision, I feel that overall it's been a good decision. There have been a lot of learnings, not only in terms of academics but also in terms of peer learning and self-analysis & introspection. I've met some really bright & intelligent people and made a few friends for life.
At the beginning of this post I had said that this year is different from the last one. However, there's a big similarity as well. Last year I was at the crossroads of life contemplating about my shift from work to academics. This year again I'm at another crossroad, thinking about my life post-mba. Somehow it reminds me about my engineering days, sans the insecurities though. I'm not sure whether every mba student goes through a similar phase. I will continue topic this in my next post. Please stay tuned.

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

2007-12-31T20:31:00.000+05:30

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

2007-12-25T09:30:00.000+05:30

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

2007-12-19T19:55:00.000+05:30

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

2007-12-17T00:02:00.001+05:30

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

2007-12-16T01:39:00.000+05:30

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

2007-12-14T23:51:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-30T10:19:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-26T11:21:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-20T09:38:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-17T15:22:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-13T21:19:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-12T11:47:00.000+05:30

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

2007-11-09T02:14:00.000+05:30

End Terms

2007-11-05T19:57:00.000+05:30

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

2007-10-28T02:30:00.000+05:30

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

2007-10-23T18:14:00.000+05:30

Beautiful Thoughts

2007-10-14T02:55:00.000+05:30

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

2007-10-13T09:36:00.000+05:30

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

2007-09-23T18:43:00.000+05:30

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

2007-09-11T23:12:00.000+05:30

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

2007-09-10T16:25:00.000+05:30

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

2007-09-05T22:55:00.000+05:30

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!

2007-09-03T23:11:00.000+05:30

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

2007-08-30T22:56:00.000+05:30

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 !

2007-08-26T23:57:00.000+05:30

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

2007-08-16T14:08:00.000+05:30

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

2007-08-14T21:33:00.000+05:30

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

2007-08-07T20:21:00.000+05:30

XLRI Learning Centre

Campus at Night

Way to Class

MDP Residence

MDP Dining Hall

M&A: Human Capital Challenge

2007-08-06T00:31:00.000+05:30

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

2007-07-29T14:03:00.000+05:30

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

2007-07-20T17:19:00.000+05:30

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

2007-06-24T23:30:00.000+05:30

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

2007-06-23T00:01:00.000+05:30

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

2007-06-23T00:00:00.001+05:30

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 !

2007-06-15T12:59:00.000+05:30

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

2007-06-13T12:30:00.000+05:30

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

2007-06-11T11:12:00.000+05:30

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

2007-05-31T15:25:00.000+05:30

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

2007-05-23T12:23:00.000+05:30

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

2007-05-18T21:04:00.001+05:30

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

2007-05-17T10:39:00.000+05:30

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

2007-05-10T20:47:00.000+05:30

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 ?

2007-05-09T16:24:00.000+05:30

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

2007-04-28T18:39:00.000+05:30

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

2007-04-25T23:01:00.000+05:30

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 ?

2007-04-24T15:52:00.000+05:30

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

2007-04-24T11:18:00.001+05:30

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.