The workshop on Mortgage Based Securities was the second in a series of industry talks that Finance and Investment Club of IIM Calcutta is organizing this year. The previous workshop was conducted earlier this month by Dr L Sankar who is a Managing Director (Credit Quantitative Analysis group) at Citigroup, New York and an alumnus from IIM Calcutta. The workshop on Mortgage Based Securities (MBS) was conducted by Pritesh Ranjan who is a Practice Manager at the Corporate Strategy division of Ocwen Financial Solutions India, and one of the country's leading experts on the topic.
Mortgage Based Securities(MBS) are one of the fastest growing fixed income instruments in US and Europe. The total dollar volume of MBS market now exceeds $2.7 trillion, making it more than 1 and a half times the size of the U.S. Treasury market.
Pritesh discussed Mortgage Securitization in detail starting from the basic concepts involved in securitization, key players involved, the way they are structured and methods of analysing and valuating them. He also explained the way such securities are modeled by financial analysts using the cash flow waterfall structure. The participants had an opportunity to actively participate in the workshop through various modeling exercises undertaken in the class.
More than one hundred participants attended this workshop and this included both first year and second year MBA students. The immense interest shown by the first year students was commendable. This and similar such future workshops will definitely help the first year students make an informed decision when placements for summer internship start in a few months time. The second year students were immensely excited to see practical application of theories they have learnt in class. For some second year students going on student exchange program to foreign universities in the fifth term, this workshop will help them in making up for the missed fifth term course on Securitization taken by Mr. Vinod Kothari ,who is a renowned specialist on this topic worldwide.
Future industry talks planned by the Finance and Investment club - IIM Calcutta are on Microfinancing and Mergers & Acquisitions.
During the interactive session that lasted for about one and half hour students were able to gain immensely from her rich experience in academics and industry.
She gave an insight into the management programs and the pedagogy at Harvard.
She remarked that management doctoral programs have very little in common with MBA program resulting in immense value addition. Mrs. Khaire advised students with an academic bent of mind to pursue doctoral programs and went on to explain the opportunities available and the intricacies involved.
She emphasized on the creation of a communication plus application model, which would link the enormous research work done at Technology and Management Institutions in India, and create a platform that will take these ideas to completion. This was followed by a rigorous session of Question and Answers discussing the economic, political and social feasibility of the model. She also applauded the magnitude of work done by the E-cell and SINE in the last year and appreciated the success of the International Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Navonmesh conducted last year.
Finally she encouraged students to continue with the rich tradition of SJMSOM and come out as all round personalities ready to meet corporate challenges.
The visit by Mrs. Khaire is a precursor to the Mumbai Alumni Meet to be held on the August 26th, 2006.
Mr K Harishankar, the Chief Information Officer of Hindustan Lever Limited, gave a talk on how IT has been used to radically improve HLL's supply chain. He explained how both in-house and third-party ERP systems have been used to centralize planning, improve forecasting and achieve execution excellence in HLL's supply chain, with even field sales being IT-enabled. HLL considers the growth of modern retail an opportunity rather than a challenge, he emphasized, since collaboration through IT-based systems is easier with more tech-savvy channel partners. He praised the natural beauty of the IIM K campus, calling it the best he had yet seen among technology or business schools, and looked forward to a continued association with the institute.
“Technology is just an enabler,” said Mr. Ramamoorthy, Director of Corporate Marketing, Cognizant Technology Solutions. Talking about the paradigm shift in the business models adopted by Indian IT companies in the recent years, he said that strategic alliances and acquisitions have emerged as the new business models. He stressed on the importance of organizations providing quality customer experience to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Mr. Mahadevan Narayanmony, Senior Manager, Corporate Advisory Services, Grant Thornton, spoke about Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A;) within the IT industry. He pointed out the recent trend of Indian IT companies acquiring foreign companies. He then talked about the motives behind M&A; and stressed the importance of evaluation in avoiding failure. In conclusion, he said that M&As; help IT companies to move up the value chain towards strategic partnership, either by delivering strategic advantages to them, or by helping them grow faster.
The fourth speaker of the day – Mr. Venki Sundaresan, Director, IT Group, Cypress Semiconductors – started the session with a declaration that, in India, IT is heading for a disaster. He gave two reasons for this – the rising salaries in this field (which erases India's cost advantage) and the ubiquity of IT. He briefly introduced the concept of Neo-IT, a new IT paradigm that encourages people to be 'imagineers' - those who can imagine and engineer innovations - and elucidated how it could solve this problem. Being a message simplifier and efficiency expert were as important as technical soundness for an IT manager, he asserted.
Mr Somick Goswami, Head PwC TAS, South India gave an insightful discourse on the evolving nature of the IT consulting industry and the challenges faced in managing these dynamics. Starting with the oft-quoted joke, “A consultant is a person who will borrow your watch, tell you the time, bill you for it, and keep the watch,” he nevertheless emphasized that a consultant is an agent of change, who must develop flexible, easy to implement ideas and solutions that add value to a business. According to him, consultants have to become trusted advisers who are able to bridge the gap between business-needs and technological solutions. He finished by stressing on accountability as a major issue with new accounting regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley and SEBI's Clause 49.
This concluded a highly informative and acclaimed series of talks by some of the most experienced IT practitioners in the corporate community. The event was very well received by both industry and academia participants. As Ms Simeen Mirza, a first year student of IIM K remarked, “Such events give us a vivid understanding of how what we learn in books here is actually applied in the industry, and thus make for a more complete learning experience.” The event also featured two case study competitions, Cognizant Sys-o-Mania and the HCL Challenge, which had 23 of the top B-Schools in India, including the IIMs, vying for the top honors. A team from IIM Kozhikode won the HCL Challenge, with IIM Calcutta coming second, while the same team won Sys-o-Mania from IIM Calcutta, with second and third place going to IIM Kozhikode and FMS Delhi, respectively.
In addition he conducted a special session on career options available to economics students in corporate, academia and international organizations. Holding the audience spellbound by his insights into Indian economy, he enlightened the students with his valuable and enriching experience in the field of economics and what it means to be an economist of international repute. Despite his best efforts, Prof. Basu couldn't dodge explaining how an economist can be an excellent playwright as well.
The enthusiasm apparent among the students standing in the packed lecture theatre was equally matched by the faculty members of IIM Calcutta with the likes of Economics professors Prof. Amitava Bose, Prof. Anindya Sen being present on the occasion among a host of other faculty members. Prof. Basu answered a host of flocking student's queries during tea break.
SP Jain is known to send GD-PI calls to candidates even before the CAT is held. Why and how is it done?
We do respect the CAT, which is an entry-level examination for the MBA education. However, how can you have the full idea about somebody's potential using a two hour test? So we have frameworks using which we can spend more time in evaluating a candidate. How we do it is we use various criteria like good continuous education, versatility and good value system, work experience and more. We look at the candidates' application forms and categorize them then on S, A, B and C grades. S is Super, A is Good, B is Satisfactory and so on.
So in the good continuous education criterion, all three of your class X, XII and graduation degree should have had good scores and from reputed institutions. If two school education boards and one university have seen you as a consistent performer, for instance if you have 90 in tenth and twelfth and a distinction in your college and that too from reputed schools and college, then we give you an S. Or if you have done well but not from a reputed college then we give you an A.
Second is what is called versatility and a good value system. If you have been put through some adversities in life, it makes you a better suited person. So a single parent child for example, who has seen a single mother or father struggle in life and has himself or herself struggled to complete education, has proved himself or herself in a challenging situation. Then there is the family background parameter where things like honesty are valued, for instance somebody's father is an academician or the mother is a government servant or the grandfather was a freedom fighter, then you know the person has definitely picked up a good value system. So again, we rate this criterion on S, A, B or C. Same for quality of work experience.
Now that we have so many criteria, we prioritize. To get an interview call you have to be an S at least in one criterion. So if you are a person who plays hockey for the Indian team or have an NCC certificate you have an S. So even you have an academic A, because of this S you will get an interview call. Or if you are an academic S but you are a B in the versatility criterion you'll get the call. But in any case, you should not be below B in anything and you should be an S in at least one thing. I think it is a very good set (of candidates) we get out of such combinations.
So once we have this shortlist, we interview them. After the CAT results are out, we use their CAT performance to sort this list. Now all the people who are eligible for SP Jain will be sorted in the descending order of their CAT performance. So the CAT is taken as a criterion but not as the primary criterion. You have proved yourself in academics, you have proved yourself in life, you are a good person and you also do well in a test. That is what we are looking at. I think it is the right way of looking at admissions. So you can be an ace in CAT but if you are not a good human being then we don't need you.
What are the criteria for the interview calls that you send after the CAT results are out?
CAT is also a criterion. If you are an S in CAT then you receive a call. However there is weightage given to the rest of the parameters too, so even if you are a CAT S but you are not at least an A in academics, you will not make it to SP Jain.
How much time do you spend on each candidate's CV before you take a call on whether he or she is an S or A or B in a parameter?
We have parameterized some things in the online application stage. We already have a list of reputed colleges on our server so when your percentage and college name is selected by you the computer program can pick it up and grade you accordingly.
So the computer already has a database of the good colleges?
Yes, which we keep on updating using the UGC list, the state department, student feedback and from our own experience. So for most of the parameters it is a computer-generated thing. But of course for the value system criterion, we have to manually search the forms.
How many people are roughly short listed for interview in the stage before CAT?
We receive about 15,000 applications each year. We generally shortlist about 60 pc of our total shortlist for the interview stage before the CAT takes place.
And how many of this 60 pc usually get a final call?
A proportionate number.
Can you tell us the dynamics of the two-stage group interview process that SP Jain follows?
There are two panels, which test you in a group interview. It's about how you perform in a team. If you combine me and him with her and if you are targeting a business and the three of us don't make a good team then the thing doesn't happen. Therefore you should know how to perform in a team. That's why we have a group interview concept.
There are two interview panels that see you. So out of panel A and panel B if both rate you as an S then you are through. But if Panel A says you are an S and Panel B says you are a C then there is a problem. The two panels then discuss about it and you are graded later. Sometimes there is a re-interview in which the same panels sit together or we offer it to a third panel because it is basically a judgmental decision.
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How does SP Jain treat work experience before CAT?
We have four streams and of them for the marketing and finance there is no work experience criterion. Even with low work experience or no work experience, if you are excellent in studies and CAT you will still get a call for marketing and finance. Do well in the interview you will get final admission for marketing and finance. But for information management and operations experience is a must. We do not like to take anybody with less than one and a half or two years work experience. The students have to finalize their specialization at the time of applying. We believe that one needs to be focused about what he wants to do later.
How good is the judgment of students in selecting their specialization given that many of them have never worked fulltime before?
As far as marketing and finance is concerned I give it to them, their judgment is fairly good because the youth today is able to make out where they would fit in. Generally outgoing people with good communication skills, who like traveling and meeting people, are the ones who usually choose marketing. People with affinity to numbers take up finance. If people wish to change their specialization after a year they can definitely do that but they have to debate it out with us. The change should be a decision arrived out of logic and not out of frustration of not doing well. The decision should be informed and intelligently taken and not an impulsive decision. It shouldn't be that your pal is taking finance so you also plan to change your specialization to finance.
SP Jain also asks for SOPs...
This is to check the value system of the people as well as know certain individual traits. For example a person may perform better in teams, he maybe a team player. So I ask him to write three or four of his experiences. However smart the person maybe and whatever coaching classes he must have been through, we are capable to find out the truth and make out the differences.
The SP Jain website mentions about two one-year courses… one is the EMBA and the other is PGDM. How are the two different?
The EMBA or Executive MBA is actually a one and a half year course. The difference between the two courses is that the executive MBA is for working professionals who have not left their jobs. They only come to campus for nine days in three months. In those nine days you are totally with us but the rest of the three months you remain in touch with us online on a weekly and fortnightly basis. Submit your assignments checked by your mentor in your work place to the in-house guide. That way you remain in touch six times in one and a half years. The one year PGDM on the other hand is for working professionals with high experience who have left their jobs to pursue this course.
How does your PGDM compare to ISB's one year programme?
They are two different products. ISB's programme is a general MBA whereas ours is a focused MBA. We are firstly focusing on information management in the operational domain and secondly the student focuses on the role he would like to take up. We customize the training according to the role each student wants to do
You have an Entrepreneurship Cell in your campus. Can you tell us how it works?
Every manager has to perform three different functions: that of a leader, a manager and an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship makes a manager risk-taking, innovative and experimental and that is what is required in fast pace business of today. No risk, no gains. Time will tell how many will actually become entrepreneurs. We just started with the Cell last year. We have also started a program and the first batch is on. Sixteen of them will become entrepreneurs already in some time. I am expecting more and more students to take it up because more ideas are coming up.
Does S P Jain help these students in getting funds for their entrepreneurial ventures?
We have faculty who have experience in the industry, who have worked in their field and now come to SP Jain. We follow the practioners method, like how a doctor is taught by another doctor. Have you seen a surgeon teaching another surgeon who has never performed a single operation? Same is the case here. How can a professor teach students marketing if he hasn't sold a single soap? Our entire marketing faculty has once been a part of industry for at least five to ten years. Therefore we have practioners on the faculty board including our own Dean. Therefore our students get excellent in-house consulting for auditing of ideas. Were making SP Jain a very good place for incubation of ideas.
Prof Sunil Rai has fifteen years of IT experience in corporate organizations, Infrastructure Management, Execution of Information Security and networking projects. He has twenty-two years of experience in managing Ships and technical establishments of Indian Navy in various capacities.
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What should be your key motivating factors for taking an MBA?
What are your personal motivations for taking an MBA? Are you a career switcher, or a career progresser? Is a jump in salary what matters most, or do you seek international experience? Is your primary goal to broaden your education and your horizons, or to develop specialist skills for career enhancement? An honest self-assessment will save you a great deal of time and energy and help you make a more focused selection of schools.
It can be helpful to understand why people around the world choose to study an MBA. Our research of 5470 candidates demonstrates that MBA applicants around the world take an MBA for career-related reasons. Consistently, career progression and skills development are the main motivators to take an MBA. A career change is the next reason, followed by salary enhancement. Few people take an MBA just for the education, though we have seen a jump amongst respondents selecting this option in our 2006 research.
| MBA Study Motivations | 2006 |
| Improve career prospects | 73.38 pc |
| Learn new skills | 57.02 pc |
| Enable a career change | 37.49 pc |
| Boost salary | 29.30 pc |
| Start own business | 24.22 pc |
| Improve education | 26.37 pc |
Source: TopMBA.com Applicant Research 2006
What are the benefits of an MBA?
Generally candidates are looking for a long-term career benefit measured by accelerated career progression and salary uplift – in other words, they are seeking a positive return on investment. With average post-MBA compensation averaging $104,000 per annum ($84,000 salary and $19,000 end of first year bonus), MBAs graduating from good business schools are experiencing this positive return on investment in relatively short timeframes. www.topmba.com/scorecard allows candidates to calculate their ROI from any top school, based on their existing starting salary, their intended destination country of employment, sector and type of employer and the average reported salaries of their intended school(s).
But the benefits of an MBA cannot be entirely quantified. The reality is that the network formed at business school can be the basis for friendships – both professional and personal – for the rest of your life (there is a surprisingly large number of MBA weddings).
An MBA is also an education – as a broad general management qualification, many of the skills learnt will be of no direct use in your first few jobs after business school. However, at some point in your career, you may wish to make a significant career change or you may be promoted into a much broader role. Suddenly you will find all those lessons in HR management, or business strategy and planning invaluable. Only 5 pc of MBA students start their own business on graduation, but some schools report up to 40 pc of their alumni run their own business ten years out of school.
Some commentators suggest that MBA schools are another Internet bubble waiting to happen. Are there too many MBA schools? Have numbers peaked in Europe (or just the US)? Are there too many poor quality schools?
When you travel around the world, as I do with the World MBA Tour, you realise the incredible pent-up demand for management education and training. Markets like the USA and the UK are quite mature. They have a large number of high-quality local schools and a great number of MBA alumni per capital. In most other countries around the world, the trend towards professional management education and training is in its infancy. China and India have only a handful of quality programs to serve an enormous population. Russia, Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East are all similarly under-represented with quality business schools, despite growing levels of demand. Latin America has quality schools but a very local perspective, offering little help for candidates seeking an international perspective.
In mature markets like Europe and North America, where there are over 1000 business schools, there are big variations in the quality of MBA provision. The MBA qualification is not homogenous. The qualification has to be classified by the school of study. There is little to compare a full-time MBA program at a top-tier business school, with a part-time MBA program at a local university. The former have faculty earning an average of over $105,000 per annum, are well resourced and dedicated to quality and developing the boundaries of management education. The latter tend to be purely evening or weekend teaching centres, sharing faculty with other departments of their university and producing little or no original research
Yet in addition to the growing demand for full-time MBA study, there are working professionals throughout the world who want to broaden their business skills whilst continuing to work. They have little choice but to take their local evening or modular MBA at one of these teaching establishments. Perhaps the main threats to these part-time programs are online and distance MBAs which have grown quickly in the last decade, though again, quality is highly variable. The emergence of bi-delivery MBAs (a combination of online plus local delivery) from top-tier schools, like the Global Communities MBA from IE, will also pose a threat to some of the local part-time programs.
How important is the type of MBA, the school, and the program for a candidate? How important is reputation when compared to course content?
There is no doubt that employers prefer full-time MBAs from quality business schools. The Wharton School in Philadelphia attracts as many as 400 companies to campus, of which roughly 300 are US-based recruiters and 100 are international recruiters.
INSEAD and LBS attract between 100 - 200 companies to campus, most of which are international recruiters. If you are seeking a career in investment banking or consulting, the well-ranked business schools are best. However, if you are seeking to specialise in a niche field, or to start your own business, or work in a particular country, you need to be much more thorough in your research and you are likely to identify a different set of business schools to meet your needs.
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How do you see MBA schools developing (in Europe)?
- What is the key difference between European MBAs and US MBAs? Does one have an advantage over the other?
US and European schools have evolved separately. The traditional US model – 2 years, primarily case-study based, core courses and electives, internship in the summer, average age 27, 30 pc international – was the standard for fifty years. In Europe in the 1970s and 80s a number of new formats approached. The typical European model – less than 18 months, significant proportion of experiential learning e.g. real consulting assignments, integrated courses, no internships, average age 29, 50-95 pc international – is now the most common full-time MBA format. It is difficult to argue that one is better than the other – they are just different.
- What impact will the Bologna Accord (which is aiming to harmonise higher education degrees across Europe) have on MBA schools in Europe?
The Bologna Accord is already resulting in a growth in specialist master for pre-experience graduates who have completed their three or four-year undergraduate degree. Many business schools are growing their portfolio of such courses. The impact on the MBA qualification is uncertain. It may fuel a renewed growth in demand in Europe or it may result in some substitution of specialist masters for MBA degrees.
- Is greater specialization inevitable in MBA schools?
Over time different schools become known for different specializations, because of the strength of their faculty in that field and their subsequent investment in that specialist area. No school can be good in every aspect of business, if for no other reason than there are so many cultural differences and local/regional knowledge areas which cannot be captured by the majority of business schools. You have to undertake a significant amount of research, on school web sites and specialist web sites, as well as visit the World MBA Tour to really get to grips with business school specializations and how they match your needs.
- Do you see a trend emerging where most MBA students will soon be part-timers (as opposed to full-time)?
In our TopMBA.com applicant research, the full-time MBA remains by far the most popular study option for international candidates. An MBA remains a unique opportunity to gain international experience at the same time as building your business knowledge. This is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future.
Who should NOT take an MBA?
If you are in a non-business profession and have no wish to enter business, then do not take an MBA.
If you are working in a specialist field and intend to continue working in this specialist field, even if it is business-related, you may be better off taking a specialist masters which will concentrate on this area and build your level of expertise. A trainee auditor who always wishes to remain an auditor does not need an MBA to progress, but would be better off with an auditing qualification. However, most people in business value the career flexibility which can be gained from an MBA.
How do you respond to criticism that MBAs do not make students entrepreneurial?
The evidence that a great number of MBA alumni run their own business would seem to put this criticism to rest. Although only about 5 pc of new MBA graduates start their own business, because they have to pay back their school fees, within ten years of graduation, as many as 40 pc of alumni are running their own business.
What is the key to getting the most out of your MBA?
Being proactive in school is essential. It is not a good strategy to simply study hard and forego all the social and professional networking opportunities offered by an MBA. Good grades matter, but the term 'work hard, play hard' really applies to the b-school experience.
Nunzio Quacquarelli is editor of The MBA Career Guide and Managing Director of QS, the international careers and education specialist and organiser of the QS World MBA Tour. He holds an MA from Cambridge and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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At the Finance Continuum 2006 with the central theme as “EMERGING MARKETS STRIKE BACK”, we propose to take a fresh look at key elements that constitute the present and future growth of Emerging economies and the various opportunities and challenges that come along for global investors. The highlight of the event will be series of talks by policy makers, leading academicians and top-notch investment professionals.
The other attraction of the event is a “Stock picking” Workshop which will aim to teach 'How to pick a stock, what are the tools and techniques that may be used, what common mistakes to avoid and the tricks of the trade' and a Panel Discussion on “From Money Markets to Hedge Funds: How Do We Address the Changing Needs of Investors?”
Last year, Finance Continuum 2005 dealt on the theme of “Valuation”. It was held on 21st of August 2005 and focused on valuation approaches, Asset reconstruction and human capital valuation. The following industry personalities spoke on the occasion: Mr. Anup Kapadia (Director, Investment Banking, HSBC), Mr. David Panna (VP, Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst & Young India Ltd.), Mr. Hemant Tanna (VP, Investment Banking, ING Vysya Bank), Mr. Vinay Gupta (Head, Operations and Compliance, DBS Bank Ltd.), Mr. Suresh Goyal (Director, Corporate Finance, Lazard India Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. S.V.Venkatakrishnan (VP & Group Head Asset Resolution, ARCIL).
Prof. Huang, who co-authored the definitive paper “Can India overtake China”, was here to deliver lectures on “Policy framework and development strategies: India and China”.
Regarding India, Prof. Huang said that the need of the hour is to develop a comprehensive education framework particularly in the primary education. Huang, a trenchant critic of the development model followed by China, mentioned that the low quality FDI reflects inherent weakness in the economy and that the growth preceded huge investments in infrastructure in 1990s. China has high financial inefficiency & a weak stock exchange. Most of the big companies are heavily backed by the state & thus the private sector and the entrepreneurship have been largely ignored.
Speaking on the subject of political environment, he opined that the democratic government of India scores over its Chinese counterpart on the issues of transparency and accountability. Government system in China can take some quick decisions but at the same time its bad decisions can prove detrimental to the country's growth & people due to the lack of feedback mechanism.
Making a point on the sustainable growth of India, he quoted "India is achieving 8% growth with 50% of China's investments and 10% of its FDI. To me this is a picture of more sustainable growth."
On the management education front, Prof. Kothari mentioned about the ongoing talks between MIT and SJMSOM on the possible linkages in the near future. He later delivered a lecture on "What happened at Enron?" followed by an interactive session with the student community.
Mr.Satish Kumar highlighted the importance of entrepreneurs to face the challenges facing the business environment. Quoting Mr. Narayana Murthy, Mr. Kumar said, “A leader is a capitalist in the head and a socialist at heart”. Superior Consumer Insights, achieving customer delight, operational excellence, building strong organizations on capability platform are certain requirements that the business environment demands today. Leaders are identified by the traits they possess; however the list is quite exhaustive. Strategic intent, Time frame and Aspirations are the most important traits according to the speaker. Business Environment demands leaders who possess adaptive capacity. Selectively forgetting the past, managing the present and creating the future are certain methods that frame the strategy to manage challenges facing the business environment.
Mr.Satish Kumar spoke about the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility. He also explained the need to focus on developing uniform platforms for nurturing right talent for the country. The approach followed currently is old-fashioned and does not offer the much required talent pool for the country and business environment. Managers today draft strategies, which are often short termed, and the importance of sustained growth is mistakenly neglected. The speaker listed clear differentiation of Professional and Personal qualities that are required for success. Asking for help, organize for success, recognize and build on strengths, selective in choosing goals are certain professional approaches while pursing goals with passion, balanced work-life, deserve before desire are certain personal approaches for success.
With the population growing at 2% rate and with 40% of the existing population juvenile, India is expected to be a huge market in few years. The immense potential offers huge opportunities for leaders to emerge and revolutionize the marketing approaches by offering new sources of value, quality products at low cost and innovation.
This was a symposium of great minds at work. The various activities entitled to be included in this year's event were e-discussion, panel discussion, quizzes, et cetera. The guests of honor were Commodore Dilip Kumar Mohapatra (TCS), Mr. Vijay Narsapur (Transworks), Mr. John Mathews (HDFC Asset Management) and Mr. Samson David (Infosys). Needless to say, this list itself shows how the best firms in the services sector lent their voices to help the young minds at one of India's leading B-Schools, XIMB, get this valuable insight into the inner workings of that sector.
Commodore Dilip K. Mohapatra of TCS said that India's emergence as a top global player in the service sector is rather paradoxical. He went on to add that post independence, the country embarked on a journey of establishing democracy, society building and economic development. While it generates only 2% of global GDP, despite having 17% of the world's population, and the country's per capita income standing at 3000 USD per year, one of the worlds lowest, the country has been recognized as the world's 12th largest economy. In recent years, the main economic driver for the country has been the wide availability of human capital rather than the limited, financial capital. Sustaining India's competitive advantage on an even-playing field in a flat world would not be an easy task. In order to beat the emerging competition from close competitors like China, Mexico, Ireland, Poland, Canada and South Africa, the country must embark up on seamless strategies to leverage comparative advantages of its lead players through value creation and innovations, global mergers and acquisitions, through concentration of related industry, increase productivity through massive infrastructure development. A balanced growth of its agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors would be needed to sustain each other.
Mr. John Mathews of HDFC Asset Management was the next to speak. According to him, fast and cut throat competition is what keeps us on the edge. Customer expectations have to be met at all times and in a consistent manner and if one can achieve this, it is a testimony to all the levels of delivery in the entire value chain. He pointed out to the audience that while stepping out from the virtual world to the real world, one must remember that the customer is always the king and there is no place in the market for a business that does not have a cutting edge service component. An able entrepreneur must always strive to build businesses that are truly world class. These businesses should be points of constant discovery and surprises for the customer. Brands that have generation value should be the focus of every businessman. For maintaining operational excellence one must thus have a combination of true leadership, state of the art systems, highly trained and motivated staff, a participatory process of management, and an extremely efficient organizational network. He went on to add that there are no road maps for organizational success. It is experience, awareness and learning that define what an organization grows to become. In his opinion, in the future it will be the ability to manage change that will determine a particular business' operational excellence. He concluded by saying that India is recognized today for a variety of reasons and this race will be complete only through the empowerment of its people, possible by intellectual enquiry and relentless pursuit of excellence.
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Mr. Vijay Narsapur, VP Operations at Transworks, who was the penultimate speaker, highlighted the lack of operational excellence in the IT services sector in India and how this could be brought about. He focused on the service sector in the Indian IT Industry and proposed a model to reach excellence in operations as opposed to mere management, which is the current scenario. He mentioned how the services sector was rapidly gaining importance in different economies around the world and then went on to talk about how excellence was imperative in this industry. Customer experience and reliable delivery continue to be key areas among service providers and they are the areas requiring reliable models delivering excellence. Traditional Operations management as followed in the manufacturing sector has very well defined parameters of quality and established systems to maintain the required standards. The IT industry too has deterministic processes and quality models stress on the right process to attain high standards. The ITES sector on the other hand is totally different because quality here would be more probabilistic, since human beings cannot be made to behave in a consistent or repeatable manner. He then pointed out the characteristics of various excellence models for the ITES industry in India which included world class training, development of specific expertise, compensation as a function of results and behavior, more transparency in goal setting and much more. He concluded by mentioning the various reasons as to why organizations stray away from excellence.
Samson David associate VP & Head of delivery, Infosys Technologies ltd., the final speaker of the evening, brought home the hot issue of 'Operationalizing innovation in a flat world'. He highlighted the point as to how a business can improve upon its odds and achieve operational excellence by providing goods & services to the customers at a price which is competitive. He said that any innovation that brings in some new technology operates on the basis of product life cycle which needs to be renewed once the elastic maturity phase is reached or else it reaches its end as the technology becomes obsolete. Operationalizing innovation can help a company harvest the benefits of innovation and separate it from the herd. This kind of innovation which is based on the market forces, leads to a new growth phase and creates the vector of differentiation. A product or a service which is an innovation today is a commodity for future and this makes innovation and change even more crucial for survival-though not mandatory because survival in itself is not necessary. He concluded by emphasizing on the fact that technology and software have become ubiquitous to an extent that any difference sought will depend largely on the nucleus of creativity and innovation.
The symposium was indeed a success as it provided a platform for the young innovators and managers-in-the-making at XIMB to feel the shade of stalwarts of the thriving service sector. The question-answer session that followed the primary discussions were a testimony the level of understanding gained by all those lucky enough to have been a part of the audience. In the end, it can definitely be said that this confluence of expertise, matched with the brilliance of the speakers was mesmerizing enough to have suitably enlightened all those involved with this great event called Ashwamedh.
The basic talk of this Diksha was focused on discussion about success – its parameters, its importance, its achievement, and its interrelation with happiness. By mentioning various parameters of success like fame, money, satisfaction, power, happiness – he laid special emphasis on contributing to the success of others. He also mentioned and exemplified how sometimes achievement of one parameter of success nullifies some other parameter. He told the crowd to acquire a practical rather than an unrealistic, idealistic approach and to be successful by at least society's definition than be failed by our own definition.
Mr. Chandrashekhar mentioned that it is practically not possible to achieve success only on our own terms but one has to take the society along with us. He also mentioned that there is nothing called permanent success. Even very successful people had their share of ups and downs and their own periods of success. Giving examples from his own personal life, Mr. Chandrashekhar emphasized on believing in creating one's own destiny, ruling one's environment rather than being governed by it, acquiring knowledge and learning, giving emphasis to the morals and acquiring a non-escapist attitude towards life, having patience while achieving success.
Overall it was a very informative session, which made the crowd to introspect and see where they are headed.
During the lecture, Mr. Khurana provided insights on the evolving face of consulting. In the 50s consultants acted as advisors and the focus was on ideas rather than actions. Many a times these ideas were not weighed against the practical difficulties in implementing them and hence organizations ended up with huge reports that could be put to little use. In the 90s there was a radical shift in the approach towards consulting. Big management concepts such as e-Commerce and ERP together with the increasing focus on Information Technology laid the foundation for consulting, as we know it today.
Consulting is no longer only about strategy but also execution. To be successful a consulting firm must leverage functional/domain expertise and be able to quickly apply it to the problem at hand. Hence there is an increasing need for specialized consulting as opposed to the generalist approach of the past.
Mr. Khurana emphasized that high-end data analysis & modeling, data warehousing & management and application of cutting edge technology are the key drivers of consulting today. He talked about how the consultancy business, like any good business, must be globally consistent and locally optimized.
Mr. Khurana further went on to elaborate some of the challenges faced during the consultancy process. Data available for analysis may be incomplete or unreliable. Some organizations have certain processes/practices that cannot be altered (the 'Holy Cows') and such issues must be taken into consideration while developing the optimal solution.
Responding to a question, Mr. Khurana emphasized the importance of getting a 'buy-in' from managers at all levels on the proposed solution. He said that if this is not done it might be very difficult to implement the solution. Softer issues like managers' concern about loss of control must be addressed before the re-structuring plan is taken up for implementation.
The session ended with Mr. Khurana pointing out that consulting as a career offers tremendous opportunities and challenges.
The following events shall be a part of this year's Human Equations:
1. A Panel Discussion on 'Managing Knowledge Workers'.
2. Theme Lecture
3. Research Paper Contest
4. Tug-of-Thoughts – Debate
5. Cognizance – The Quizzing Extravaganza
6. Workshop Contest
Renowned experts from the business world will share their ideas on the importance of 'Managing Knowledge Workers' in the Panel Discussion and an eminent personality from the HR field shall be presenting the Theme Lecture.
Students' participation is invited to instill color into events namely research paper contest, Tug-of-Thoughts, Cognizance and Workshop. As always, attractive prizes will be awarded to the deserving brains!
Please log on to http://simsr.somaiya.edu to know the detailed schedule for the entire event. We look forward to your institute's enthusiastic participation in this exciting occasion. For any information please mail to '[email protected]'.
The discussion centered on the pivotal theme of building powerful brands. Mr Aseem Puri gave the students an insight into how a brand is conceptualized, nurtured, marketed so as to make it a success story Students were also given some general knowledge gyaan when questions like “which is the oldest brand in the world?” Were asked. The whole session touched the theoretical aspects of branding as well as the practical aspects. Mr. Puri emphasized on the definition of a brand – it is a bundle of benefits that are unique and relevant to the consumers which leads to a long lasting relationship with them and made it clear to everyone that any brand survives in the market when it meets the consumer expectations and the when it develops the emotional attachment with them. Examples were given of companies like Hraley Davidson, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Google and many other winning brands. Golden Rules on building great brands were laid out, where it was dissected into five components – Insight, Benefits, Target, Values, Identity. These five components were shown to be the ingredients in formulating the Proposition, Essence, Positioning, and Associations. Examples of Johnny walker, Ponds, and Surf Excel were given in this regard. The finer aspects like why a Johnny walker is suited to specific segment of customers and why some prefer Kingfisher. In the same way why some prefer Dove and some go for Ponds were brought out.
As regards to Brand Building five steps were pointed out which included –
· Scanning the market
· Finding the position for the needs
· Developing the brand for the chosen position
· Developing and innovate for each position and
· Communication and activation of the brand.
Any company when it wants to succeed needs to win new customers who would add to their customer base, as regards to this the importance of a brand in such circumstances were given in the form of a graphical chart which showed different aspects like
· Continuous innovation
· Restage
· New product to current category
· New product to company category
· New product to world category
Stand out examples like the one of TATA Safari and Splendor was shown to emphasize on the various theoretical aspects. TATA Safari which earlier use to have a sales base of around 3000 cars per year after repositioning in terms of an advertisement, catapulted to 7000 car orders per day. In the same way Splendor sold more when it came out in Red colour.
Mr. Puri also threw light on the pyramidal structures on which Brand Equity is built which are
· Bonding
· Preference
· Advantage
· Relevance
· Prominence
Before ending the discussion Mr. Puri looked at the finer aspects of packaging and how relevant it is in the growth of a brand and it was made clear that the “customers would not pay a premium for any product unless it looked premium on the shelf!!!!!” So you might go for a Nirma even if it looks mud stained on the shelf but you would never go for a Surf Excel if it had the same appearance. So it's the perception of the customers about the brand and the need it satisfies and if the brand meets the needs and satisfies the customers it is bound to go up the ladder of success.
The students at Sydenham Institute of Management were enlightened on the topic and were impressed by the way Mr Aseem Puri discussed the topic, which was not only thorough but also entertaining.
Mr R Rajesh is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and has worked in leading FMCG organizations in senior capacities for over a decade. His interests include photography, traveling and squash.
Mr. Jayanth V Pendharkar, Head – Global Marketing, TCS gave a riveting talk on the role of marketing in IT companies. Having first joined TCS in 1971, he discussed the evolution of the IT industry in India, specifically clarifying how It's growth in India was driven more by happy coincidences, such as a fore crunch in the 70s and the Y2K boom, rather than any 'grand design'. Stressing on the importance of Indian IT companies developing global brands based on Indian values, he touched upon the importance of the 3Cs – cost, clutter and consistency - of building a strong brand. He stated that Indian IT companies currently clock around $30 billion out of an opportunity of $1200 billion, signifying the magnitude of the challenge ahead. He concluded his speech by impressing upon the students the attributes they needed to possess to succeed in today's companies.
Day 2 kicked off with a lively and interactive talk by Mr. Anupam Datta, Head – Dairy Business, Britannia, who has been instrumental in the revival of Britannia's Milkman brand. Mr. Datta started off with a snapshot of the dairy industry in India, its business drivers and related challenges. Emphasizing that differentiation is the key to marketing, he added that sometimes-tough decisions need to be taken to build image leadership. To reinforce this statement, he detailed the strategy that helped Britannia affect the resurgence of Milkman. He concluded by reiterating the importance of adopting a focused approach in order to meet goals.
Mr. Deepak Sood, Senior Partner, Erehwon Consulting delivered an inspiring talk on the importance of innovation in succeeding. Through stimulating examples, he explained how conditioning and 'mindset gravity' stifle radical thinking and prevent growth. To stay in the lead, he said, businesses must challenge internal paradigms while constantly re-evaluating their core competencies. He ended by saying that 'the understanding of the power within and the desire to unleash it' differentiates innovators from the milieu.
Mr. Atul Phadnis, Founding Partner, Media e2e, discussed communications planning in the global economy. The first part of his presentation dealt with complexities in communication and the second part dealt with the fallout of these complexities. Mr. Phadnis also focused on the need to quantify the effects of brand experience, PR coverage and how the consumers cope with surprise advertising. He also spoke about the ubiquity of advertising, citing the example of how a typical cricket match bombards viewers with as many as 400 brands.
“Consuming content has become as natural to humans as eating or sleeping,” said Tarun Tripathi, the Marketing Head of Yash Raj Films. In a four-hour workshop whose aim was to educate and sensitize budding media professionals to the emerging context of content management and marketing, he enumerated the roles for management graduates in media. He described the international and national markets and their evolution into segments and niches. He also took the students through the process of an in-film pitch and the evolution of marketing strategies at Yash Raj films. Through the examples of recent Yash Raj movies like Dhoom, Fanaa, Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, Saathiya, Bunty aur Babli, and Veer Zaara, he gave riveting insights into the whole movie scenario right from concept inception to release and post-release marketing. He also mentioned snippets from his experience with distributing other banners' films, such as Krrish and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.
Talking about In-film publicity, the current flavor of the market, he said that models such as NTIV and Q-Ratios help in objectively assessing the value of such placements.
The event was highly appreciated by all participants. As Shayonima Ghosh, a first year IIM K student said, “The sheer breadth of topics discussed was exhilarating. So many misconceptions about marketing as a career field were clarified. The Yash Raj Films session was especially fascinating.”
The event also featured a paper-writing competition on the highly relevant topic, “Grocery Retailing: Facing the 'kirana' challenge”, which received over 200 entries from the IIMs and other top B-Schools.
Dr. Ganesh kept the audience captive as he spoke about the various facets of Inspirational Leadership. The interactive session covered on how India went on to become the IT superpower and who were the leaders who had foreseen this IT revolution much ahead of its time. Dealing at length on one of the eternal Success Formulae 'Innovation', he evinced how innovation can be achieved through code reusability, program automation and high end consulting practice. Program automation, one of Zensar's zealous endeavors help the programmers and functional professionals to generate run-of-the-mill code snippets with minimum effort thereby allowing them to concentrate on complex sophisticated coding practices. Throwing light on the evolution of the industry he elucidated the thread of logic behind the transition from one level to another.
Ms. Manjari took on from there and went on to explain ten qualities that are desired in an individual to be and remain inspired. A few of the 10 commandments included vision, focus, commitment, discipline, optimism, integrity, empathy and passion. Ms. Manjari has done considerable research on the topic, as a part of co-authoring the book titled 'Inspired' along with Dr. Ganesh. They also gave a brief preview of the book, which has case studies of 23 illustrious individuals from different realms of life who possess most of the above mentioned qualities in varying proportions.
Ms. Manjari used the analogy of rocks, sand and water to explain the importance of commitment and passion for one's ambition in life. Rocks symbolize Ambition, Sand represents essentials to achieve the ambition and water signifies other peripheral unnecessary activities. She further elaborated that if you have to put all of them together in a glass, you have to put the rocks first, followed by sand and the water will invariably find a place for itself. The idea is that one should prioritize his ambition, work towards achieving it with the help of the essentials available and other insignificant activities will find time for itself by default.
Dr. Ganesh, laced with his striking humour coupled with the suave style of Ms. Manjari, delivered the talk effectively. They ended the session saying that no one is born with all the 10 qualities but has to gradually cultivate them throughout the course of their lives. This session, therefore, inspired us enough to be the crème-de-la-crème in the corporate landscape of tomorrow.
Prof. K. Mamkoottam, Professor-in-Charge had to say after the lecture – “the session was really fascinating, I am indeed grateful to the guests for sharing their valuable insights which will help the students go a long way in their personal and professional lives.”
The lecture traced the history of consulting over the years; Starting from the 50's where consultants were typically bright young graduates who were focused more on ideas than actions. The process of the actual implementation was not factored in, leaving companies with bulky reports that cost the company a fortune and were effectively useless.
Over the years, consulting has evolved, and greater stress is being laid on the actionable rather than just strategies. This was further enhanced by the evolution of concepts of E-commerce and ERP.
These days it's important for a consultancy firm to have some specific domain
Knowledge they can leverage to benefit their clients rather just a generalist approach. High-end data analysis techniques, data warehousing and staying abreast with the latest technologies are some of the key drivers of this industry.
Mr.Challu made the session all the more riveting by throwing in some interesting case studies that had the audience putting on their consultant cap –trying to figure out the solutions.
Overall this was an extremely enjoyable learning experience, and also an eye opener into the world of consulting.
In a single session, Mr. Seth impressively managed to convey more about branding strategies than one could possibly learn through books and case studies. The lecture was highly appreciated as he presented the essence of Brand Management to an audience, whose very education and career prospects are deeply rooted in the field.
Mr. Kabir Seth has been heading the Brand Management function in Tata Steel since April 2000. He has partnered the creation and launching of all the new Steel Brands of Tata Steel, and is presently shaping the Corporate Brand of Tata Steel. He was instrumental in the launch and subsequent management of marketing of Tata Steel's Cement Division. With 40 years of experience in theatre and films, Mr. Seth is regarded as one of the most accomplished actors in Delhi and Calcutta.
The event shall see the participation of about 180 professionals from the best known communication-related firms like Star News, Zee, Pantaloon, HLL, P&G;, TOI, The Hindustan Times, J&J;, Gillete, O&M; and many more. The alumni of the institute shall be felicitated on the occasion by the Director Mr. Atul Tandan, followed by socialization among the assembled faculty, students and alumni. The registrar of the institute Mr. KGK Pillai will deliver the vote of thanks. Thereafter a dance party and dinner besides other refreshments shall follow.
Owing to the increasing presence of MICANs in the international scenario, the committee facilitated the first ever International meet in Dubai earlier this year. Another international meet in South East Asia is on the anvil. Following the Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore Meet, the Annual Final Alumni Meet at MICA happens in January and witnesses a high turnout of people who have reached heights in the corporate sector after starting their journey from MICA. The event is going to be sponsored by the United Breweries group.