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pagalguy_news · November 9, 2006, 12:16pm

Mr. Raj Dharmaraj manages a core group of analysts, focusing on developing domain related assets and consulting solutions, project support for IT engagements in the life and retirement products area, as well as competency development and pre-sales support. He has an experience of 14 years in the IT and consulting industry, covering a wide range of systems and strategy engagements for clients in India, UK, USA and South East Asia.

Mr. Raj Dharmaraj has a PDGM in Finance and Marketing from XLRI, and holds a Life and Pensions certification awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute, UK. His professional affiliations include the All India Management Association and the Asia Pacific Risk and Insurance Association.

In the session, the speaker spoke about the drivers of outsourcing and the current trends in the area. Students were given industry insights on the issues of cost arbitrage versus partnership, captive centres versus offshore vendors, low value service offerings versus complete ownership, and the onsite/offshore model versus the 'global delivery' model. An important point raised was the multi-dimensional service capabilities of the global top ten IT players that set them apart from the Big Five Indian companies. Examples were drawn from Cognizant extensively; however, there was an industry perspective on other organizations as well.
Also discussed was the recent emergence of intermediaries in the service space of IT players. The growth of the Indian offshoring industry was discussed at length and recent deals made in the space were talked about.

Mr. Raj then moved onto the role of MBAs in the IT industry. He stressed that in the increasingly complex, changing and challenging IT industry, the MBA graduates are playing a key role in driving differentiation. The speaker will explored the various roles that an MBA graduate can play in the IT industry, and drew specific examples from the Cognizant context.
The talk was very stimulating and proved useful for the students, as they prepare to move into the corporate world, managing businesses across countries.

pagalguy_news · November 10, 2006, 7:15am

Day 2 Sizzled with 3 contests.

Contest 1 – The Fin Game was a simulation of day trading done by teams to handle their stock by investing real-time on the NSE/BSE listed companies. Based on fluctuations of the market, the value of their portfolio quivered. Continuing for 5 hours, the Fin Game ran in conjunction with the other two contests.

Contest 2 – The Shop required the teams to work as team players in a “trading-market” scenario requiring efficient teamwork and decision-making. The tasks were not limited just around trading, bidding and dealing but quick fire tactical decisions.

Contest 3 - The Green Product Design exacting creative skills had the contestants presenting innovative product designs for specified products with a twist – making commercially feasible and environment friendly products.

For each event the team earned Internal Trading Rupees or ITRs that impacted the performance in each event.

The second day opened on the wonderful and sunny morning in the NITIE Lawns and with instructions from the organizers and inspiration from Dr T Prasad, the untiring mind behind Mandi. The event kicked off with a sales stint by each team on the second day of Prerana. Each team was given a fixed inventory of educational toys made by an NGO called Navnirmiti, to go out and sell in the streets and markets of Mumbai. The participating teams were asked to part with their money and handed a traveling allowance. With a limited time-period of 5 hours and with overseers from the organizing committee keeping a check, the sales and convincing prowess of the teams were tested in the place where it matters the most – the market, or colloquially the Mandi.

“B-Sultans” has been the grandest event at NITIE's Annual inters B-school festival Prerana 2006.

Prerana 2006 B-Sultans presented an unparallel arena for the clash of titans from India's premier B Schools. Devoid of fuzzy rankings or heralded pedigree 6 teams from different B-Schools slugged it out against each other in 5 variegated contests. These teams qualified from a stringent sieve of a multifarious case competition.

The participants were handed a Case Study before their arrival to NITIE, which involved research on the Intellectual Arbitrage. It tested the participants on conceptual clarity, understanding of business environment and approach towards problem solving in IT Business.

On day 3 of Prerna the case study solution presented by each group was judged by eminent panelists from Cognizant Technology Solution. The participants had done an in-depth study on current trends in the Software Industry and they talked at length about niche strengths and improvement areas for various Indian companies and the multinational firms in India. The conclusion drawn by most teams hovered around the fact that Labour Arbitrage and Intellectual Arbitrage should go hand in hand for ensuring success of software firms and they should capitalize on core strengths on the basis of geography, language know-how and expertise gained in one particular technology or business domain.

This final round saw the 6 teams compete to decide the last team standing.. the ultimate managers.. the Sultans of Business!

The jury expressed extreme satisfaction at the exploits and results of the six teams and finally the team from XLRI – NIRMAAN was adjudged the B - Sultans

Invest

Conceptualised in 2005, Invest strives to promote excellence by encouraging management students interested in equity research and security markets as a career option, to display their potential to eminent professionals of the industry and gain new insights and ideas for further learning.

In the preliminary round of Invest 2006, participants from all over India were invited to submit an equity research report recommending a stock, out of the enlisted 200 stocks, elucidating Long Term Investment Strategy. Out of these, the 5 top entries were selected for the finals.

The jury included some renowned people like,

K. Ramachandran – Senior Vice-President, Head – Advisory Desk, BNP Paribas
T. Balasubramanian – AVP, Adventity
Prof K.V.S. Narayan Rao – NITIE

The jury gave their feedback about the performance of the participants and their opinion on “the current valuation of the stock market. Is the valuation overheated or are we observing a fundamentally correct growth” before the results were announced.

Winners – NITIE – Sameer & Vivek
Runners up – XLRI – Puneet & Apoorv

Finding out the best quizzing brains at NITIE' Prerana 2006.

The Prerana Business Quiz truly held its reputation as one of the best events, and served as the best ending to these enthralling three days. It brought out the best in the participants, and proved that it takes more than General Knowledge to be a brilliant quizzer.
The quizmaster was none other than Gautam Bhimani of ESPN fame, and having Gautam host the show was the icing on the cake.

There was a preliminary elimination round in the afternoon, which was a written one. For the semi- final rounds, six teams of corporate and six teams of students had to be shortlisted. However, the preliminary rounds had led to a tiebreaker, where in the students category, 5 teams were placed in the same position, and one of them would make it to the finals as the sixth team. The Team from NMIMS, Govind and Shoubik cleared the tiebreaker, and became the sixth team.

Among the corporate, 2 teams had the same scores, and the team Accenture and Jay Water Thompson, comprising of Saurabh and Gururaj respectively, cleared the tiebreaker round to become the sixth team.

The finale was an interesting six round event, where all the teams gave their best. In between, there were Audience questions as well, with many prizes.
Finally, as the curtains came to a close, the corporate team from TCS won the third prize, second by the student team from IMT Ghaziabad, and the first prize by the corporate team from Deutshe Bank and Sun Micro systems. Mr. Bhimani was given a memento by our honorable director, Dr. S.D. Awale.

Thus, came an end to this year's Prerana, truly a memorable event in many ways.

pagalguy_news · November 10, 2006, 11:45am

The Conclave aspires to provide a platform to share the socio-economic developmental challenges and opportunities with business leaders, social entrepreneurs, national policy makers, civic organizations and academicians. It will also update participants on the major trends shaping the social development in India.

Speaking about the importance of the Social Responsibility Conclave, Santosh Srinivas, President Net Impact Club at the ISB said, “The next generation of business leaders wants to move out from the boardroom into the community and make a social impact. We realise that there is a need for young social entrepreneurs who can give the NGO sector the much needed professionalism and innovation.”

Speakers such as Anu Aga, Director, Thermax Ltd, Cecelio Adorna, Country Representative UNICEF, Ingrid Srinath, CEO, CRY, Madhav Chavan , Founder , Pratham, Gurcharan Das, Former CEO, Procter and gamble , India among others will be participating in this Conclave.

pagalguy_news · November 12, 2006, 1:57pm

Net Impact President, Santosh Srinivas, in his welcome address hoped that this effort would serve as a springboard to greater ideas in addressing social issues. “Today we are here to devise some strategy for the road ahead”, he said. Savita Mahajan, Assistant Dean, ISB, said that the students at the ISB, who she referred to as “the future positions of influence” are geared to be aware, and to be empathetic to larger development and societal issues “so that in future their decision does not just impact the corporation, but across society, across geographical boundaries and across generations,” she said. Dr Krishna Tanuku, Advisor and Mentor of Net Impact, urged to go beyond the `feel good factor' of philanthropy, and focus more on the concept of social equity which is people centric. “This conclave is a starting point for a greater movement to address social concerns, individually and collectively”, said Tanuku.

Anu Aga, Director, Thermax Llimited, focused on “finding innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions.” Aga pointed out that the private public and civic sector should focus on common passions rather than mull over differences in ideology and methodology. For a successful alliance, there is a need of clarity of roles, a need for transparency in operation and a viable business plan. “We need to move away from that charity mode,” said Aga. The public-private alliance, according to her, has become “the flavour of the season, a way to appease the government”. Clarifying the working definition of Corporate Social Responsibility, she said, “Old mindsets like the business-of-business-is-business should change. However the dilemma of CSR is that, most often, we are rescuing the government, and duplicating the work that they should be doing.” Aga exemplified the Grameen Bank as a workable and creative idea which has empowered and energised rural livelihood. “Let us try to emulate it, if not go one better,” she said.

Dispelling the myth that it is wrong for a company to make profits, Gurucharan Das, Former CEO, Procter and Gamble, India, said, “Society makes a corporation guilty for engaging in profits. Business is stuck with labels of being exploitative. In course, the corporation loses its self-esteem. This mindset has to change. The business of making money also involves raising skills of people, creating enterprises and ultimately contributing to national wealth.” Das stressed that it is “illegal and immoral” for companies to engage in philanthropy. “I don't like the word Corporate Social Responsibility”, Das said, “I believe that individual contribution to social good has more impact.” Das was of the opinion that to give wisely and to focus on where to give was more vital. He proposed three mantras to do so:
• Let philanthropy enhance and further your brand image
• Do not do cheque book philanthropy - engage the employees.
• Do not do it yourself - outsource philanthropy

Harish Bijoor, the panel moderator, had some interesting 'jolt-points' about CSR. “It is a buzz phrase with plenty of buzz and less action. It is a politically correct arena to dabble in,” he said. Bijoor stressed that the socio-political-economic challenges of India needs innovative and effective ideas which are feasible, measurable and sustainable. “We need ideas which can be ramped up. We need to now know the difference between genuine CSR activity and benign branding activity.” Madhav Chavan, Founder, Pratham, an NGO which has been working in the field of universalising education since 1994, urged everyone to go beyond the stereotypes of CSR, and join hands to redefine it. “We do not need jargons. We need individual responsibility, and a social capital,” Chavan said. He also said that terms like 'marginalised' and 'underdeveloped' need to be demolished, and the need of the hour is to go beyond structures. “Social responsibility today is nothing short of nation building, be it roads or schools. We need to facilitate an ecosystem, where mindsets which limit constructive partnerships will break down,” said Chavan. He concluded that what India needed today was, most importantly, a “cultural change”,

Cecelia Adorna, Country Representative, UNICEF, said that the social sector in India “is stagnating.” He felt that corporations, development partners and civic bodies need to chip in for delivering effective public services. “It is about recognising reforms. It is about a viable system that mobilises community, and it is about corporations pitching in, not with their money, but their ability to be business savvy,” said Adorna. Timothy McGuill, Director, Public Affairs, Intel India, spoke about a Corporate Social Innovation model. The model, based on the ripple effect, showed how innovation led to business growth. “CSR is not only about profitability; it is an awakening inside multinationals who are trying to get into new and emerging markets,” said McGuill. The plenary session ended with Vikas Goswami's coherent justification of CSR, and definition for a working model of CSR. “We need to make CSR a strategy of doing business so that there are no questions raised about its legality. CSR is beyond and above what law prescribes,” she said. Goswami maintained that vision alone could not help in addressing social issues. Ground level operations were more crucial.

The afternoon session had Sohoni Bhattacharya, Director, South Asia Partnerships, Ashoka, speak of her organisation's experience in social entrepreneurship. As an example, she cited an initiative first started in Bangladesh that incentivised primary education for children. Children were taught to engage in business activities right from school going age, and the revenue earned would be paid as dividend at the end of the year, provided a minimum attendance requirement was satisfied. The model encouraged children to attend school, and even cut dropout rates by half while providing an answer to parents who did not send children to school because they could not give up on the earnings of the child. Bhattacharya said that a social entrepreneur was one who often disrupts accepted models in initiating an idea. In that sense, social entrepreneurs are “change initiators”.

Ingrid Srinath, CEO, CRY, spoke about the need for businesses to scale up social entrepreneurship efforts. “Why is it that when we think of business, our scales are global, and when we think of social responsibility, it is down to just 5 villages?” she said. Aparajita Ramakrishnan, Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who manages the Avahan HIV prevention programme, was critical of the lack of efforts of businesses in India to deal with the HIV epidemic. “Business is lagging in its response to HIV,” she said.

munira_lokhandwala · November 13, 2006, 2:55pm

Hello Everyone
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi Munira, what should be the order of sections to attempt in CAT?
cat1248

Order of sections: I always put English in the middle. Reason: It is a break between the two similar sections
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi Munira... Q: For a very average person getting percentiles around 80 in mocks...what is most advisable to do in these remaining days?
menaina

Remaining days get all your basic concepts clear; for someone with such a background it is very important to not leave a single easy question. Do not leave out topics.
Munira Lokhandwala

how do we tackle RCs of the difficulty level same as that in CAT 2005,,should we skip them or attempt judiously?
im_sid

I would say attempt them. But for every answer option you should be able to say what is wrong with an option for elimination and what is right. You could practice some Reading Comprehension passages from the Official GMAT Guide, they have beautifully explaned answers.
Munira Lokhandwala

My English is not very good so plz recommend some last minutes tips (i know this will not shoot up my English score but still helps me) .
akshitdewan

Hi akshit, go through grammar and focus on RC accuracy.
Munira Lokhandwala

What should be the approach and mindset within the first 10-15 mins of breaking the seal? What do we look for?
menaina

Good question menaina, Look at the number of questions and differential marking, decide on a strategy with respect to timing for sections and then do not go against your timing strategy.
Munira Lokhandwala

my second question, how do you go about.. when you get hold of the paper..i mean you're aggressive in attempting.and do you scan the whole paper.take risks?.is being agressive advisable for accuracy levels lower than yours?
im_sid

Hi Munira, With just few more days to go, should one concentrate more on solving the problems and brushing the basics or for paper solving and strategy building?
Anurag83

Hi sid, I go for strategy. In 2004, i had decided I will ignore marks of a question. I ignored the marks again in 2005 for the first round. Only when I have time I go back to the higher marked question.
Munira Lokhandwala

As far as aggresiveness goes there should be a sense of urgency when you take the paper.
Munira Lokhandwala

hi munira.. is starting with stronger section best or ending with it ?
ramakrishnas

Munira, in each of the last three cats although uve got stellar percentiles, ive noticed that there is no ONE section which uve cracked. Like one year it's VA other year its QA etc. Are you equally good in all sections and maximise on the easiest one or do you concentrate on one section to crack every year?
mansoor6

Mansoor, i do not have the luxury to decide on which section to crack. I just try to maximize my score.
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi Munira. Last year my CAT Percentile was 99.45 but since my percentile in EU/RC section was 70. I did not get any call. This year in MockCats My English performance has been quite good. It has been above 95 percentiles most of the time. But in the last two mock CATs I have scored poor marks in EU/RC down to 60 percentile. I am getting confused. Please give some advice.
soumyajyoti

Hi soumya, iIgnore your last two tests and let that not get you down. Look at what went wrong right earlier or what did you significanlty change in the last tests. Perhaps you changed your section order.
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi Munira should we have a set strategy for the D-Day or on the spot would do?
kabir1224

Hi kabir, it is always a good idea to know as many basics as possible and let me emphasize that basic concepts come first and then one should work on applying them on questions.
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi. My mocks began with a bang, scored 90+ in first six mocks, came down to 80 in the next six and now hanging at 70s. But the good part is that I have cleared cutoffs in english and DI in all mocks. What will you suggest for people like me?
Gaurav28

Gaurav, since you have cleared DI and english try to give 50 mins to math, give 40 to DI and english and then the extra 20 mins spend with the easier section to max your score.
Munira Lokhandwala

which subsection should I attend first : 1 markers or 2 markers?
chaitali

Hi chaitali, ignore marks in your first round, if you start with two moarker there is always a tendency to give more time than needed. Please ignore the marks
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira, I have started going through all the mocks that I have taken (16 time mocks in all, averaging to 90, highest being 97) is it ok at this point or should i be doing anything new?
ramakrishnas

Munira, My performance in DI/LR section has been pretty inconsistent. I either do very well(97+) or screw it up badly. What do you suggest my strategy should be in DILR?
Plumber

Hi plumber, the DI-LR sections are very quant-heavy so if you have done well in quant and not in DI, you need to practice with DI sets because obviously the content is not an issue.
Munira Lokhandwala

what to do if you get bogged down at ny point of time?
khushi05

Hi khushi, with that kind of chat ID why you are talking about being bogged? I feel that you should not feel anything during the paper, I never have the time to even feel the persistent back ache till the paper is over
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira, I have started going through all the mocks that I have taken (16 time mocks in all, averaging to 90, highest being 97) is it ok at this point or should i be doing anything new?
ramakrishnas

Advice for someone like me who started to open notes 2-3 days back. I know it's late but anything recommendable.
optisudhir

Hi rama and opti, during the paper the only you can and should manage is the time, do not try to manage the number of questions as it may slow you down.
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi Munira, can something be done about grammar in these last days?
warrior

hi warrior something can definitely be done on grammar. Make a list of five/six rules that are usually tested, algorithmize your searching for errors and you can manage it in two days.
Munira Lokhandwala

What should be my strategy in selecting questions?
mr.s.k.abhi

hi mr. sk abhi. concentrate and do the questions that you know first. remember that this is all tenth standard math.
Munira Lokhandwala

Hello Munira ... not sure whether u hv answrd ths qs ..... but wen u get the initial 10 - 15 minutes fr the strategy ... say u decide the sequence of ur attempts ..... then as soon as the test strts ... do u straight away strt with tht sequence ... or u skim thru the paper once ???????
chango

hi ma'am. my query is regarding RC. should i glance thru the questions first or should i start with the passage directly?
rohanxavier

hi rohan i am very clearly against reading questions first i think it slows down your speed. i always look at the questions to select which passage to do but not right before reading it .
Munira Lokhandwala

thanx Munira!
rohanxavier

Munira, please tell me, what to do when one has already read a passage and got it but unable to decide between two options in two questions. Should one go by instincts or leave the question?
maheshtk_

Hi mahesh if you are confused between two options work out what is wrong in each. There are always some confusing questions but those are very few .
Munira Lokhandwala

What all of us have to remember is that it is a very easy paper .
Munira Lokhandwala

Hello Munira, not sure whether you have answerd this question. Wen you get the initial 10 - 15 minutes for the strategy, say you decide the sequence of your attempts. Then as soon as the test starts, do you straight away start with that sequence or do you skim through the paper once?
chango

Hi chango I do not skim through the paper I do it a section at a time. Of course I never get all fifty in first round, so after two hours I still have time to go back to the easier questions.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira, what is your reading speed?
mansoor6

Hi mansoor, I never counted my reading speed because the watch broke.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira, how to get maximum benefit from the increased time duration of CAT?
rohanxavier

I look for questions that do not trouble and that are easy to solve, this may sound obvious but a lot of us do questions which are full of magajmari in Mumbaiya language. I never do those because it slows me down. An example is symbol based questions. I usually do not attempt them becasue they slow me down .
Munira Lokhandwala

Hi, what do you suggest I should do in these last few days to maximze my score?
abhishek.sharma

Hi abhishek, look at the overall strategy like not reading a set or question, not managing time well. These are crucial. Knowing or not knowing a particular question is not as important.
Munira Lokhandwala

Please mam answer, what should be the ideal atempts in DI?
khushi05

khushi no ideal attempts. What if the paper becomes very easy or very difficult? I will repeat, manage time not attempts.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira according to you an average RC passage should take how many minutes?
maverickisneo

Hi maverick, an average RC passage should take 6 mins.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira I normally take 7-8 minutes. Is it too much?
maverickisneo

Munira, how should we strategise ourselves if the number of questions increases drastically? Say, if around 100 questions appear in each section, do we have to cut down on accuracy? How to go about the paper then?
vineet.nitd

100 questions in each section would be my dream come true. Obviously if number of questions increase they become easier so you should leave questions within 15 to 20 seconds.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira this is my case. 92 percentile last year, good DI and verbal but horrible quant this year. No consistency in scores range is 40 percentile to 90 percentile. How do I go ahead and what shud be the approach?
sujayp100

sujay look at your paper carefully, there must be huge amts of time spent on bad questions when people get poor percentiles.
Munira Lokhandwala

Just out of curiosity, last time what were your number of attempts?
mr.s.k.abhi

mr sk abhi my attempts were around 105.
Munira Lokhandwala

mam, what shud we do when we get the paper. I mean how can we formulate a strategy based on the information given on the cover page?
khushi05

hi khushi you can decide how much time per section you want to give initially and how much time in the end to max the score.
Munira Lokhandwala

Muniraji, what's your take: Speed or Accuracy?
mr.s.k.abhi

My take would be between speed and accuracy. If no of questions are less then accuracy and if they are more then speed.
Munira Lokhandwala

Munira what do you say, should one start with the LR block or not?
kabir14

hi kabir you can start with LR but if it is tough move on and then come back to it in the end. That's what I did in 2004. Never feel sad for not getting a question and always manage time. I like buffer time. You have to max your score by attempting as much as you can from the easier sections and my scores reflect that.
Munira Lokhandwala

Thanks Munira
kabir14

Another question would be, what to do in the last half an hour? As in, try to maximise score or make sure you clear all the cut-offs?
anarchy

anarchy, cut-offs are given way too much importance. Remember that selection is first on your score then on your cut-off. With an average score you will not even make the first round.
Munira Lokhandwala

Enjoyed talking to ye all. Bye everybody and best of luck.
Munira Lokhandwala

Discuss this article in the Forum!

pagalguy_news · November 14, 2006, 5:51am

While talking on 'What India needs from managers today', he emphasized that the manpower shortfall varies anywhere between 25-75% depending on the company. "The opportunity to engage in dialogue with 150+ potential middle managers was just too much to ignore. On behalf of the senior HR professionals in my vertical, I'm here to ask you to exercise your power to be the solution to our problems," urged Mr Mehra. He also pointed out that the 'year end' happens to be an extremely critical time for HR professionals in the industry as it is the time for the annual appraisal cycle to be initiated.
During his discourse Mr Mehra introduced the audience to 'OfficeTiger', the brainchild of two Princeton graduates– Joe Sigelman and Randy Altschuler. These two chose Chennai as their base by using a very scientific technique as this city enjoys daylight when New York on the other side of the globe, sleeps. Obvious benefit ranged from lower input costs to the ample pool of the skilled manpower they required. Randy stayed back in New York to source the work and Joe headed to Chennai to set-up the processing operation. Having grown from those humble beginnings, today OfficeTiger is a 10,000+ people strong, professional services firm providing more than 70 different services to almost 50 different clients all of whom are Fortune 100 companies. It has a global footprint spanning 9 countries with 29 delivery centers and 41 onsite client operations. Its revenues are projected at approx. USD 1 billion this fiscal year.

Coming back to the discussion, Mr Mehra raised two fundamental issues– “48% unemployed and 70% job vacancies.” He went on to add “I will give it to you in one word, EMPLOYABILITY. Today's job aspirants are skilled, well educated, looking for jobs and are unable to find them because we the companies think they are unemployable. Employability is a single word that encompasses a lot of traits that employers look for and are unable to find. If we were to pick each one for discussion now we'd be here all night. I'm going to pick a few for us to talk about," He stressed upon four things a prospective middle manager should do in order to increase his employability- invest in yourself, know yourself, be aware of yourself, and above all to believe your own self to be true.

"Reading the financial papers end-to-end every day is not preparation enough for the corporate world. The degree/diploma isn't an end, it's a beginning. Being qualified for a job is no longer a strong enough reason to get it. As a manager you will have to have a proper client interface. Are you prepared? Communication is an integral part of a manager's job, can you communicate effectively? The bottom line here is that as a leader of the people please present yourself also as a leader of the business," said Mr Mehra.

Then he went on to emphasize upon what he meant by 'know yourself' i.e. what exactly do you want from life? For a company to find a right-fit job for you, you need to have a proper shape. I know what to do with a round peg and where to slot a square peg, but do you know what kind of peg you are? The bottom line here is: If you don't know what you want to do, how on earth are we expected to know?

"Be aware of yourself- do a personal SWOT. Then do it again and this time preserve it. Repeat the exercise every six months. You aren't a vegetable, you evolve daily. Know your strengths and build on them. Know your weaknesses and acknowledge them. Don't hide weaknesses, we all have them and expect you to have them too. Forget the failure just remember the learning. The bottom line here is to admit a failure and move on. We've all failed before. We assess you on what you make of the setbacks", said Mr Mehra.

Finally he pointed that the qualification from any institution is a blank cheque and it can be en-cashed not just once but a couple of times. The opportunity for fast-track growth is very real. He urged the budding managers to plan and play for the long term and develop their own visions.

The talks concluded with a number of interesting queries that arose in the question-answer session. Here he further elaborated the points he had already made during his discourse. About 250 students attended the discussion.

pagalguy_news · November 14, 2006, 5:58am

“I have sought my soul, my soul I could not see
I have sought my God, my God eluded me
I sought my brother and I got all the three…'

With these words the enigmatic Baba gave a glimpse of his noble soul, it reflected the selfless strength with which he has devoted his entire life to the care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, physically disabled, tribals and homeless people. With his indefatigable energy and dedication, Baba serves as a source of inspiration, empowering the 2500 strong community at his aptly titled path-breaking development project, Anandvan, 'the forest of bliss'.

For the first time in the history of Baba Amte's Ashram, students of a management school visited and stayed at Anandvan, with the objective to develop social consciousness and study the relevance of management in social work. It reiterates the novel pedagogic innovation in management education, which is the hallmark of the S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, where out-of-classroom learning is focused on inculcating in participants the sensitivity to real-world issues. The students were guided by Mrs. Neeraja Mattoo, the chairperson of DOCC, who carries with her an invaluable experience of 20 years in the field of development, voluntary action and corporate citizenship, Dr Tapan Bakshi, the Head of the Operations Department and Mrs. Mona Nanavat, Professor, IT Department at SPJIMR.

SPJIMR established the DOCC as a full time social wing of the Institute in the year 2001 to assist the Institute in its social responsibilities. It has provided its PGDBM students an opportunity to apply their managerial skills in unorganized Sectors by means of DOCC projects. By working on the DOCC projects along with the NGOs and the corporates the students are able to understand their social responsibilities. The trip to Anandvan was one such endeavor inculcating the spirit of social service in the students.

As a part of the project, the students studied the various self-sustaining units including the agriculture, plastic recycling, eco-friendly building, biogas, water management, forestry and other environmental projects carried out in Anandvan, the headquarters of Baba's Maharogi Sewa Samiti. The students were also awed by a live performance by the immensely talented physically challenged members of Anandvan's orchestra, Swaranandan.

Speaking to the students, Baba stressed on the necessity of young leaders to gain more exposure by working at the grass root level and develop empathy towards the problems of the people. “The illiterate literates of the country have kept the society alive”, he said. Rousing the social consciousness of the students he gave a call to 'go back to the villages' and make deeds, not words their focus. 'The world is safe in the breath of the youth.' Saying this Baba stirred the hearts and fired the minds of the spellbound students urging them to listen to the dictates of their conscience to always care for the mighty palm of the people working 'with' the people and not for the people.

Baba's legacy is carried on through the tireless work of his family, including his wife, Sadhana Tai Amte who in their own ways has contributed significantly to furthering Baba's vision. With their unremitting commitment towards the social cause, the third generation of Mr. Kaustubh and Ms Sheetal Amte, the children of Mr. Prakash Amte are carrying Baba's message forward.

pagalguy_news · November 18, 2006, 7:34am

And, now a bright eyed delegation of budding managers is all set for a two week visit. Their enthusiasm is something our country's leaders would do well to take heed of.
We believe that the time has come for relationships between India and Pakistan to reach a more personal level. Political diplomacy helped in ironing out past differences; Sports were the means by which the multitudes across borders expressed a common passion, and now it is the turn of Higher Education to be the new face of diplomacy.
The FMS delegation has the potential to go beyond the realms of Indo-Pak relations. And in an attempt to forge closer relationships with our counterpart B-schoolers in Pakistan, the FMS trailblazers have been handpicked from the creme-de-la-creme student population to represent the diversity and the vibrancy that FMS is all about.

November 20th is the Big Day, and the itinerary for the following two weeks is choc-a-bloc! The Delegation will be staying at the Lahore University of Management Sciences itself. What better way to understand the life of a management student in Pakistan, than to experience it? And so, the students will be attending classes at the University, participating in Debates and Group Discussions, just like any regular student.

"Is the outlook of a student at LUMS really so different from a student's at FMS? What about ambitions? Hopes? Beliefs? How does an MBA in Pakistan which focuses more on Family Business Management compare to what is learnt in India?"

These are questions that we can only wonder about at present. The Delegation would have at least some of the answers after the visit.

After staying at Lahore, the Delegation will also visit the International Islamic University, Islamabad. To soak in the culture of Pakistan, a country which shares a rich heritage with India, the students will also visit Rawalpindi, Harappa, Taxila, Murree, the Katasraj Temple and many other historical and cultural sites. No wonder that the students can't wait for the Adventure to get started!

This foray into uncharted territory encapsulates what FMS believes in, pushing the boundaries, constant innovation and an addiction to excellence. The tie-up with LUMS has given the students here a wonderful opportunity to get a holistic education. Apart from this, at a macro level, it epitomizes a coming together of the business communities of India and Pakistan, and is, perhaps, a sign of times to come.

pagalguy_news · November 18, 2006, 1:54pm

There was a constant buzz throughout the evening and even the nightly November winter chill of Delhi did nothing to dampen the spirits of the large crowd. The campus and the especially the lit amphitheatre looked beautiful and drew a number reminiscent sighs' from the alumni looking longingly at the place they spent a number of their waking hours. This year's dinner was all the more special since it coincided with the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the institute.

The IMI Alumni Meet always held on the first Saturday of November, was wholly managed and organized by the Alumni Committee. While the current students' event management skills were tested and commended during the evening, the alumni clearly enjoyed being with friends and classmates and their gurus who taught them the nuances of management. It also gave the alumni opportunity to get away from their busy corporate lives and spend a relaxed evening in good company.

The event was started late into the evening at the hotspot in the IMI campus – the famed 'Amphitheatre'. The 'Amphi' as it is fondly called, is the venue that takes the centre stage for all events hosted at IMI. The program began with the felicitations and an address by the President of the Alumni Body – Mr. Rajiv Dhawan, who spoke of the days that had passed and the memories of B-school life. A short film followed, showcasing the 25 years of IMI's growth, which left a lasting fervor and a sense of pride for all the Achievers.

The Alumni were kept entertained with a host of cultural events put up by the present batch which included few lively performances. The mellifluous strains of music reverberated throughout the campus and kept the audience enthralled. But the highlight of the night was the Latin touch brought in form of a dance performance. An energetic and fiery Salsa performance provided a visual treat for the gathering and there were numerous requests for an encore. The alumni were in high spirits throughout and many could be seen mingling and interacting with the past and the present of IMI.

A sumptuous buffet was served for dinner followed by the traditional dance party. Fast paced numbers and sporadic lights created the perfect ambience to begin jiving. A huge crowd covered the dance floor and many were also seen trying out the latest dance moves which continued till wee hours.

A token of appreciation was given to the Alumni for their achievements. They have carved a niche for themselves in their work places and made IMI proud and are perfect brand ambassadors of the institute. The Alumni returned the gesture by bestowing us with a feedback that any institute would aspire for - “if only we could relive those beautiful times spent at the institute, all over again.” We will, most certainly, we will. See you same time next year! Vive IMI

pagalguy_news · November 19, 2006, 8:32am

To help you see the exam from the perspective of both students and the experts - you need to do the following.

1) Login to our forums which have over 89,000+ users who will post their experiences on the CAT exam and how they fared. This will enable you to get a feel of the relative performance of the peer group. Visit the CAT section of the forums.

2) We are organizing a chat with Munira Lokhandwala who aces the CAT every year by scoring a 100 percentile! In today's exam she was able to answer 74 out of the 75 questions with extremely high levels of accuracy and she will help you unravel the levels of difficulty and expected cut-offs. The chat is scheduled on our forums at 3:45 PM today.

To login for the chat, you need to register at our site and then head to our forums where the chat will be held. We will bring to you more analyses as the day goes by. Keep visiting our forums for real-time updates from thousands of users across the nation.

Updates:
1) CAT 2006 - Updates, student attempts, scores and percentiles on our forum
2) Tentative Answer Key to the QA and DI questions, paper set # 111

pagalguy_news · November 19, 2006, 9:20am

Error 1

In question 30 of series 444 has only 3 options whereas all the other series have 5 options for the same questions. The question of concern is a Reading Comprehension question, based on a passage about communism and begins with the sentence 'Fifteen years after communism...'.

Error 2

In Question 56 of series 111 and Question 69 of series 333, one data element given is 'September 8', which results in insufficient data. The correct format of the question should have been the one in of Question 59 of series 222 and Question 73 or series 444 where the data element is given as 'September 28', which gives the correct answer.

Discuss this article in the Forum!

munira_lokhandwala · November 19, 2006, 9:53am

Compared to the levels of difficulty in the previous years, CAT 2006 was a relatively easy paper. The tricky bit was the English section, what with the ambiguities galore, which pretty much means that this section would be the deciding factor for CAT selections this year.

Based on initial reactions to the paper, we expect the cutoffs this year to be -

Overall cutoff - 125-135 marks

English section - 20-25 marks
Quant section - 30-35 marks
DI section - 30-35 marks

English section

Usually known to be based on logic, the questions in CAT 2006's English section were largely based on inference and assumption. The Fact-Inference-Judgement questions were a surprise.

Data Interpretation and Quant Section

The DI sets were easy and a little patience and analysis would have reaped rich rewards. The Maths section was a mix of both easy and tough questions.The highest sectional scorers for both these sections in CAT 2006 would score full marks.

Paper has printing errors

In Question 56 of series 111 and Question 69 of series 333, one data element given is 'September 8', which results in insufficient data. The correct format of the question should have been the one in of Question 59 of series 222 and Question 73 or series 444 where the data element is given as 'September 28', which gives the correct answer.

Log on to the forums to discuss CAT with thousands of people like you!

Update: Answer key for DI/QA for all series of the CAT paper

pagalguy_news · November 20, 2006, 10:22am

The event called 'Sparsh'; organized by XIMBians in association with Human Life Center, Bhubaneswar; involved over 200 children from seven different HLC schools running in various slums all over the city. HLC is run by the Jesuit Society to educate poor and economically less fortunate children. Slum schools are an extended program under HLC's umbrella of social initiatives. Presently the HLC runs schools in 7 slum locations of the city.

'Sparsh' has been the culmination of a month long interaction between the students and these children. The students have been taking time out from their rigorous academic schedules to visit these children and training them in skills like dancing; painting etc. The students also celebrated Children's Day with these kids at their schools distributing sweets and fruits.

On the final events day several dignitaries were present in the inaugural ceremony including Mr. Radha Mohan Panda, District Inspector of Education, Khurda, Mr. Dumbhudhar Haran Singh from the office of the DI, Father James, Director of HLC.

Addressing the students; Mr. Panda emphasized the importance of proper schooling for everyone. He said he understood the hardships involved in getting a decent education since he himself had been educated in a rural school with minimal infrastructure. He also stressed on the need for teaching what is relevant to present society. He also praised the efforts of XIM and HLC in helping out the unprivileged masses.

This was followed by a free blood group test by the Red Cross Society of Bhubaneswar. The whole day long program also included sports, dance, singing and painting competitions for the children. Prizes were distributed to top 3 in each event. The students were also given goodies bags with stationery and crayons.

The teachers were impressed by the level of commitment shown by the XIMBians and believe that this could turn around the decreasing numbers of students in school.

“Such events should be conducted annually because initiatives like these encourage people to send their children to school” said Raghunath Marndi, teacher in Patrasahi School.

XIMB is known for its work in the field of emancipation of the poor and needy. The fact that the B-School has been able to produce excellent managers who are also socially conscious is commendable.

pagalguy_news · November 21, 2006, 5:13am

Two doctors including one lady doctor were available throughout the day for the treatment of commercial sex worker of this area. About 30 commercial sex workers turned up for the treatment of various aliments.

All patients also got free medicines during this occasion. The medical camp generated good response amongst the conservative sex workers, who generally turned away from strangers. More than providing medicines the doctors and the students attempted to raise the awareness level about health and hygiene to the local residents.

“We got very encouraging and inspiring response. Earlier we were very skeptical and apprehensive about the people but we are proved wrong. Given the constraints, we are quite successful and it was an excellent learning opportunity for all team members outside the classroom,” said Murali Manohar leader of the students' organizing team.

Prof. S Peppin also lauded the students' effort and expressed satisfaction with their achievements. “Organising health camp in this locality is a challenging task and you boys did it, keep it up!” said enthusiastic Prof Peppin.

Both doctors- Dr. K Harichandan & Dr Madhuri Singh were delighted to be a part to this health camp. They also participated in this health camp enthusiastically. “We feel gratified by contributing to the society and it has boosted our morale to continue such efforts in future as well. The biggest achievement is that we won trust of the local people and therefore we achieved what we had planned to,” added Mr Murli.

pagalguy_news · November 22, 2006, 5:52am

Introducing Dr Verghese Kurien, Fr. E Abraham, Director, XIMB described him as dynamic community leader, milkman of India, who did an excellent job to create white revolution in the country. Fr. Abraham recalled his contribution for which he is recognized world over for cooperatives and friends to farmers.

Taking the baton from Fr. Abraham, Dr Kurien introduced himself as a film producer. He informed that he had produced two films and between them Mathan is better known to you.

Dr Kurien emphasised that the big country like India, we need several Kurien and therefore we started rural management programme at IRMA. “I believe that I could have started three more such institutes. Now at this age, it is not part of my duty anymore to create rural management- I believe, I could have started in Bihar and another in south, but not in Delhi because nothing grows in Delhi,” said Dr Kurien

Dr Kurien clarified that Amul model has been successfully replicated at 176 places and 22 districts of the country. He also explained that Mehsana as the biggest and most successful dairy and ranked Amul cooperative dairy ranks at fourth or fifth position.

Talking about Amul, he said that whatever Amul was what today was because of Tribhuban Das Patel. “But if you ask him, he will say Amul is successful because of Dr Kurien. And if you ask me, he will say Dr Kurien. The fact of the matter is that both Tribhuban Das Patel and Kurien were required for Amul to be successful,” he added.

During this occasion, he recalled the contribution of Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel and Tribhuban Das Patel into the success of Amul story. “Had Sardar Patel been as Prime Minister of this country, the country would not have been divided. In Gujarat, we believe that had the PM position gone to Sardar Patel or Subhas Chandra Bose this partition would not have taken place. It is difficult to imagine what the fate of our country would have been if Sardar Patel would have succeeded. Mahatma Gandhi thought that if he had done so, he would have favoured to a fellow Gujarati,” said Dr Kurien.

“All my life, I have not understood the reason why we were divided. This is true to all colonial power to leave behind bloody mess to thwart the process of development. This is what the colonial power did with Korea and Vietnam. The erstwhile colonial country use lots of money for purchasing armaments from develop country. The develop country also campaigned and make us fight. Why are be fighting and for what purpose. Why can't we become friend and have united forever. Our language is same, so is our culture,” argued Dr Kurien.

He further elaborated that India has more than 100 million Muslims, which is far more than the population of Pakistan. “The reason to become united is far more important now. Think for the example, what would have been the position of India if we were united. I wish, this to be reality in the near future and have friendly relationship with others,” he added.

pagalguy_news · November 23, 2006, 6:33am

Some of the key features of his lecture included the Six 'R's of Working Capital Finance like right quantity of fund, right composition of elements, right time, right mix of sources, right cost and right security against borrowing and The Ten Commandments in financing Working Capital. In all his theoretical concepts he included practical examples of situations he faced and established the much required connect between theory and practice.

He ended his lecture with a case study which gave his insights as well as an enthusiastic audience discussing the various aspects of the case. After a lot of explanation he revealed the solution which was a real great experience to the quality managers-in-the-making.

pagalguy_news · November 24, 2006, 6:07am

This activity was the grand finale in a series of welfare activities carried out by the students as part of their course curriculum under the able guidance of Fr. Tony Uvary, SJ; Professor, XIMB.

The event was a grand success attended by approximately 500 jail inmates. Among the persons gracing the event were the Jail Superintendent Mr. P. K. Das, Dy. Director, OSACS Dr. Annapurna Mishra, Jail Welfare Officer Mrs. G. Sharmila, and CMO.

Dr. Mishra highlighted the reasons causing AIDS, modes of transmission, testing and counseling as well as prevention measures of AIDS. She also cleared the myths about AIDS and stressed on the importance of healthy and safe living. She brought out facts behind why the jail inmates are susceptible to HIV-AIDS and other STDs. Many of the inquisitive inmates also clarified their queries on AIDS.

Earlier the students had conducted a Hepatitis-B vaccination drive for youth offenders of the jail to save them from the dreaded disease. This was preceded by a series of sports and cultural events as an effort to recognize their latent talents. The students also held some counseling sessions for the lady inmates as well as the youth offenders. The efforts of the students were well appreciated by the IG.

pagalguy_news · November 27, 2006, 5:24am

In his welcome note, Ajit Rangnekar, Deputy Dean, ISB, spoke about the situation ten years ago, when India was on nobody's radar. “Brand India is totally a private sector creation. It is the creation of newly emerging industries like the retail and the media. So it will be of interest to see how our eminent panel today position India,” he said. Mr Rangnekar contributed the phenomenal growth of the ISB to the same Brand called India.

A brand by himself, ace ad filmmaker Prahalad Kakar said, “A silent movement to build this brand had begun ten years ago. 100 of innocuous minds were working towards it. The world realised the impending threat, and so they battled it out by discrediting our products and creating a deliberate disinformation campaign about India.”

According to Kakar, the concept of Brand India is just the tip of the iceberg. “It is the professional entrepreneur, the single minded industrious community outside India, who is the actual brand,” he said. The best product that India has created, according to Kakar, is its people. However he was critical about the government's inability to provide a conducive environment to encourage entrepreneurship. In typical and inimitable style, Kakar said that the media had no role to play in positioning India as a brand. “Let us not create hypes, let us just surprise pleasantly. Let us focus on brand Indians, not on a faceless India.” He urged the media to showcase the journey of collective Indians, like Narayana Murthy, Sania Mirza, Sachin Tendulkar, and even the movie industry, which represent Brand India., "Don't take Brand India for granted. Do your bit,” he said.

According to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief, Times Now, the “Domain experience of the media, its competitive instinct, its logic, its linguistic experience” will help take Brand India abroad, and it applies to any other industry. Arnab said that Indians today are willing to experiment and know how to change with the rule of the game. That gives us the necessary edge in global positioning. He was however sceptical about the inorganic growth of the Indian Television industry and expressed faith in the “sheer force of the idea” that will take India places.

V. Sunil, Creative Director, Aontheweb, talked about a serious disconnect that Indians have with regard to knowing what is 'cool' and 'in'. “There is an identity crisis as far as Brand India is concerned,” he said. Sunil said that the problems are to do with poorly branded products and services, which are globally uncompetitive, a dearth of creative people which leads to an insecure management, which again, leads to the typical “babu” mindset. He said that we need to come out of that “jargon is king' mindset and inject fresh blood, and focus on experience design if we really want to promote Brand India internationally.

“Where is the need to market India? The action is happening here. Why do we need to sell ourselves abroad?” asked Vikas Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer of the Ananda Bazaar Patrika Group. Gupta called for all Indians to get over “the white man's approval” hangover because New India has the power of young minds at a time when in countries like Germany the population is decreasing every year. The media, he felt, should “be fair in displaying the opportunities available here, instead of indulging in sensationalism. The media should do its bit by ascertaining India abroad,” he said.

Rajeev Sawhney, President Reliance Entertainment, said that the current generation of Indians were free from guilt, pity and self deprecation, which the earlier generations were party to, and were representative of Brand India. “Brand India is a myth, perpetuated by the media,” he said. Brand India, according to him, was an acronym of BBB - Bollywood, Bangalore and Bhatia (NRI making it good abroad). “24% of newspaper coverage and 31% on television is the share of Bollywood gossip. Three fourth of all international media about India reports is about outsourcing and fear of loss of jobs. The other fixation for the media is the NRI's. That's what I call as the Bhatias. The latest fixation being Laxmi Mittal,” he said.

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Ex-Deputy Editor, Business World, spoke about his scepticism regarding the term Brand India. “It is the success of micro units and the goodwill created by hundreds of entrepreneurs and ordinary Indians. That is Brand India,” he said. He urged the Indian business media to stop celebrating national greatness and promoting or running down a brand. He asked them to highlight and assess the risks involved.

Khozem Merchant, Business Director, Financial Times was the moderator for the esteemed panel, which saw huge participation from the packed audience. In the end, Drishticon 2006, succeeded in being the Media Club's first open conference aimed at creating a discussion forum.

pagalguy_news · November 27, 2006, 5:32am

The events lined up include the coveted titles of 'Mr. & Miss INDEX', 'Mr. & Mrs. INDEX' and events such as Antakshari, family-based games, Salsa etc. There will be a gamut of games stalls designed and made completely by students of IIM-L whom you would surely see in a variety of costumes, ranging from Bunty and Bubli to Ravana and Garuda, creating games based on stories of these popular characters. Add to that a whole lot of prizes to be won at the fair including lucky draws. Not to forget the number of food counters arranged to provide refreshments to the visitors. Take a look around the city and you see INDEX buzz with all Hutch hoardings, book stalls and popular shopping areas carrying the INDEX colours on them.

Amazing competition and corporate participation on Campus:

That was just the fair! As you are aware, beyond being a fair this event is a part of the unique market research initiative by the students of IIM Lucknow. It is based on the concept of “Disguised Market Research” – which seeks to gain insights into the consumer's perspectives/needs through intelligently designed games to overcome the 'Sensitization Effect' . As a result, our clients spread across the FMCG, Banking, Services and IT sectors and Industry heavy weights like HLL, ABVG, ITC, TATA Group have been partnering with INDEX regularly. This year, at INDEX, everything has reached new heights. Corporates came in with 10 live projects, from a diverse spectrum with a value offering on a variety of research objectives like gauging product awareness, assessing competition, identifying consumer needs, measuring strategy effectiveness et cetera. In contrast, 14 teams from IIML of 20 members each registered for INDEX this year to bid for them at the proposal making stage. IIM Lucknow ever-strong focus on marketing and immense competition which has always been a feature of INDEX certainly came to the fore again at this stage. The game design stage in which the teams design their games and work on the props and costumes at the fair is about to round up now. It has also been distinctly marked with notorious 'night-outs' and a lot of secrecy with teams being assigned special rooms accessible to the team mates only. They are all set and gearing to go to the fair with dialogues, costumes and themes galore to give the respondent all the entertainment possible while carrying out data collection at the same time. Besides the fair, the Data Analysis and Presentation stage also promises a load of action and interesting research like last year when evaluations were done by Industry bigwigs such as senior executives at AC Nielsen, ORG-MARG, McCann-Ericcson India and esteemed faculty across the country.

The opportunity for the students to gain exposure to market research from the ground-level up and acquire the experience of working on live case projects is working wonders with teams getting in touch regularly with the clients whose projects they are executing respectively promoting the symbiotic students-industry relationship.

Evolution of processes at Index:

Over the 12 years of our existence, wehave evolved the fair into a professionally managed event with a plethora of processes directed towards an efficient system.
At the “Systems desk” we specifically direct respondents to research stalls based on their profiles suiting the research objectives which ensures relevant and efficient data collection.
Seeing last years crowd at the fair, this year we have introduced batch processing at the desk to ensure better crowd management and a streamlined and secure process.
New initiatives:

Every year INDEX also undertakes “Play-the-brand” for some of our partners at which students promote awareness and attributes of the clients' brand. The promotion is done through innovative games created by students and executed at the INDEX fair.
In 2005 we also had a module christened “AdEffect” in which students tested the effectiveness of ad-campaigns by making use of several techniques developed at IIM L.

TATA iBrand

The year 2006 gave IIM Lucknow's focus on marketing a new dimension when INDEX decided to step out of its market research role and expand to other areas in marketing with the launch of iBrand (a branding initiative) in October.
In today's world consumers are increasingly becoming brand conscious and the plethora of brands available makes it a challenge to differentiate one's brand from the other. Hence the event iBrand was launched in association with TATA as the principal partner to enable students to explore the field of brand building, an event we seek to expand and promote in the years to come.

Around 25 teams registered for the event with each team consisting of five students. An initial elimination round brought the number down to six teams which were assigned products like Jewellery, Cellular Services, Salt, Tea, Automobiles etc. The onus was on them to name their products, specify the features and devise a strategy to build its brand image amongst the IIML Community.

The event was a huge success taking even the organizers by surprise. Videos ads were made and telecast at prime locations, intra-college sports events were sponsored by the individual teams and so on through an elaborate bidding process in which the teams bid for various avenues available for promotion.
The performances of the teams were evaluated on the basis of their strategy adopted as well as the brand recall amongst the IIML Community regarding their product.

INDEX Highlights –

· Only B school event across the country to be conducted in the city.

· Footfalls over 10,000 from Lucknow.

· 240 students working on live projects across 4 months: September – January.

· Evaluation by top faculty, and senior executives at AC Nielsen, ORG-MARG, McCann-Ericcson India

· 100 students in support teams:
o Operations Team – (the Backbone of the fair) responsible for mobilization of over half the campus to the INDEX grounds (yes the student mess also) and the whole setup of the fair. During the two days fair they ensure smooth flow of participants, security and overall services
o Systems Team – (the Nerve Centre of research) responsible for managing the dynamic process of handling a massive database and ensuring efficiency with constant input from research teams
o Informals Team- (the Entertainers) keeps the crowds coming with the plethora of activities and events like Mr. and Ms. INDEX and other attractions like Antakshari

pagalguy_news · November 27, 2006, 8:42am

International Management Institute (IMI), India's first corporate sponsored B-School was established in the year 1981 with the support from IMI, Geneva (Now IMD, Lausanne). The principal mission of IMI is to impart education relevant to professional and entrepreneurial development. Over the years, the Institute has come a long way in the pursuit of that mission. Today, IMI enjoys a place of esteem among the leading management institutions and the patronage of reputed business organizations in the country.

Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. was incorporated in 1989 and was in the business of transmission of electricity across the country. With opening up of the economy Power Grid has leveraged itself to play of pivotal role in all facets of distribution in the power sector. Finding synergy in distribution of telecommunication the organization has diversified into this industry. Having harnessed knowledge in this field it has move to consultancy area.

Since this change in business focus, the organization has realized that managing in the global arena is a pretty difficult proposition. This is why they have tied up with International Management Institute to provide inputs on Managing for Global Competitiveness.

The eminent speakers and participants of this seminar are experts from their respective fields. Few of them were professors from International Management Institute; Dr. Ajit Prasad, Dr. Rajat Kathuria, , Dr. Rajat Bakshi, Dr. Srabani Roy Choudhary and from Power Grid Corporation were Mr. U.R. Misra, Director Personnel and Mr. R.P. Ojha, General Manager – Human Resource. There were other participants, the managers of ONGC, ICCL & SAIL.