Bhaag PGPX Bhaag – Preparation for the Mumbai Marathon

I still can’t believe I was able to complete the half marathon. Before coming to IIM Ahmedabad, I had never participated in any event to run even 5 KM.
When I came to IIM, I wanted to keep myself fit and so started a daily scheduling of jogging. But, I never jogged for more than two kilometers. Sometime in June, Runners Club was formed through the initiative of couple of our batch-mates. This provided an eco-system to develop our strength and stamina required for long distance running. We practiced as a group and continued to egg each other to improve our stamina.
In August, somebody .. not sure who..floated the idea that we should participate in Mumbai marathon. It looked like a stupid idea and a distant dream to me, but I signed up for it after seeing my friends go for it.  And now, with three months of practice, which was not very regular due to the crazy IIM schedules, I completed my first ever half marathon, Ahmedabad Sabarmati Marathon.
A week back I was suffering from a knee problem which did not allow me to run for more than 3 km continuously. I was very worried, that I might not be able to participate in the Mumbai marathon. But, then working in the gym regularly for the last seven days healed my knee.
The atmosphere in the Sabarmati marathon was eclectic. Drums beating. Music playing. Crowd cheering. Weather too was perfect. Organization of the event looked flawless with enough refreshments on the way.   And finally, a great company of friends(Dhananjay, Dindi, Sourabh, Rahul, Shivram, Pramod, Anil and Sreekanth). All these converged together to enable me finish my half marathon. Even today morning, I was just planning to run for 15 or so kms and get ourselves ready for the Mumbai marathon. The champs: Pramod, Dindi, Rahul and Sreekanth completed the run in about two hours!
Three cheers for the indomitable IIMA spirit.. hip hip hurray!!!

Courtesy: Suraj Gupta – PGPX6 Runners Club

Emergence of a New Economy

“A new economy is emerging from the global financial crisis, and there is a need for new strategy playbook in this contemporary economics”, said Dr. Mia De Kuijper, author of the book “Profit Power Economics: A New Competitive Strategy for Creating Sustainable Wealth“, while addressing the IIMA PGPX class as part of their speaker series.

Dr. Kuijper guided the audience through the fundamentals of this contemporary economy and explains how companies and individuals can create sustainable wealth. The key is in wielding one of twelve contemporary sources or power nodes of profit power. If companies can control any one then they are on the path towards higher returns.

Turning profit power into sustainable wealth requires new strategies for choosing and valuing investments, structuring and managing global enterprises, confronting competitive threats, and navigating markets which may increasingly display power law dynamics and where distributions may have “fat tails”.

Dr. Kuijper stressed on the importance of focussed ownership on profit and power relationships in this transparent economy which is continually transformed by the diminishing cost of information and connectivity. She sketched a detailed picture of the new competitive arena and gave audience a step-by-step approach to build exceptionally high-return enterprises and to utilize today’s shifting market dynamics to influence choice and build wealth.

Based on original research and illustrated with real life lessons from her considerable wealth of experience Dr.Kuijper enlightened the PGPX class on how companies build and exercise power nodes to command higher profits.

 About Mia De Kuijper

In her 20 plus years career, Dr. Mia de Kuijper has built and run companies herself, and she has guided CEOs, Boards and investors to high-return investments and strategies. She has held senior positions at Royal Dutch/Shell, PepsiCo (where as Head of Strategy and M&A she contributed to the development of Pepsi-Cola in India), AT&T, Boston and Morgan Stanley. She has worked extensively in Asia, Latin America, Europe and the U.S. Dr. de Kuijper is a Fellow of Cambridge University in England, Co-dean of the Duisenberg School of Finance in Amsterdam, and the CEO of strategy and M&A advisory firm de Kuijper Global Partners. Dr. de Kuijper serves on the Alumni Council of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She has received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard GSAS and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School in a joint degree-program with the Harvard Business School.

 

And the Winner of X-Biz 2011 is ….

X-Biz 2011 had a grand finale on 5th November at IMDC Auditorium in IIM Ahmedabad’s New Campus. X-Biz is an annual business plan competition that has been initiated by PGPX (Post Graduate Program in Management for Executives) students to promote the spirit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship among the new generation Business “ideators”. It has received enthusiastic support with 60+ participants from top tier institutes across India and the world (with entries from USA and China). The top three teams who were selected through 3 rounds of rigorous and exhaustive reviews presented their ideas to the audience and a jury panel.

The jury panel included –

Mr. Sandeep Nair, president and Managing Director of Emerson Network Power (India) Pvt Limited – The sponsors of X-Biz 2011,

Prof Arvind Sahay, Professor of Marketing at IIM-Ahmedabad, and

Mr. Pranay Gupta, Joint CEO, CIIE-IIM, Ahmedabad

During his opening note, Mr. Sandeep Nair highlighted that what really works in business is a combination of “The 4+2 Factors” –

The four core management practices (Strategy, Execution, Winning Culture and Structure) that HAVE to be supported by any 2 of the following 4 underpinning elements - Talent, Innovation, Leadership, Mergers and Partnership.

He also egged budding entrepreneurs to focus on Investing in innovation, Exploiting Megatrends, Customer Engagement and Cost Driver Focus. He concluded by wishing the participants best of luck in their endeavours and hope that they always strive for “Tolerance of failure” and “Bridging risk with mitigation plans”.

The event was won by Team Innopreneurs from IIM Shillong who detailed an exciting Business Plan including Production and Marketing of Mechanized Agri-equipments designed by Gurnail Singh Dhonsi at low price points and high value. The judges appreciated their well “thought through” analysis, deep knowledge of the technology and market-base and painstaking research (primary and secondary). They were advised to make their market focus “razor sharp” and go for growth through external funding.

In second place was Team Waste Junction from IIM Bangalore with their plan for an Online Exchange for Waste management. There socially relevant theme and detailed risk management. Planning for a “win-win” ecosystem and financial plans won applauds from the jury. The team was encouraged to focus further on “inimitable differentiation” in marketplace that would ensure a long term market leadership.

Team Habermas from IIT Chennai stood 3^rd with their plan to create a unique Web-magazine called Gloss focussed on the niche segment of teenage Indian girls. The jury appreciated the sharp segmentation and positioning of the idea and encouraged the team to look further into the financial and risk management plans.

The participants were judged on multiple factors including uniqueness of the plan, “thoroughness” of analysis in capital planning and working capital management, marketing and operating plans, risk identification and mitigation plans, impacts on environment and society and robustness of strategy and growth potential.

The winners received a cash prize and an opportunity to incubate their businesses with CIIE at IIM-Ahmedabad. Also, X-Biz team would be looking for PE opportunities for selected business plans. X-Biz team wishes all the participants great success and growth.

Photos follow….

Connexion 2011 is here !!

As the sweltering heat of Ahmedabad gives way to a little coolness in the air and basking in the autumn sunshine becomes a favorite pastime for Amdavadis, especially after the prolonged Diwali holidays, the enthusiastic PGPXians, oblivious of all these, are slogging day and night to make their favorite event achieve new heights of success.

The IIMA mega event ‘ConneXion 2011’ has arrived. The two day event is scheduled on 4^th and 5^th of November. With the industry A-Listers in attendance , get ready now for power packed, informative and educative panel discussions, cash-on the opportunity for networking and have the privilege to listen to the presentations of many current and future CEOs on a host of contemporary business issues and ideas. Yes, this time in ConneXion, all the panel discussions shall be preceded by a presentation from PGPX participants on the topics of discussion.

The event is hosting many distinguished speakers. The event will be inaugurated by Mr. Sanjeev Aga, former CEO of Idea Telecom and Prof. Sameer Barua, Director, IIM Ahmedabad. Renowned leaders of the industry shall be the panelists on various discussion panels.

The theme of the event is ‘Thought Leadership’. The inaugural event shall be followed by discussions on two interrelated topics – ‘Harnessing Growth Potential of India’ and ‘Technology Led Business Innovations’. On the second day of the event, the discussions shall be on ‘Sustaining India’s Growth Engine’, ‘Innovations in Marketing’ and ‘Building and Managing Brands by Riding the Digital Wave’. The topics have been meticulously chosen to give a direction to the thought process.

The alumni of PGPX are the strongest pillars of strength for the current and future batches. Many initiatives taken by them have become a tradition now. We look forward to meeting our distinguished predecessors and learning from their experiences. Alumni meet, scheduled on day 1 of the event gives us this opportunity. We are eager to welcome you all on your return to the campus.

ConneXion 2011 is not just about discussions, brainstorming and brainy matters. Be ready to loosen up your joints and do a bit of warm-up before coming to the campus… because continuing with tradition, the 5K run is part of the ConneXion this year also. The run will take the runner through the paths of the sprawling, lush green campus of IIMA. So, be ready to test the strength of your lungs, legs and spirit.

PGPX6 batch and IIMA welcome you to Connexion’11.

For details please visit our website: http://www.iima-connexion.com/

Top 3 Teams to fight for glory at the X-Biz Finale on 5th November

X-Biz 2011 (the annual Business Plan Competition initiated by PGPX @ IIM A starting 2011) is all set to rock and roll as it approaches the FINALE!

The results for the selection of the final three spots are now declared.

Congratulations to the finalists (in order of the team number below) and best of luck for the final round:

Team 18 – InnoPreneurs (IIM Shillong)

Team 42 – Waste Junction (IIM Bangalore)

Team 45 – Team Habermas (IIT Chennai)

For a summary of the shortlisted business plans, visit the ”Meet The Finalists” page http://iima-x-biz.com/finalists/

The final session will be held on 5th November (5 PM) during the X-Biz event @ IIM A New Campus.

The participants will present their ideas to our esteem panel of jury including Prof Arvind Sahay, Mr. Pranay Gupta (Joint CEO CIIE @ IIMA) and Mr. Sandeep Nair (President and MD of Emerson Network Power – India).

The X-Biz team also would like to thank all the 60+ participating teams, especially the top 13, for putting up a great show with their ideas and strategies. We sincerely hope that this experience has contributed in structuring the thought process and taken all a step further towards actual implementation. It has been a great ride so far and we hope for a fitting culmination.

Hope to see you all there!

Regards The X-Biz Team

21 Men Against 10000 Men..

“21 men against 10,000 men” - What are the odds of the former holding against the latter?  Conventional wisdom will give us just one answer; next to nothing.

And that’s where the military ethos comes into play.  Not only these 21 brave men fought till their last breath, but delayed their enemies long enough to advance any further.

Lt General Rajesh Kochhar, AVSM, SM, VSM – Chief of Staff, Army Training Command, shared many such military stories during his lecture on “Essentials of military leadership”.

As per the General, military ethos places the interest of the country and men under the command of an Army Officer.  And the corporate world can benefit immensely from the Army ethos that stress on dedication, justice, equality and total commitment.

He used many such anecdotes to explain how one can learn and apply the lessons from these stories to become an effective leader in the corporate world.

With 39 years of distinguished service in Indian Army, the three star General has fought many battles for the nation and also under the United Nations flag.  The General, himself an engineer, used the law of thermodynamics to explain the relationship of challenges in the making of a leader.  “Higher the heat, greater the expansion” is the essence of the second law of thermodynamics.  So is the life of a leader.  The bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity for leaders to shape their own frontiers.

He emphasised the importance of ethics, values and morals, in the making of a Leader.  His lecture was punctuated by pearls of wisdom from military leadership.  Sample this: “Whether you lead five men or five million, the essentials of leadership are the same.”  Talking about the principles of leadership, he said that true leadership means developing others and encouraging them to take leadership roles at all levels.  Leaders genuinely believe in what they are doing and engage those around them in the same way.  While dwelling into the nitty gritties of strategic planning, he said: “Disagreement during strategic and planning stage is acceptable, argument beyond that is unacceptable.”

Drawing upon his vast experience of leading from the front, he said that as a leader, people should trust you and be sold on your vision.  He asked the audience to not complain about what they do not have and to remember that people are more important than resources.

In the end, he stressed upon the need for leaders to uncomplicate issues for their followers. He said that an effective leader understands the KISS principle.  “Keep It Simple, Stupid”!!

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Speaker Series is an event where PGPX students interact with top managers, executives, thought leaders and innovators from the corporate and academic world.  PGPX at IIM-Ahmedabad is a one year fulltime MBA course, for students with substantial work experience, and is ranked 11^th in the world in the Financial Times Business School rankings.

Article Courtesy : Abhishek Gupta, PGPX ; Photo Courtesy: Sameer Madan, PGPX

Harsh Nanda – Executive Director of Goldman Sachs : Speaker Series

Harsh Nanda, executive director of Goldman Sachs delivered a talk as part of the speaker series program of PGPX, at IIM Ahmedabad. After providing a background on the history of Goldman Sachs, he explained the various transaction types used by Private Equity firms in financial engineering throughout the world.

Mr.Nanda gave an overview of the Indian Private Equity Industry, and the opportunities and challenges that are inherent in the PE area when seen in the Indian context. He commented that although the Indian PE field is relatively less mature as compared to the developed world, PE firms cannot afford to ignore India because of the recent growth in almost all the sectors. He opined that PE in India will mature as the economy continues to grow and as the regulatory environment changes to promote even more FDI in currently restricted industries. He said that currently the PE firms in India only provide strategic and growth capital to enable entrepreneurs to reach a “critical mass” before they can raise money by going to the stock market. He provided the statistics on the current investment made by PE firms noting that majority of the investment in India are in Energy and Financial services sector. As per Mr.Nanda, the main challenges of PE firms in India are due to its nascent stage, India’s abysmal contract enforcement and regulatory restrictions and also because of the huge dependence on promoters and founders for any firm’s success. However he was optimistic on the future of PE firms in India because of the opportunities available across the spectrum of industrial sectors.

Towards the end of the session he advised the students of the PGPX programme on pragmatic ways to build a career in the Private equity field, especially for those students who do not have experience or background in the Private equity and financial services industry.

Speaker Series is an event where PGPX students interact with top managers, executives and innovators from the corporate world.  PGPX at IIM-Ahmedabad is a one year fulltime MBA course, for students with substantial work experience, and was ranked 11th in the world in this year’s Financial Times rankings.

 

PGPX student runner up in IIMA TT tournament

Rahul Bheemidi, from PGPX Batch 6, won the 2nd place in the singles category of recently conducted IIMA TT tournament.

Journey to the finals: After 2 games in preliminary rounds, Rahul faced tough competition in quarter finals. He won the quarters 4-1, with the last set going to dues, and cruised through the semi finals 4-0.

His batch mates enthusiastically supported him through the final stages.

Below is the complete result of the TT tournament (Courtesy: Sports Comm)

Girls’ Singles
Winner: Shambhavi Prasade (PGP1)
Runner-up: Reema Ghosh Roy (PGP2)
2nd Runner-up: Vandana P. (PGP1)

Girls’ Doubles
Winner: Smruti Soni & Reema Ghosh Roy (PGP2)
Runner-up: Deepti Poluru & Divya Jyoti (PGP2)

Boys’ Singles
Winner: Udit Dhupar (PGP2)
Runner-up: Rahul Bheemidi (PGPX)
2nd Runner-up: Ramakrishnan TS (FPM)

Boys’ Doubles
Winner: Kantesh Patil/Kushal Karwa (PGP2)
Runner-up: Abhinav Bhalla/Udit Dhupar (PGP2)
2nd Runner-up: Himanshu Nimje & Kunal Khilar (PGP2)

Mixed Doubles
Winner: Kantesh Patil & Smruti Soni (PGP2)
Runner-up: Himanshu Nimje & Divya Jyoti (PGP2)
2nd Runner-up: Kailash HD & Shambhavi Prasade (PGP1)

IIMA PGPX team wins 3rd place in Sectorama 2011

The 2011 edition of Sectorama, India’s biggest sector-analysis contest for B-school students and the flagship annual event of IIMA consult club, concluded on 20^th Aug at IIM-Ahmedabad campus.  IIMA PGPX students, Krishna Veer Singh and Premendra, won the 3^rd prize. The 1^st and 2^nd prizes went to IIM-Indore and IIM-Lucknow, respectively.

Organized in partnership with Breakthrough Management Group International (BMGI), Sectorama 2011 was bigger and better than before with more than 2000 teams participating in the first round and with a total prize money of Rs. 1 lakh. This year’s focus sectors included Pharma, Retail, Media and Telecom, Automobile, Financial Services and Energy. Round 1 of the contest, comprising of a short sector-specific quiz was held at various business schools across the country in July’11. In Round 2, roughly 200 shortlisted teams were asked to develop a 10-year strategy for a specific company in that sector. In the finals held at IIMA campus, 12 teams, top 2 from each sector, were asked to present their strategy.

 Krishna Veer Singh and Premendra competed in the energy sector with their team name – Xenergy and presented a 10-year strategy for Suzlon. The 1^st prize winners presented a 10 year strategy for Nokia and the 2^nd prize winners presented a 10-year strategy for Walmart in India.

Congratulations to all the winners for their great performance!

When Independence is Given….

August 15^th marks the beginning of a journey that India started with great hope and aspirations. At the outset, things didn’t go right. After being marred by the violence of partition, India stood up on its feet and from then has become an economic powerhouse in a short span of 64 years.

An important element of this journey has been the ability of the country to generate tremendous amount of intelligentsia. Temples of education in form of IIMs, IITs and other top-notch educational institutes are committed to ensure that best in the world education is imparted to minds of leader of future.  IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA) is spearheading this drive by bringing the best minds together in an environment that fosters learning… and more learning.

They say the spirit of IIMA is no different from the spirit of India. This spirit was relived during IIMA’s Independence Day celebrations today.

When Dr. Barua hoisted the ‘Tirangaa’ today at the iconic LKP (Louis Kahn Plaza), the entire community attending the event erupted in loud chants of ‘Jana Gana Mana….’ The usually silent LKP with its marvelous red backdrop added to the spirit of unity and equality at IIMA and in India. Following the flag hoisting, we headed over to RJM (R J Mathai Auditorium) to witness some of the finest performance from kids as young as 6 years old. The various clubs of IIMA came together to put together a show that drenched the entire audience with showers of patriotism and more importantly .. the new found Indianism.

Among the audience were some 20 odd kids from Prayaas, an initiative to help the local needy children with their education. These kids celebrated Rakshabandhan on Saturday with the student community on Saturday and came back today to join the celebrations of Independence Day.

The spirit of India relived at IIMA:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

Proud to be an Indian… proud to be @ IIMA…. Jai Hind!

-Abhishek Gupta and Amitesh Tyagi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registrations for X-Biz are now open

Website: http://iima-x-biz.com/registration-form/

Teams can submit abstracts of their Business Plans till 31^st August.

Other immediate dates are mentioned below.

10 August 2011	Event Open for registration
31 August 2011	Registration closes (Last Date for Submitting Abstracts)
16 September 2011	Executive summary submission deadline
26 September 2011	Shortlist of selected business plan announced
16 October 2011	Final business plan submission deadline
25 October 2011	Shortlist of finalists announced
5th November 2011	Final Presentation and Award Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

Speaker Series: Sear’s CEO and HR Head

‘Market, market, market’

You cannot market enough. Whether it is about yourself or your employees, you need to share your good work with others, even if it is your captive unit. This was one of key insights which Mr. Alok Kumar, CEO of Sears India shared with PGPX students at IIMA. He was accompanied by Mr Santosh Panicker, HR Head of Sears India.

Mr Kumar shared his entrepreneurial story of starting Sears India from scratch and growing its employee strength to 600 in a very short span of one and half years.

While talking about the challenges and opportunities along his journey he emphasized on managing customers, specially the internal ones.  He gave pragmatic insights on how proper internal marketing can make the difference between a successful and a struggling start up organization. By citing personal challenges that he faced at Sears India, Mr. Kumar also shared how cultural identities can be amalgamated across geographies and devoted his success to positive thinking, great attitude of his team, and the trust he was able to build in his early days at Sears.

Mr Kumar mentioned that he had been lucky in his venture as he got not only the right bosses but also developed a strong network. He stressed that “Luck is a Self fulfilling prophecy” and the people who get lucky are the ones who are optimist, courageous, and most importantly believe in their inner voice and hunch.

He ended the session on a note that People who enjoy their work are most successful.

Speaker Series – Dani Rodrik , Distinguished economist

Mr. Dani Rodrik, Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at JFK School of Government, Harvard University, today addressed the IIMA PGPX students as part of their speaker series. Mr. Rodrik is rated as one of the Top 100 most influential economists in the world according to the Research Papers in Economics (REPEC) group.

Mr. Rodrik’s address focussed on the potential for growth in developing countries such as India and China in the current global economic scenario. As one of the proponents of the “Theory of Growth”, he shared unique insights on how growth can be created and sustained in developing economies through a combination of well targeted government reforms aimed at increasing labour productivity and education levels. According to Mr. Rodrik, closing existing gaps in knowledge and capital-labour ratios is essential for maintaining rapid economic growth.

An important message that was highlighted by Mr. Rodrik in the presentation was that developing nations are better off pursuing their own unique growth models based on pragmatism as opposed to the western models of blindly following the mantra of liberalization, privatization and stabilization. He emphasized that the future growth of a country will depend on its ability to integrate its economy with world economy, its capacity to maintain sustainable government finances, and its ability to institutionalize property rights. The government policies of the developed countries which focuses on ensuring economic stability , low inflation and improved governance has increased the resilience of economies but has not necessarily triggered or sustained growth. This is one of the key reasons why the Chinese and Indian economies, though hampered by internal challenges have outperformed the west.

In the Q&A session that followed, Mr. Rodrik provided specific examples from the current macroeconomic environment to illustrate his view on why Governments in India, China and other developing nations should avoid universal recipes, and focus rather on selective reforms. Mr. Rodrik remarked that the Indian economy has tremendous potential for growth and the government should implement policy reforms such as improving labour productivity by dispersal of workforce from resource intensive sectors like agriculture to manufacturing and services. Overall, the students found the interaction extremely relevant and enriching in the present global economic context.

X-BIZ 2011 : Business Plan Contest from IIMA – PGPX

IIMA PGPX launches X-Biz, an annual business plan competition to promote entrepreneurship. X-Biz will provide a platform for entrepreneurs to take their business ideas to the next stage. The finalists of the business plan competition will get an opportunity to present their plan before our distinguished panel of judges comprising IIMA faculty and Industry experts at the annual industry meet, ConneXion.

X-Biz will open for registration on 10th August 2011. There will be a two stage selection process and the winners will be declared by the jury on Nov 5th 2011

For more details visit us at

X-Biz: http://iima-x-biz.com/

X-Biz Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/IIMA.X.Biz

X- Biz Twitter – @XBizPGPX

To learn more about ConneXion please visit http://www.iima-connexion.com/

Event Partner: Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE)

To learn more about CIIE please visit http://www.ciieindia.org/

‘Strategy is all about taking tough decisions’ – The Lenovo India Story

‘Strategy is all about taking tough decisions’

This and many more such one-liners, punctuated the 3 hour session of Mr. Amar Babu (MD, Lenovo India) with the combined class of PGP-PGPX at CR1.

During the the Q&A session, he delved in great details on the topic of Strategy.

“A good strategy is one, that can fit in one page.  Else, it is meaningless”.

He described in great detail, Lenovo’s global strategy and regional strategy.  Globally Lenovo is investing heavily in bringing out new innovative products.
For India they are clear.  It is not about making profits; but generate enough cash from one segment, which can then be ploughed back to develop the other segment.
Lenovo is already a market leader in Enterprise segment.  The focus is now to capture the consumer segment.

He also talked about ‘Brand’ building.  Brand is the value – the premium that you get over your competitor.  At Lenovo, the plan is to make ‘Lenovo’ the mother master brand (e.g. Nike/Apple).

“It is important that you identify what your brand message is (e.g. Lenovo – tough, strong) and then go all out to convey the message at all forums.”

He illustrated it with an example of a ‘press conference’ where he dropped Lenovo laptop from great height.  And the the same act was repeated by the celebrity brand ambassador.

The next day the press was all over, praising the ‘brand’. It is a different matter that the model in question was X1, a premium model.  But still the message was delivered!

He also explained how your expansion strategy dictates your choice of channel.  e.g Lenovo has various channels: LES light – Lenovo Exclusive Stores VS mom & pop stores in Tier 4/5/6 cities VS multi brand store e.g. Croma VS large format retail.  They have chosen to focus on opening their own exclusive stores.  In Sep’10, they were 130 such stores.  Today they are 400+.  Target is to have 1000 stores by Dec’11.This requires huge investments.  But then the ‘Middle of the line’ strategy does not work.  If ‘exclusive stores’ is your priority, go for it.

Earlier the two sections of PGPs (MC course), made their respective presentations on the case study titled: ““Doing” the Act: Lenovo and Corporate Reputation”.The case has been researched and written by Prof. Asha Kaul.

Both the teams were given the following brief:  ” Based on the case facts, identify the growth strategy of Lenovo and align it to the image building strategy followed by Lenovo. What can they do in the future?”   The teams brought about some excellent points and made valiant effort to convince Amar on the choice of their strategic options.  At the end, Amar congratulated both the teams for their good grasp on the case and the ability to identify key elements of Lenovo’s strategy.  He also highlighted few holes in the presentation and his take on how they can be taken care of.

It was indeed a pleasure to see how the concepts of “Marketing, Strategy & Finance” were married together and used to illustrate the ‘Lenovo India’ story!

 

(Story Credit : Abhishek Gupta , PGPX6)

Speaker Series: Srinivasa Addepalli, Sr. Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Tata Communications

Mr. Srinivasa Addepalli, Sr. Vice President, Corporate Strategy – Tata Communications, today addressed the IIMA PGPX students as part of their speaker series.

Mr. Addepalli spoke about the essence of globalization from a business perspective and provided a gist on how Tata Communications positioned itself as a key player in emerging markets. During his talk, he gave insights on how strategy and marketing are closely interlinked and emphasized the importance of looking at a business situation from a holistic perspective. Mr. Addepalli also shared tips on how brand building plays a key role in tactfully managing B2B marketing. Through illustrations from his own experience, he summarized key aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions, and explained how integrating people, culture and processes are critical to merging companies, across different countries.

In the Q&A session that followed, students enquired about key elements of a Corporate Strategy role. They also asked questions to understand more about the rationale behind his organization’s decisions and the challenges that they faced. Overall, the students found the interaction very useful and enriching.

Speaker Series: Ms. Kiran Sethi, Education enterpreneur

Kiran Sethi, education entrepreneur and wife of Indian legend Geet Sethi, today addressed the IIM Ahmedabad PGPX students as part of the PGPX Speaker Series.

In 2001, she founded the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, designing the primary school’s curriculum and building from the ground up. During her interaction, Ms. Sethi took the students through her entrepreneurial journey over the past 10 years. She shared her experience on conceptualizing and executing the world’s largest students’ design challenge in 2009. This concept reached around 25 million students across the world and provided innovative solutions ranging from converting garbage bins to playgrounds in India to novel uses of recycled waste from beaches in Brazil.

Through the interaction, Ms. Kiran explained that the driving force behind her initiative was the desire to make every child reach its potential. Ms. Sethi’s curriculum encourages and invokes curiosity in children as a stepping stone towards learning. She shared with the batch some of her best practices in this process. In the Q&A session that followed, students asked questions to understand more about the planning that went into her venture and the challenges she faced. The key message that Ms. Sethi shared with the audience was that an entrepreneur must be willing to commit 100% effort and time towards achievement of their goals.

PGPX’s Cricketing X Factor – PGPX Scores a Fabulous Win over PGP’s

As it turns out – both PGPX and PGP had a field day today, though arguably – the former seemed to have more of it with the sweet scent of victory they snatched in the end! The young PGP guns and the charged-up PGPX “marauders” got together for a friendly-cum-zealously-fought cricket match in the old campus cricket ground under an overcast sky this fine Sunday morning. In the end – PGPX trumped the PGP’s by a formidable 19 runs margin.

Put into bat, PGPX faltered initially, losing the 3 wickets in the first two overs. Nitesh (11) and Sumit (23) then steadily built the innings piling a decent number of runs. However, both of them fell in quick succession in the sixth and seventh overs respectively. Palash (9) and Gopal (21) then took over and scored as if the balls were being handed over on a platter. They did their bit in unsettling the PGP bowling attack with the latter displaying an amazing all round performance both with the bat and the ball.

The PGP’s sensing the PGPXers’ marauding intent quickly decided it was time to spruce up the act – and cracked three quick wickets in the 10^th and 11^th overs. It was then time for Venu and the by-now-set-on-the-crease-Gopal to fire all cylinders as they opened the blade forcing the ball to take the aerial route, much to the dismay of our PGP friends; Venu finished not out with 11 runs with one scintillating six and one blistering four – taking just 3 balls. Gopal played a superbly controlled knock scoring 21 runs with two magnificent sixes that completely belie his rather quiet demeanor!

PGP’s got on the ground with a target of 98 runs to win in 12 overs.  The PGPX bowling attack ably led by the trio of Gopal (4 Wickets) , Chinmay (1 Wicket) and Prof Ernesto (2 wickets) gave a flying start and kept cracking wickets at regular intervals – never quite allowing the PGP’s to take hold of the situation. Only during the middle overs did Sangitesh and Shekhar show some rhythm piling runs quickly, including a couple of sixes and fours, also displaying superb running between the wickets. However, the party didn’t last long and once Sangitesh fell, caught over mid-on by Palash, the rest of the wickets fell rapidly.

The PGPX team showed superb performance in all departments of the game – batting, bowling and fielding.  Lots of good catches, plenty of extraordinary run-saving, tight line and length with the ball and lastly bundles of enthusiastic cheering were on display during the match. Palash was especially deadly in the fielding department – taking 3 superb catches and clearing the way for the PGPX victory. The catch of the match went to the Saurabh, suitably dubbed the dark horse – whose diving effort in mopping up the catch on the long-on boundary went beyond everyone’s expectations.

The amazing agility displayed by PGPX team speaks volumes of the fitness levels our players have maintained! Superb camaraderie was on display with chit-chat and cheerleading happening both on and off the ground amongst the players and their supporters. Overall, a good game of cricket made for a fabulous Sunday morning!  Well done PGPX and PGP Cricket Teams!

My first rain experience in IIMA

Friday, 3^rd June 2011: It was a typical evening at the IIMA Campus, hot, humid and with only the sounds of occasional bird calls to break the silence. I was sitting alone in my room thinking about the unusually long weekend ahead (Saturday and Sunday!). Yes, it is unusual to have long weekends in this course, ‘KNOWN FOR ITS RIGOUR.’ These long weekends can be scary too. All the pending submission work has a nasty habit of slowly creeping up behind you, much like the happy go lucky strays that inhabit this hallowed campus.

But as the evening wore on there was this sudden sweet fragrance, which all of a sudden penetrated the thick fog of thoughts. A fragrance which brought back childhood memories, a charming fragrance that no perfume manufacturer can replicate ever. The fragrance of rain drops falling on dry earth. I opened my balcony door and stared, awed, at the first rain of our stay in IIM-A campus. Then came my neighbor and asked in his patented style – “Hey, walk pe chalega kya?”How could I say no to such an offer? I always find some excuse to get drenched in rain. Moreover, this was the easiest escape from all the terrifying thoughts of submissions. My good friend was more than happy that he could keep the pledge of surviving till the first rains of the PGPX and wanted to celebrate.

We walk through the muddy walkways of the old campus and the beauty of it we witnessed shall be etched in our memories forever. The bricks had turned a deeper share of red; the trees were looking greener, as if Mother Nature had washed the faces of her naughty kids. The birds were chirping louder than ever, their calls and songs matching the sound of the pitter- patter of rain drops falling on the leaves and tin sheds. Peacocks were singing their love songs (although it seemed like war cries). There was a delicious coolness in the air, and the shimmering heat of the IIMA campus seemed to our minds like a distant mirage and memory…..

It was this sublime evening, which assuaged all our worries and tensions and brought us nearer to nature and to our inner selves. We could understand true meaning of these couplets:-

“धूप में निकलो घटाओं में नहाकर देखो

जिंदगी क्या है किताबों को हटकर देखो”

(Come out in sunshine, get drenched under clouds

Keep aside books and drink the nectar of real life).

PS : Next morning I went out and took some pictures of the beauty – the Old Campus. You can see and enjoy some of these pictures in this blog.

- Vikas Guru

MBA Candidate PGPX-6 (2011-12)

Speaker Series : Samsung SW Asia CEO and President – Jung Soo Shin

IIM Ahmedabad PGPX  kick-started a great year of learning by inviting Mr. Jung Soo Shin, President and CEO, Samsung South West Asia for the PGPX Speaker Series on Thursday , June 2nd , 2011 at the IIMA New Campus.

Professor Satish Deodhar , Chairperson of the PGPX program introduced Mr. Shin and spoke about the bond between IIMA and Samsung. Mr. Shin then shared his tips and views on leadership in the current business environment while addressing the students of the PGPX Class of 2012.

Mr. Shin gave a brief background of his journey in Samsung and gave an overview on Samsung’s global operations, products and strategy in India. Mr. Shin shared insights on the challenges faced by Samsung and the steps taken by the organization to adapt in the Indian market.

Mr. Shin emphasized the significance of R&D as an essential part of their strategy. He also stressed on the importance of working in a diverse cultural background and listening to the customers, employees and market.

During his interaction , he spoke about the profound influence of Rabindranath Tagore’s thoughts and how Samsung India honoured the great poet and philosopher on his 150th birth anniversary.

Earlier, Prof. Samir Barua, Director, IIM Ahmedabad and Mr. Shin signed the MoU at the IIM Ahmedabad campus to announce the Samsung Scholarship Program. The program will recognize and support five meritorious students from IIM Ahmedabad every year.

Creativity Amidst Adversity – An evening of fun and games @ PGPX-6

PGPX Batch 6 announced their arrival on campus with a rocking cultural evening. The Cultural Committee together with an energetic and enthusiastic Spouse Group took up the challenge to make the first Cultural Evening an occasion to remember.

Friday , May 13th, saw a bunch of enthusiastic PGPXians descend on the lawns of IIMA’s New Campus. After being continuously barraged with a battery of quizzes – with the last four in successive days – PGPXians and their families savoured the gala event which provided a fabulous opportunity for the battered souls to forget their woes in a well-coordinated series of games organized by a group of committed and flamboyant organizers. The latter took the cudgels to organize the event despite being subjected to the same straitjacketed schedule. The team of Arpita Bishoyi, Gaurav Goel and Sumit, Aniruddha Ray and anchors Smitha Venkataramana and Dr. Ajay Dogra displayed exemplary event management skills in coordinating the event.

The entire batch of PGPX and their spouses was divided into four teams – Green, Blue, Yellow and Red. “Team Red” cheered to deafening decibels of Laal Dhamal Kare Kamaal by its supporters, emerged winner in the DODGE THE BALL in a keenly contested match with the Green Team.The game did see sparks of rivalry flaring up as none of the teams was interested in giving up easily. The game quickly became one of passion and unswerving resolve as each team aimed to hit the ball below the knees of the opponents inside the circle.

The games reached a crescendo when the Tug of War competition saw the rope itself breaking up under the “tension”. If anything – PGPXians exuded brute power – understandably accentuated with all the pressure they have been handling in the preceeding four-week marathon since the commencement of PGPX.

The kids too had their share of fun and bonhomie with Xbox driven entertainment, amiably coordinated by Devesh Rathore. The kids’ musical chairs event saw them hustle and bustle around the ever dwindling number of chairs… great selection of music was played during the musical chairs.

It was an evening to remember, but more importantly – as the first ever bonding event right in the middle of the academic throes – it brought a much needed succour to the PGPXians and acted as a curtain raiser for the much anticipated social events in the future – T-Nite and others that will follow soon. The will and the mettle of the PGPXians was a hearty demonstration of what commitment and hard work is capable of producing. In the end, everyone danced to the sound of music and brought the event to a scintillating finish.

Media Buzz : PGPX V placements : Students grab top cluster management roles

The 5th batch of the one year, full time, residential Post Graduate Programme in management for Executives – PGPX – at IIM Ahmedabad graduates today. The program, which attracts highly experienced Indian as well as foreign professionals from diverse functional and industry backgrounds each year, has seen excellent placements this year. The programme has a general management focus, with an emphasis on leadership across borders and cultures and this is reflected in the roles offered to the candidates in the campus placements……..

To read more click here : http://www.coolavenues.com/mba-placements/2011/final-placement-reports/iim-ahmedabad-pgpx-placements-students-grab-top-cluster

Media buzz : Top ranking brings more students to PGPX

An increasing number of students is joining the Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad ( IIM-A) after it got ranked as the 11th best among the MBA programmes in the world in January…

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Top-ranking-brings-more-students-to-PGPX/articleshow/7675294.cms

PGPX FT Global MBA Rankings 2011 – “Thank you”

Here’s a snapshot of the official “Thank-you” note that is being sent out to all stakeholders associated with the PGPX MBA program at IIM, Ahmedabad.

A trip down the memory lane .. T Nite 2010

Video compiled by Navin Rajendran ,  PGPX Class of 2011

IIMA PGPX FT Global MBA Ranking – Media Coverage

IIM-A’s PGPX ranked 11th best MBA Program in the world

Indian Express - ‎Jan 31, 2011‎

The executive education programme of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has been ranked 11th in the world by the London-based newspaper …

IIM-A 11th in global MBA rankings

Business Standard - ‎Jan 31, 2011‎

The Post-Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) by the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, has been ranked 13th in a list of 100 top B-schools in …

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/iim-a-11th-isb-13th-in-global-mba-rankings/423642/ 

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-career-iim-ahmedabad-at-11-isb-at-13-in-global-mba-rankings-by-financial-times-london/20110201.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IIM_Ahmedabad

http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report_iim-ahmedabad-s-pgpx-is-11th-in-fts-global-mba-rankings_1500540

The sweet taste of success – FT Global MBA Rank #11

The PGPX Programme at IIMA has made a splash with its debut in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2011. Ranked #11 in the world, it has been recognized for career progression, placement success, and alumni recommendation. Other achievements include a #1 ranking in India and a #2 ranking in Asia-Pacific.

This achievement is not only a matter of pride for students of PGPX but also the greater IIMA community, which has worked tirelessly to afford us this success. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Alma Mater for initiating the programme, our alumni who have worked hard to earn us this reputation, recruiters who have trusted our abilities and invested their faith in us, and finally our competition, for pushing us to excel year after year.

While we savor the joys of this moment, we are humbled by the fact that this is a reflection of hard work to-date by faculty, students, alumni, and so many other stakeholders. Sustaining this position and improving it will require even more hard work and pooling our collective strengths.

The entire IIMA community is celebrating this moment, which could not come at a better time, as we celebrate the Institute’s Golden Jubilee. Go PGPX, Go IIMA!

FT Global MBA Ranking 2011

My days at IIMA: ‘LEM’ming mentality

One of the many privileges I share with fellow WIMWIans is the ability to interact with a distinguished professor/ entrepreneur called Sunil Handa, who teaches a course on Entrepreneurship. His “Laboratory on Entrepreneurial Management” or LEM course is immensely popular among IIMA students and each year, there is intense bidding by the 2-year MBA folks to obtain one of the limited seats. Luckily, PGPX folks have been spared that ordeal and have been allowed to attend most sessions of this course, on a non-credit basis. The classroom sessions were power-packed and entertaining. The professor had anecdotes galore, about the good, the bad and the outright ugly side of entrepreneurship. We learned that there’s a price to pay for freedom from ‘bonded labour’, as Prof. Handa puts it. But then again, here’s what I fervently believe -  “Good things come to those who wait…. and persevere.”

A friend and classmate has a great write-up about entrepreneurship at IIMA. Here’s a link to his blog-post: Chain of thoughts

As part of the LEM course, students are taken to diverse factories and other business establishments to give them a first-hand experience of watching and learning…. and listening to the entrepreneurs speak about how they did what they did….and why they did it!

At the IRM OME factory

Although a good number of visits were organized throughout the LEM course time-frame, I was part of the visits to a Vulcanized Rubber factory, a Health-care company – Vasu Health Care (Vadodra) and a pharmaceutical company – Claris Life Sciences.

These were eye-openers for many of us who’d never set foot in a factory or seen such huge machinery at work before,other than in videos and magazines or while reading ‘cases’ as part of our MBA studies. The proximity to the machinery/ equipment and the sights and sounds of man and machine working together on various inter-related functions within the factories/ laboratories gave us invaluable insights into the dynamics of organizations, in ways that textbooks, or even videos, never could.

It was amusing to watch the workers ‘doing their thing’ while trying not to be too conscious of the many wide-eyed students gaping at them and trying to appear intelligent while thinking, “Duh! I wonder what they’re doing with that machine thingy?!” At the Health-care factory, I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed some of the ladies who worked there waving at the crowds and a couple of students sheepishly grinning and waving back!

The visits were especially enriching because on each occasion we had an experienced guide who took us around the various divisions/ sections of the factory/lab and gladly answered all the questions the students had. Each tour was followed by a round of interaction with the head-honcho of the organization who was gracious enough to spare some time for B-school students. A common statement that some company heads made was, “We need people like you to help us run our companies better…. We hope that some of you consider joining us someday.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

- Navin Rajendran,  PGPX Class of 2011

Golden Jubilee Celebrations – Grand alumni meet laser show

IIMA Golden Jubilee Celebrations – ‘Domino Show’

Spouses of PGPX’ers

I am writing this blogpost courtesy my wife- she suggested that I should post about how the spouses utilize their time while the students are busy slogging themselves. This post is specifically for those who are contemplating to join the PGPX program with their families. Around this time last year, there were a lot of questions and concerns among some of us in the current batch regarding: will the spouses be able to find suitable employment in Ahmedabad? How about schooling for kids? What about groceries, and socializing opportunities, including dining/entertainment, etc?

Regarding the spouses; I must add that the first few months were rather dull in terms of socializing. Till almost end of June, people were still getting used to the campus, the Ahmedabad heat, lining up the maid, grocer, etc. Also the fact that many of them had relocated from abroad, while others had quit their jobs and were getting used to the role of a homemaker. For some, it was a combination of both.

As has been posted in one of the earlier blogs, the interaction between the students and their families during the T-night was the turning point. Slowly, one could see the spouses chit chatting with each other, exchanging recipes, visiting each others’ houses, having girls’ night outs, shopping trips, hosting dinners for the group, etc.  To the extent that many of the X5’ers are no longer feeling guilty about spending long hours in the academic world.

On the work front, quite a few of them found Research Assistant positions within the IIMA campus,. Some work with the nearby institutes such as Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), National Innovation Foundation (NIF), etc. Some found jobs within Ahmedbad, or obtained an internal transfer. A few of the spouses decided to spend their time learning how to run a school- courtesy the Eklavya School.

Of course, there are a few spouses who have decided to take a complete break from all things work- and play a supporting role (I think it is actually a leadership role!) and manage the household, the children, and of course, their ‘student spouses’.

I hope I have been able to put some concerns to rest, and let me also conclude with the following:based on what I have observed over the past few months, here is what is apparent: the kids have the most fun. Lots of open spaces, large number of kids who are ages five and under, and a safe environment- no busy roads or heavy traffic to speak of. Then there is skating, Aug 15^th celebration, birthday parties, Childrens’ Day celebrations, etc. One can often hear the children playing, screaming, and running around sometimes till late in the night. On the schooling aspect- well I hope one of my classmates will be able to post something about this topic, since I do not have any kids.

Amresh Deshpande,

PGPX Class of 2011

Married Student Housing Representative

 

 

PGPX Students devise framework for interlinking national rivers

Amit Chaturvedi and Abhishek Srivatsava (Class of PGPX V ) may have the solution to make the National River Linking Project (NRLP) viable. According to the framework drafted by the students, the project can be implemented without any major funding or disruption to the environment.

“The project is very close to former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s heart and we aim to propose our suggestions to the Centre through him. The cost of NRLP is estimated to be 5,60,000 crore, which is close to 7-8 per cent of our estimated GDP for 2010 and no country would ever spend that amount on any single activity, especially Indiawith the corruption level. Apart from the high cost of the project, linking polluted and non-polluted rivers and human displacement are major issues,” says Amit Chaturvedi, who is working on a framework along with Abhishek Srivastava, both PGPX students at IIM-A.

Read more: River interlinking viable, say IIM-A students inspired by Kalam – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/River-interlinking-viable-say-IIM-A-students-inspired-by-Kalam/articleshow/6992038.cms#ixzz16a5OT0Q3

My days at IIMA – IV: Run, IIMA, run!!!

“Hmmm…. This is gonna be a fun-day!!! Lotsa people to chase! Maybe I should start with the guy with the red t-shirt… or maybe not. He’s too fast for me. How about giving the thin fellow behind him a scare by chasing him around? Hey, Wait a minute! I wonder why they’re all running around the campus in the hot sun though.” The dogs (many of them have been long-time residents) on campus were a bewildered lot on 21^st October, 2010, with a lot of folks running around in the evening-hours…  It was a day many WIMWIans (of the two-legged and four-legged kind) would remember for a long, long time!:-)

In the first event of its kind in IIMA, the class of PGPX-V organized a run called the IIMA 5K-Run-and-Walk, with a well-planned track laid out across the 100-acre IIMA campus, spanning the old and new campus-areas. This was a great initiative started by our PGPX Sports secretary – Rohit Kelkar, aspiring to make WIMWIans a healthier lot. The event was open to everyone in IIMA, including the students of various IIMA programmes like the PGP, PGPX, ABM, FPM, AFP, etc., family members, faculty and other staff members. A few weeks in advance, Rohit and I worked with the IIMA Publication department for the creation of a promotional poster to raise awareness about the event and posted them on various bulletin boards inside the campus.  The poster helped to get the message across with the catch phrase “one step closer to a healthier you!” With the help of a few volunteers, I created a set of pointers that the Run-organizers placed all along the path of the run. There was a dedicated group of volunteers positioned at various ‘strategic’ (read confusing) areas of the track, to guide runners/ walkers, apart from the pointers. A few volunteers were stationed at two checkpoints on the course, to provide water for the runners.

It was heartening for the organizers to see people turn out in large numbers, either to participate or to cheer the ones who did! Based on the statistics provided by the organizers, around 270 people registered online for the 5K run and around 125-130 turned up for the actual event .  There were several other folks who were inspired by the high spirits of the participants and made a ‘spur of the moment’ decision to join the runners. One pleasant surprise was the on-the-spot registration of a group of 10-12 army men , who were on campus as part of the AFP (Armed Forces Program – a 6-month full-time residential program for ex-servicemen). The oldest participant was around 60 years old and the youngest was hardly seven years old. It didn’t matter. Everyone was raring to get started. At around 5:15 PM. , the organizers said ‘Go!’ and IIMA’s first running event was finally underway!

Over a hundred runners set off from the back-gate of the new IIMA campus. It was a spectacular sight, runners, young and old, running with a mission, as onlookers, friends, family and even total strangers, stood on the sidelines cheering them on. The most enthusiastic cheerleaders were of course the kids of the runners, surprised/delighted to see their dads and moms running. I started my first ever long-distance run with hope in my heart and a spring in my step, determined to put my best foot forward!  As I approached the first of many pointers that I had helped design and prepare earlier, turned at the first I could hear spectators cheering the participants with loud chants of “Run, IIMA, run!!!”

Several amateurs started off the race like it was a sprint event. The pace was blistering at first…. and I only hope that none of them had blistered feet by the end of the run! The more seasoned runners knew enough to conserve their energy and maintain a steady pace all through the course. There were a lot of very fit runners among the participants, including folks who had run half and full marathons before. But I suspect that the majority if the runners were doing this for the first time, like I was! I’ve been hitting the gym quite often in the last few weeks and thought I wouldn’t have as much trouble with the distance – It’s only 5 km after all! I was in for a rude shock though, even before I covered 1 km of the track!  After the initial rush, I settled down to a rhythm of ‘a little running and more-than-a-little walking’. I found myself huffing and puffing by the time I got to the second checkpoint and after reaching out to have a glass of water, I could have sworn that the water I tasted was sweet!  That gave me the fuel I needed for the final stretch though and I managed to cross the finish-line eventually, after about 30-40 minutes of running/ walking!

Most of the winners completed the course in less than 20 minutes. The first two men to cross the finishing line were PGP exchange students Hubert De Brianconand Daniel De Luna. The first two women winners were Manisha Gurung, the spouse of one of my PGPX classmates and Bettina Ackermann, another PGP exchange student. The prize distribution was subsequently done on 22^ndOctober, 2010 as part of Connexion events, by Mr. Murali Sivaraman, CEO, Philips India.

When I finished the race, I had felt a sense of euphoria…  I had just completed one of the items on my ever-growing list of ‘things to do in my lifetime’ – run a marathon. I was feeling good about myself and relieved that my To-Do list had just become a wee-bit smaller. All that changed as I sat down to write this blog update. I learned to my chagrin that a 5K run is not like a marathon – not even close! A marathon has a standard distance of 42.195 km (over 8 times of what my classmates and I had covered on the day). A 5K run is what aspiring runners undertake when they want ‘instant gratification’ without proper training. What was I thinking??? Oh well…. SOMEDAY, I’ll run a marathon! For now I’ll just have to contend with the fact that a certain item is going to stay on my list for awhile!

- Navin Rajendran, PGPX , Class of 2011

 

 

Run IIMA Run!

“PGPX conquers the Mumbai Marathon – 15 IIMA PGPX students participate in the 2009 Mumbai marathon”.

This is the foundation established by the previous batches, and now the X5′s take it a step ahead by introducing the first “IIMA 5K Run”. The 5K run comes on the lines of IIMA’s commitment to sports.

 

IIMA recently introduced the Management Development Program (MDP) for sports management executives and the IIMA Sports Club organises numerous activities, including competitions with local clubs and also participation in the inter-IIM sports meet. The runners in the current batch have completed a combined total of 8 full marathons, 34 half marathons and multiple 5K runs. Building on this passion for sports, it is only fitting that IIMA now gets a running race of its own.

 

The 5K event symbolizes the inclusive family environment at IIMA where not only the students (PGP, PGPX, FPM), but also the faculty, the staff and their families will join the run. The running route is spread across the sprawling IIMA campus including both the old and new campuses, connected by our own “IIMA Tunnel”. You can trust the group’s and syndi’s to break the decibel meters as their team mates run for the top prize – The men’s 5K champion and The Women’s 5K champion. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the participants are already taking time off from their busy schedules and are training hard to keep their “Group Ki Shaan”!

 

So the date is set – 21st Oct 2010 at 5.00 pm. Location is the IIMA campus (download route map). Come out and join the first IIMA 5K Run!

- Rohit Kelkar
PGPX Sports Secretary, Class of 2011

IIM A Student wants to quit IRS Job to turn entrepreneur

While many look forward to placements in multinational companies after an Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (IIM-A) degree, there are those like Dhananjay Kumar, a student of post graduate programme in management for executives (PGPX), who wants to quit his government job and become a full-time entrepreneur.
……
About campus placements at IIM-A, Kumar said, “I will not be taking part in the placements. Instead, I am planning to resign from my service with the government and dedicate all my time to my venture.”

“We have just one life. We should follow our dreams,” said Kumar.

Read more: IIM-A student wants to quit IRS job to turn entrepreneur – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/IIM-A-student-wants-to-quit-IRS-job-to-turn-entrepreneur/articleshow/6744453.cms#ixzz12K44vU41

A tale of two businesses

If there was one article that most business graduate remembers having read, it is an article penned by Prof. Theodore Levitt, Marketing Myopia. First printed in Jul/Aug 1960 – yes 50 years ago; Prof Levitt’s work still stands the test of time – call it prescience, genius, or the result of plain uncommon common sense. Having read it again after a gap of 12 years, it made me look around and note how little so many businesses have learned since then. Every time a bookstore closes, a record store shutter comes down for the last time, a music label laments the impending death of circular optical media, Sony tries to sell us BluRay discs, a newspaper curses the advent of the internet, a television station balks at the very mention of the acronym IPTV, one is reminded of Marketing Myopia.

Technological progress is again reminding scores of businesses about the business they’re really in and that while announcing their demise in the same breath. This note is about two businesses, rather one business and one brand that was the business itself not so long ago.

The troubling fact is that there exist 3 or more generations today that are troubled with the way of life that is threatened by result of businesses not knowing what business they are in. The newspaper is the best and most obvious example of one such business that seems to want to wish away the technological changes of the last decade – as they did of the advances made two decades before the last ten; when TV news channels crashed their party.

The business of ‘news gathering and dissemination‘ found itself a slave of a very profitable trade in news printed on paper which became a global daily addiction. Those were the days when a lot wouldn’t happen daily and if a lot did happen, few obsessed withe the immediacy of knowing that it happened. We just didn’t have use for immediacy. That didn’t mean we never would feel the need for immediacy – however trivial the content. So they ignored the ability of a powerful medium like television to help disseminate the news they were gathering. To the newspaper industry, not even the pain that TV was inflicting on Hollywood was any sign of things to come. So they sat back in the comfort of the assumption that an ever expanding population would assure profits. The rest is, like they say, history. Which newspaper today can claim to have started a television news channel? Right you are, no one.

While television stations continued to loot and pillage the newspaper industry’s profit sanctuaries, their knee jerk reaction to the advent of the www was to offer their most valuable resource (no, not paper) news free of charge to a bunch of early adopters who in their respective nations were ‘terribly affluent’. People who could afford a telephone line and an ISP subscription and a computer were deemed unable & unwilling to pay a paltry sum of money to access and consume news. Right. There is no going back from that model. Probably their only excuse could be “we thought the same ‘paper’ advertising model would work wonders for us again”. It could’ve, but it hasn’t, thanks to advertisers disrupting every square inch of digital real estate with banners of every conceivable shape, size and colour. It’s no surprise that ‘click through rates’ are nearing levels that will soon require a parts per million metric to report. The digital edition never brought home the bacon, the bread the print edition was bringing was smaller each day and the newspapers turned to berate the “free-mongers” who don’t care about their survival. Should they? So our 3 generations are now faced with an uncomfortable question “will the newspaper survive?!”. It well may, it just won’t be as profitable or sustainable a business as it once was. “It WILL survive profitable” retorts the indignant newspaper industry, “new homes are being created, new home always buy a newspaper. Rural folk, once literate, will read (buy?) the newspaper!” Allow me to burst your bubble of confidence. Yes, there was a time when a teenagers never read the newspaper, but when they set up home they’d subscribe to a daily newspaper. Today’s teenagers too never read the newspaper, the difference is they never will! Not when they set up home, not ever. They’ve grown up reading news in digital form, they’ve evolved much like our ancestors did from communicating using cave paintings to using speech! As for rural markets, they have a rather imaginatively disruptive (irritating and infuriating to you as it may be) habit of leapfrogging technologies. You don’t believe that? How’s this…mobile tele-density in rural areas outperforms fixed-line tele-density by a factor of thousands, rural India has taken a liking to DTH television over cable TV (do you have a DTH connection at home Mr. Editor?). Farmers are already controlling gadgets on their farmland using mobile phones, heck, who do you think will be more adept and amenable to controlling other gadgets in a “connected home”?!

Dear newspaper industry. Mobile enabled Micropayments and the guts to put up paywalls around content you believe is valuable and unique – is it?; may well be your last chance to realize that your real business is the business of news gathering and dissemination and that’s what consumers pay you for. Another topic for another day, coming soon.

The brand that epitomized the very business if stormed and defined for the better part of two decades was in the business of “connecting people”. And it believed that the hand-phone was the only way it could connect people. Or so it would seem, from the ease with which social networking and phones that promised seamless, joyous, wonderful social networking took their business away. Nokia too believes that the ever expanding population of emerging countries will help protect its profit sanctuary. Wrong again. That profit sanctuary is getting smaller by the day and your emerging population seems to be leapfrogging technology generations in adopting however-crummy-Chinese qwerty phones for Rs.2000+ The less said the better about the premium smartphone market.

I have yet to come across a simpler more powerful and enduring promise than “Connecting People”. It still is yours, but it won’t be for long. Facebook (and sites before it) demonstrates what connecting people means in a world beyond hardware – in fact it is your hardware too which is helping Facebook connect people, but users aren’t crediting you with that, neither are advertisers. That’s where the money is going and will continue to go. And there is talk of Facebook exploring the possibility of co-developing a phone. I hope for your sake and the sake of the respect your brand has built that it is you who they’re partnering in that venture. Lifeblog had promise, if only you hadn’t awarded it the proverbial ‘step-motherly treatment’. Lifeblog came onto the scene when Facebook was a sperm of an idea in Mark Zuckerberg’s mind. Lifeblog could have been Facebook. Lifeblog could have assured that your phones kept pace with changing consumer needs and that they sold for a premium. You had the idea, the quality, the know how, the resources and the trust of a ginormous installed base to exploit! You had everything.

Now what? First the obvious way out, make a phone that unseats the iPhone as a phone to die for and I may anger the legions of Apple fans by adding that leave aside the brand and the phone can be easily bested. However we all now that the brand is inseparable from the product. Especially in Apple’s case. So, easier said than done. But if anyone can do it, you can. And no you can’t do it with Ovi alone. Second option, embrace Facebook. In 2007 you could’ve bought them lock stock and barrel. But you could still raise the money to buy out Mark Zuckerberg if you were to convince a financier with the cash flows from the combined force of Nokia’s hardware + Facebook’s interface. Since you still enjoy technical superiority over other phone makers, have the experience needed to construct a great phone, have a rock solid brand name and still command an overwhelming customer base, maybe a merger would release the best value from the two companies after all. You have MeeGo and Ovi, they have a ready, tested. trusted platform that can be turned into an OS – more content that many could wish for. The last option is to vacate the top of the pyramid and to go after the bottom and the middle of the pyramid. Not an option we’d expect Nokia to exercise.

The business environment around us is replete with businesses, as Prof Levitt puts is “that were once growing but are very much in the shadow of decline” because their top management “failed to define broadly the business they’re in and to carefully gauge their customers’ needs.”

The lesson we managers need to learn from such instances is

1. An expanding market alone never guarantees/assures one of sustained profits for an expanding market is served by expanding options/choices as well.
2. That our products and services have no substitutes; that no has the wherewithal to take us on head-on. They need not, they’ll come from around the corner.
3. Economies of scale and falling unit costs – product or manpower; merely mean we’re exhausting places to run to. Places others have already occupied or are too small to accommodate our expenses, and
4. Over-investing and over-obsessing with continually tinkering and improving products and services through expensive research and training and in doing so ignoring the real needs and evolutionary direction of the very markets that keep us in business.

For entrepreneurs, there was never a better time to launch your idea against just such an erroneously defined business by starting small and “thinking small” as Professor Levitt’s article goes on to explain. I urge managers to read Marketing Myopia every time they’re about to a decision that affects the future of their business unit or the business itself. It’s worth it, every time.

- Rahul Thappa,

PGPX , Class of 2011 .

ConneXion 2010 .. A warm welcome to entire IIMA Alumni community

PGPX is gearing up for October 22^nd 2010; a day which promises to be one of the most eventful since our induction on April 8^th.There is heightened activity & a sense of eager anticipation everywhere on the new campus.

Placement season is still a good 3 months down the road, so, what’s all the adrenaline rush about?One may be inclined to ask. Well, this is the run-up for the biggest day (or shall we say, the biggest weekend) in the PGPX calendar – the much awaited ConneXion 2010 event, currently in its second edition.

Originally conceptualized by the X4’s as a platform for interaction& networking; ConneXion has been given a much broader context by us, the X5’s. It will now be an experience spread across 3 days, from October 22^nd till October 24^th

For the uninitiated, the mission statement would be a good introduction,

“ConneXion provides a national platform to bring together industry, academia, policy makers to discuss vital business trends and emerging issues. Through its high powered speakers, focused panel discussions and insightful PGPX participation, the event intends to provide thought leadership for the next level of corporate growth and renewal.”

With less than a month to go, preparations are underway in full swing to welcome the high level dignitaries and our esteemed alumni onto the campus. The ConneXion movement is gaining momentum with every passing day – what started as a core group of 4 elected event organizers has grown to over 20 volunteers in various sub committees – logistics, event management, media; all persevering together to make this event a grand success.

The distinguished speaker list includes Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam ( Former President of India) , Murali Sivaraman ( CEO, Philips India) ,J.J.Irani ( Director, Tata Sons) , Rajgopal Nogja ( President ,Lavasa Corporation & HCC Real Estate ) ,Chender Baljee ( CMD, Royal Orchid Hotels) , TK Kurien ( President , Wipro EcoEnergy ) , Shambhu Das ( CEO , Torrence Capital) , Vivek Gupta ( Director, Saran Renewables) , Shamik Moitra ( General Principal, Aditya Birla Private Equity ) ,Ravi Krishnan ( MD & Senior Vice President, IMG South Asia) ,Sandip Tarkas ( Chief Strategy Officer , Future Group),Bhaskar Das ( Executive Vice President , Bennet Coleman & Co Ltd) , Prof Harrick Vin (Vice President & Chief Scientist, TCS) ,Karumuttu Kannan ( MD, Thiagarajar Mills & Member-Tamilnadu State Planning Commission),Chirag C Doshi (MD,WalchandNagar Indust. Ltd ) .

The sessions are outlined below.

Day 1: Innovations on Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

PGPX students are working on ideas for inclusive growth in various areas such as education, healthcare, environment protection etc. These ideas with detailed plans will be presented to a panel of experts, including the former President of India & a notable Scientist – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

The panelists will review, critique & provide feedback on the plans presented by students. Based on these inputs, students can refine their plans & work towards the implementation of their ideas. The intent behind this exercise is to influence the opinions of policy makers via publication of their reports.

Day 2 Session 1: Green Innovations

The essence of sustainability is to achieve a balance between economic growth and protecting the environment. These days Companies becoming are looking for technologies and business processes that reduce their carbon footprint giving due consideration to people, planet, and profit.

Day 2 will seek to bring out organizations’ concern for the ‘planet’ while meeting their business objectives. The session on Green Innovation focuses on achieving Sustainable Growth through Clean Technology. It brings together industry leaders who have walked the talk on reducing Carbon Emissions. Ideas to promote clean technology development, creating platforms for sharing sustainable industry practices enabling the transition from a purely profit oriented outlook to a broader, ecologically sensitive growth strategy will be discussed. Steel, Automotive, Construction, Hospitality, Alternative Energy and Private Equity would be some of the industries represented by the various speakers.

Day 2 Session 2: PGPX Alumni Meet

PGPX is currently in its 5th edition – 4 high powered batches have walked the hallowed corridors of IIMA and have gone back to industry to make their contribution felt through their corporate roles and business ventures. With about 300 alums spread across India and the abroad, it’s an exclusive club that’s growing in number and stature with every passing year.

The Alumni event at ConneXion 2010 aims to bring together this eclectic group of individuals to spend a few days on campus and walk down the memory lane. Their presence also lends itself well to the industry interaction aspect of ConneXion 2010 where the themes range from managing challenges in emerging markets to Marketing innovations while going green in between.

The session with the alums is focused on the “industry learning’s” module where we intend to receive “gyan” from our esteemed seniors on a variety of industries and then focused round tables conducted by the Special Interest Groups (SIGs). This serious round of interaction will give way to the cultural extravaganza planned for the alums in the evening, showcasing some of the “world famous in IIMA” performances by our very own X5’s and their spouses. The grand dinner will be topped off by an open house dance and “masti” till late into the night.

Day 3 Session1: Marketing Innovations

After discussing various topics on innovation related to green, sustainable and inclusive growth, the third day’s session will address two topics: Innovations in marketing and marketing the innovations. The session will try to bring four important stake holders together on one platform for a discussion and idea generation: Innovators, marketing professionals, academics and the students. There will be presentations from students on concepts drawn from their professional experience and learnings at IIMA. The practitioners will be validating these presentations and will also bring in their perspectives.

PGPX students have created a forum to promote grass-root innovators identified through organizations such as National Innovation Foundation. Some of the innovators from such forums will also be attending these sessions displaying their innovations.

For more details , please refer to the event details Connexion 2010

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in PGPX Classroom

Among all the distinguished personalities who have graced our campus, none can compare to a certain global figure who has been a positive influence on millions of young (and not so young) minds around the world – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Not many MBA students can claim that they have been taught by the honorable Ex-President of India. The proud students of IIMA have the privilege of doing so when they enroll for a course called Globalising Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation (GRIIT). The course is offered as an elective for both the 1-year and 2-year MBA programs at IIMA and is usually in high-demand. One hopes that the demand is not just for the subsequent bragging rights that go with the package. The star attraction of the course is the set of sessions that are taught by the great man himself, along with another distinguished IIMA professor – Prof. Anil Gupta (http://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_gupta.html), but more importantly, the course offers avenues that students could explore to make a difference to the world around them by studying current policies/ processes/regulations, etc. and providing recommendations that could influence policy, governance and/or institutional changes. To quote one of the course directives, the students are expected to “create disruptive innovative pathways of progress within the country and internationally.”
Another aspect of this course that makes it distinct is that , thanks to the strong networks that Dr. Kalam and Prof. Anil Gupta have developed during their illustrious careers, it is relatively easier for students to gain access to high-ranked officials in the Indian government and other key institutions. These are typically ministers or IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers who are involved in or are interested in the field/ topic that the students have chosen to work on as part of their projects. The effective utilization of such channels helps students discuss and develop their ideas in consultation with the decision/policy makers/ influencers, significantly increasing the probability of “making a difference.” I hope to do so as well, in my own little way.
Many of us had seen Dr. Kalam a zillion times before, on television and other media channels, but nothing could prepare us for the humility and gentleness that Dr. Kalam brought with him to the IIMA campus on 17th and 18th September, 2010. The class respectfully stood up to greet the 78-year old “People’s president” when he entered our classroom – CR11 to begin the sessions on day-1. Scientist, engineer, visionary, humanitarian – There are several ways one could describe the 11th President of India (2002-2007). But his demeanor and simplicity reminded me of a doting grandfather who loved to talk to youngsters on the importance of high ideals and the need to envision and work toward a better future for the nation. This may sound clichéd, coming from a politician, but the difference is that this rocket scientist truly seemed to believe in what he was advocating, and in his earnest wish to have all Indians, young and old, go the extra mile to make India a developed nation by the year 2020 (http://www.indiavision2020.org/), he often lets his defences down, allowing observers to interpret his sincerity and uncomplicated speech as naivety. One can make one’s own inferences, but I found his simplicity very endearing.
There is goodness as well as greatness in simplicity, not in wealth – Mahatma Gandhi
Well-known for his visionary speeches and the winner of three of India’s highest civilian honours (the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997), Dr. Kalam addressed the PGPX (1-year MBA) and PGP (2-year MBA) students (including several foreign exchange students from France) by delivering a speech on “Three dimensional Action for World Prosperity and Peace”. During the course of his presentation, he talked about the importance of Global Vision, Regional Cooperation and National Missions and how they would aid in our endeavour to make India a developed nation by 2020. Dr. Kalam also explained certain visualizations that could lead to a ‘Global world system for prosperity and peace’. He called this the World Vision 2030.
Prior to Dr. Kalam’s visit, all the GRIIT participants were given three questions to answer.

1. All of you are talented and receiving the best of education and skills. In this context, I want to know your answer to the question – “What I will be remembered for?”

2.Has there been a person or incident in your life which has left an important and lasting message. If possible, please share it. This can be from your family, friends, people who have come across in life, organization or institution of which you were a part of.

3. Do you have one out-of-the-box idea which would transform the nation or address a key concern which is pertinent in the national context?

The responses were consolidated and sent to him for review a few days before his visit. During the next session in the classroom, Dr. Kalam commented on some of the answers and invited the students to discuss certain aspects of their responses in the class. The remaining sessions on Day-1 and Day-2 involved several presentations made by PGPX and PGP students on various projects of social relevance, involving diverse topics like the global drinking water problem, Corruption, Energy-independence, Health-care, library networks, e-governance, etc. During the course of the presentations, Dr. Kalam and Prof. Anil Gupta provided valuable insights, tips and guidelines on the way forward. Many of the presentations elicited impassioned debate and discussion with the audience as well.

Again, all good things had to come to an end…. Our two-day session with Dr. Kalam ended on the evening of 18th September, 2010. This was followed by a session that Dr. Kalam had with the participants of IIMA’s Faculty Development Programme (FDP), which included teachers from all over India and Ethiopia. Even as the session continued, like on Day-1, crowds had gathered outside the classroom – students, faculty-members and IIMA staff, families in tow, waiting to catch a glimpse of the great man and take some photographs with him as he walked toward his motorcade, accompanied by security guards wielding machine-guns. A few got lucky… So did I!
-Navin Rajendran,
PGPX , Class of 2011

My days at IIMA – III: Visitors galore!

Like I’ve said before, all good things must come to an end…. so that better things can happen!

One of the highlights of an MBA at a “Well-known Institute of Management in Western India” or WIMWI, as IIMA is called in certain circles, is the set of opportunities it provides for students to interact directly with top leaders of the business-world/ government. We regularly have dignitaries visiting campus and giving guest lectures as part of various initiatives at IIMA like the ‘CEO on campus’ and ‘Speaker series’.

Vasant Sanzgiri, Group Head, Human Resources, at the renowned Construction company Shapoor Pallonji Group, was the first of the honchos to visit IIMA, on 6th July, 2010. Mr Sanzgiri gave us invaluable insights into his company’s operations, the challenges, concerns, its vision for the future and the expectations he and his senior management team had from the students of IIMA (prospective employees?)

Shiv Kumar, the MD/ CEO of Nokia India ,gave us a talk on 8th July, 2010 on leadership/ management as part of the ‘CEO on campus’ sessions. A few of us, sitting in the front of the auditorium were contemplating displaying our non-Nokia cell-phones prominently, but then better sense prevailed!

Harsha Bhogle, a distinguished IIMA alumnus, ace Sports commentator visited our campus on 25th July, 2010, with his wife Anita, also a WIMWIian (Hmmm….), taking a special session on leadership for the PGPX folks in our classroom and then going on to make a presentation in the main auditorium on campus, addressing the whole IIMA student community. The overall presentation was quite insightful and entertaining, with several scenarios that I could relate to on a personal level… The greatness of sportspersons like Sachin Tendulkar was one such aspect!

No! I’m not tooting my own horn! Harsha spoke about how Sachin manages to stay focussed for hours on end while at the crease on the cricket field, outwitting bowlers ball after ball and ignoring the fielders’ sledging. One of Sachin’s secrets has been his ability ‘to blank his mind out – to think of absolutely nothing’ when he went out to bat. “Hey!” I said to myself, “I do that too.” And that’s where the similarity ends. My blanking of the mind happens at a most inopportune moment, in the examination hall! Need I say more???
Ravi Raina, President, India operations at Astonfield Renewable Resources, met us on 9th August, 2010, to talk about Diversified Solar/ Renewable Power.

Sanjeev Chaddha, CEO, Pepsico India and an IIMA alumnus returned to his old campus on 14th August, 2010 to tell us ‘Things I wished they’d taught me @IIMA,’ as part of the CEO series presentations. He regaled us with his anecdotes from his immense experience in the corporate world and his IIMA days. Several members of the audience could relate to the topics addressed in his presentation. One of his key talking points was “It’s not about the brains….” and when he noticed that several students began to grin unabashedly as soon as he had mentioned it, he quickly added “…. well, it’s not only about the…..” He went on to talk about several other matters, including the importance of maintaining one’s health. He insisted that physical fitness be made a ‘ritual’! When he mentioned that a significant number of IIMA students find their life-partners on campus and that he had to ‘move fast’ to ensure success (thanks to the appalling girl-boy student ratio), I squirmed a little. It was clear that although I was on the same campus, I wasn’t making the right ‘moves’! Ah, well, there’s still hope for a bachelor like me, I guess!
More about Dr Kalam’s Visit in my following post ..
- Navin Rajendran
PGPX , Class of 2011

Ultimate Frisbee : PGP Vs PGPX !

Match Report
The PGPs and PGPXs played their first frisbee match @ LKP 2 nights ago. It
was the first game for Xer’s on the wide LKP field, since they are used to the
narrow constraints of the IMDC lawns. The game was fast and hectic with both
teams scoring regularly. For the Xer’s tall guy Varun & fast guy Shridhar were
the end zone warriors, with reliable spot duty by Venky. On the other hand
Anuroop and Amit starred on defense. Rohit, Abhishek, Satish, Mayank & Bhavin
did most of the running in the midfield. PGPs did a good job of covering
Nikhil, the most experienced player for PGPX.

The PGPs tried to utilize Naka’s height advantage but their long throws were
off target. Khadke did a good job of marking Varun towards the latter half of
the game and was aided by Pantom in the defense. Obama, Jocki, Sagar, Teemish
and others worked in the midfield and made quick runs into the end-zone to
score for the PGPs. Though the team missed a few tricks while defending, their
quick short passes created opportunities to score and compensated for the weak
defence. The PGP team missed the services of some of its more experienced
players like Salman. Hopefully , we should be seeing them in the match next
week.

Even though PGPX held onto a small lead for significant portions of the game,
the PGP’s were able to pull ahead in the last few minutes with the X’ers
failing to connect on a handful of long throws. Youth definitely played a part
in the end & the Xer’s will look to bounce back next week with their
experience!

Result – PGPs won 30-26

-Nikhil Bhaskar Mudaliar
PGPX, Class of 2011

Speaker Series..Geet Sethi & Viren Rasquinha

When you see something isn’t going right, you can either criticize… or step up to lead the change
This is pretty much how I would like to sum up the speech by Geet Sethi, a multi-time World Billiards Champion. How to enable Indian sports persons to win more medals (ideally- Gold medals!) at the Olympics? What kind of support/training programs do they need? How to obtain funding? Should your movement be for-profit, or a non-profit? How to stay focused on ONE goal when there are multiple conflicting options to take your vision forward? This is how Geet shared his vision, and energized the class.And the presentation by Viren Rasquinha, the Arjun Award-winning former Captain of the Indian Hockey Team, was a charged-up, informative and inspiring narration about the Olympic Gold Quest program. The presentation had statistics, revenue figures, performance trends of sportspersons: this was pure B-school stuff, and we got the message- given the right support system, our sportspersons can beat the best in the world.
If you are pressed for time, but want to know what the PGPX-V class (and some very keen PGPs) experienced last night, the above gives the headline. For those who want the news story, stay tuned to this page…

Amresh Deshpande,
PGPX , Class of 2011

Speaker Series .. Mr Sridhar Rajagopalan – Managing Director, Educational Initiatives

IIMA PGPX Speaker Series gave us an exciting 2 hours with Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director ,Education Initiatives. His perspectives on innovation in fundamental education were based on extensive international research and vast experience in the conceptualization, implementation and running of some of the elite educational institutions. He presented interesting insights into the difficulties children faced in developing an understanding of the basic concepts thus revealing sharp learning deficiencies in the current teaching methodologies adopted by India’s primary education system .
He shared his views on wide ranging fundamental questions such as – when should students be exposed to negative numbers, why primary education in mother tongue (up to class 5) is more effective, how private and government schools compare, how Indian and American students compare etc.
Sridhar’s focus on solving fundamental problems of education rather than on monetizing his opportunities stood out and EI-India’s passion to work towards qualitative improvement in India’s educational system inspired many of our prospective PGPX entrepreneurs.

- Abhishek Srivastava,
PGPX , Class of 2011

My days at IIMA – II: All good things must come to an end!

“Time’s up!”, announced the invigilator in the examination hall, marking the end of the end-term examination on a Marketing course called “Delivering and Managing Customer Value”. It was a profound moment for many of us as we handed over our answer sheets and trooped out of the room. Term II was finally over… It is widely accepted (at least within the IIMA community) that the first two terms collectively constitute one of the toughest phases of our MBA program. We had survived! Having reached a milestone in our gruelling studies, a few of us are now taking the liberty of calling ourselves 50% MBAs! There was hope anew that “we’d get through this after all!”

It was time to take a deep breath….to unwind… to reconnect with our friends and family, before Term III began and the forced exile continued. Many of my classmates took the next flight/ train/ bus out of Ahmedabad to get back to their loved ones in different towns/ cities across India, UK and the US! As for me, being back with my folks in Bangalore after close to four months is a sheer delight although the change of scene had me sniffing for the first couple of days. Oh no! It’s not that I started to miss my home away from home when I WAS home! The change in weather probably was to blame – switching to an almost-always-air-conditioned Bangalore weather from the sultry, humid conditions in Ahmedabad (despite the rains) got my internal defence-mechanisms all confused.

Speaking of weather, it does feel good to have rains in Ahmedabad on a regular basis. Apart from keeping the temperatures down, it greatly increases the probability of me enjoying a hot shower in the day-time. In case you’re wondering if I’ve lost my marbles, allow me to explain… For the first few weeks on campus, I was finding it quite difficult to come to terms with the Ahmedabad heat, on the outside and in the classrooms. Yep! The intensity of the weather back then had to be experienced to be believed, or maybe you know what I’m talking about?! Here’s an example to put matters in perspective. We used to get hot water in the shower taps almost 24/7, regardless of whether we turned the faucet toward the ‘Hot’ side or the ‘Cold’!!! And to think I was blaming the plumbing for awhile?! Luckily things got better as the weeks rolled on… at least as far as the weather was concerned!

A sense of Déjà vu overwhelms me as I realize that a whole term has passed from the time I started to write this second blog post on my days at IIMA.

We had just finished Term I back then, and we were getting ready for a weekend-break before the next wave of the academic rigour began. A few of my friends and I had packed our bags for a road-trip to Mount Abu, Rajasthan! We returned, refreshed, anticipating the intensity of the course to pick up where we left it at the end of Term I. But then, IIMA is full of surprises…..

Those were such happy times

And not so long ago

How I wondered where they’d gone

But they’re back again

Just like a long lost friend

:

:

Just like before

It’s yesterday once more.

This lovely old song by The Carpenters captures the essence of our first few days of Term II. We were all pleasantly surprised by the reduced levels of rigour that we were subjected to, knowing all too well that ‘all good things must come to an end’… someday. And end they did in the ensuing weeks, with wave after wave of case-readings, individual/ group assignments and surprise quizzes hitting us with enough force to topple our balance and bring (some of) us to our knees. While I was ‘down there’, I found myself coming to terms with certain ‘ground realities’ about my ability to actually catch-up with all the preparation and reading for the classes gone by…. Innovation was nigh! Come to think of it, when confidence levels were at abysmally low levels, ‘grass-root’ innovation was inevitable – Survival of the smartest, for sure!

With age comes wisdom, huh? I’m not sure about that, but I CAN vouch for our improved skills in adapting to changing weather conditions in the classrooms. The ‘novelty’ or the surprise element of the quizzes had worn off to a certain extent by Term II and I joined my fellow warriors in determining different algorithms to predict ‘quiz days’. Of course, these are not yet fool-proof, but we’re working on ‘em; rest assured!

‘Selective reading’ was the order of the day (night?) and it was quite unfortunate that after the reading/ case-analysis/quiz-preparation was done, my mind had decided to go ahead with ‘selective retention’. What’s more ironic is that the parts my mind had chosen NOT to retain were the details required on the quizzes/ exams. Ah! Those were times when I’d remember (Aha!) the prophetic laws of a certain Murphy and go…

“Oh, Murphy, where art thou?

Thine presence I seek now.

Should thy neck I gleefully wring,

or, to praise thee, start to sing?”

Yeah! Yeah! That’s just another of my work-in-progress poems! Gotta finish those projects some day!

As unfinished projects go, regular updates to my blog is another matter altogether. The only growth my blog has seen over the last few months is the number of encouraging comments readers have made! A big “thank you” to you to all of them! Those gestures from my readers should have collectively given me the boost to keep writing. I remember how I had tried to discipline myself to do more writing in the second term. I had my fiction and blog-writing in mind then, but as luck would have it, I DID do a lot of writing… of the academic kind, on….gasp…paper! Give me a keyboard any day and I will probably be able to type faster than I can write, cursive or otherwise! I’m surprised (and peeved) that I have not yet been able to get my hand-writing to be half as legible as it used to be during my first phase of college-life over a decade ago. The various quizzes and exams that I’ve had over the last two terms have evaluated more than just my academic abilities. Other faculties of my mind, like patience, have been thoroughly tested as well. Who would have thought that for an MBA student at IIMA, the ability to stay put in one place for an hour or more with a pen in hand could seem like an ordeal, especially if he had to write something sensible for (what seemed to be) a painfully prolonged period of time? What’s happening to me???

The professors at IIMA are undeniably the cream of the crop. Most of them are, anyway. We all know that there are outliers everywhere, even in ‘crop circles’ like these! Incredibly intelligent, these ladies and gentlemen are accomplished veterans in their respective fields and their energy in the classroom belie their age. Not surprisingly, many of them hold a strong influence in the way business is conducted in India and abroad. Several of them regularly travel on consulting assignments, are on the board of directors at established firms and/or serve as advisors in various capacities to the Government of India on policy matters in a wide range of areas – banking, finance, economics, to name a few. As part of the PGPX course, we have had the privilege to be taught by a few of them so far and can only hope to have some of their wisdom and knowledge rub off on us. A few of us have also had the experience of staring at a closed classroom-door (one of the professors had the doors locked to prevent late-comers from ‘disturbing’ the class) and a few unwary others have had their brains freeze over thanks to professors’ cold-calls in the classroom. Their ‘tongue-in-cheek’ humour is not lost on us either. Having taught for several years, many of them have brilliant ‘strategies’ to teach hard-to-absorb concepts, to control class-room discussion and to silence disruptive/digressive student behaviour (however inadvertent they may be).

We had our first glimpse into the professors’ presence of mind during the inauguration ceremony of our PGPX-V program in April, 2010. During the Q&A session, a student raised a concern on the formation of study groups, specifically about the limitations such a year-long grouping would have on students’ abilities to interact with others. Most of the out-of-class interactions would, he presumed, be within the confines of the group. The student went on to suggest having regular changes in groups so that the element of diversity could be intensified and also increase the probability of quality interaction with more classmates. One of the professors took the mike to answer the question/ concern. He gave the person an all-knowing smile and softly asked, “Are you married?” ‘Nuff said…. Everyone in the crowd roared with laughter!!!

Over the last two terms, we have had professors who taught us a lot more than academic concepts… At times, philosophy and spirituality were integral parts of the class-room discussions… and during some sessions, although the concepts being taught were mundane, they appeared abstract to students who would consequently experience what one of my friends calls ‘existential angst!’ Many of us have yet to answer in the affirmative in response to a regular question that one of our professors used to ask us – “Are you enlightened yet???”

Elephants and Cheetahs will never be just animals for my classmates and I, especially after their relevance as analogy to the strength, vitality and capabilities of organizations sank into our gray cells as part of one of our Operations Management courses. If it weren’t for our professor, we would NEVER have guessed that the origin of Operations Management (OM) lay in the chants of sages in ancient India. Ring a bell??? No? How about a hint?

Question: What do sages chant?

Answer: “Om!”

Oh my!

Having had a fairly good run till date on the academic front during my school and college days, there were times when I wondered why I found myself struggling to catch up on my studies (and sleep) and trying to make sense of the classroom sessions. The fact that I was not alone facing this predicament wasn’t very re-assuring… until enlightenment began to dawn on me! The odds of the race against time we’re in are stacked against us anyway. It is quite impossible for mere mortals to be in a position where they have ‘caught up’ with all the sessions/ readings/ cases/ assignments and what-have-yous. The A-graders, Dean’s Circle contenders and other super-humans can bask in their glory. I decided that it was futile to fight the tides… Instead, I was just content to go with the flow! One of my current strategies on the IIMA campus is to keep re-assuring myself – “In the long run, all this doesn’t matter. There’s so much more to campus life than academic scores and grades. If I manage to understand most of the fundamentals, concepts, tools and frameworks, or at least know where to look for them when the need arises in the future, I should be ready to face the big, bad corporate world!” If this is just a reflection of my naivety and if I’m in denial, I’d rather not hear about it, thank you very much! Ignorance IS bliss!

Alright then…. What else happens on the campus to keep a dude like me enthused??? Factory visits, CEO interactions, Entrepreneurship, Sports tournaments, song, dance, drama, posters, banners, blood (huh?), tug-of-war???!!!

Whoa! That’s enough fodder for my next blog-post! Till then, happy re-reading!

-Navin Rajendran
PGPX, Class of 2011

Happy Independence Day!

Filled with pride for our country’s independence, we witnessed the hoisting of the flag by Dr. Barua and sang the national anthem. Louis Kahn Plaza has its own charm, no matter what time of the day or what the occasion. We then proceeded to the RJM Auditorium to be treated by some terrific performances, including our very own Bamboo Dance troupe. Three cheers for them for another *ossum* performance! Some of us are celebrating our country’s Independence Day among our very own people after many, many years. Moments like these are too precious to miss and are accompanied by a wave of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. What was special about this morning’s festivities was the level of inclusion – everyone from faculty, staff, students, and their families came together to be a part of this celebration – literally. Kudos to the IIMA community for making this happen!

Vikrant T. Nanda
PGPX-V 2010-11

Speaker Series ..Mr Ravi Raina , President (India Operations),Astonfield

The Speaker Series for PGPX-V batch formally kicked off this week with a talk by Mr Ravi Raina, President of Astonfield Renewable Resources. Mr Raina focused on the solar power sector in India- its potential and some of the challenges faced in implementing solar power projects in India. An interesting aspect of the talk was the cost-benefit analysis and the IRR (Internal Rate of Return) figures presented. I think the most important takeaway was the statement made by Mr Raina- as a professional in the conventional power sector with over 35 years in the Industry, he thought that renewable energy was the way of the future.

Amresh Manohar Deshpande,
PGPX, Class of 2011

T-Nite 2010 PGPX Section Snippets

T-Nite 2010 PGPX Newsletter – Day 3

The tempo gets higher and faster! PGPX-ers donned their bright yellow orientation t-shirts and tied bandanas with X written all over. Enthu participants and families even had their faces painted… like real baraatis we made our way to RJM beating the drums and rocked the nite!

Bomb squad news – DAY 3 – 07-Aug-2010

T-Nite 2010 PGPX Newsletter – Day 2

For all our dear X’s out there, here’s the Day 2 edition covering our T-Nite hungama!

Bomb Squad News – DAY 2 – 06-Aug-2010

T-Nite 2010 PGPX Newsletter – Day 1

Hot off the press… PGPX brings to you a freshly-squeezed daily dose of T-Nite news!

Bomb squad news – DAY 1 – 05-Aug-2010

Shifting gears…

On the left you see what the PGPX classroom looks like when we get our exams back. It’s a quick, executive take at what went right and what went wrong. Then, on the right, we shift gears and start to prepare for the next challenge. This week it is Talent Nite (a.k.a T-Nite) which one credible source defines as “High point of the first term. An elaborate exercise to get to know almost everyone in your section…” Technically speaking, it is the high point of the second term for the PGPX cohort and we come into real contact with the bright and energetic stars from the PGP programme. From the beating of the dhol to the banners flying high, this is one night you just cannot afford to miss on the IIM-A campus! Check out some more pictures here.