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[laj (Lajwanti D'Souza)]

Considering that Rashmi Bansal is a product of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, she ought to be the last person to pen a book on people who have made it big without an MBA degree. She in fact upholds the view that an MBA is in fact just an embellishment and many successful people have made it big without one. But thats exactly why she wrote the book Connect the Dots, she says. "There is just too much importance given to the MBA degree. There are all sorts of success stories of people who have not done an MBA so why so much of fuss for the degree," she asks.

That said, her second book is in stark contradiction to her previous one (Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish). While the first celebrated the ability of MBAs to be successful entrepreneurs, the second suggests that one need not have an MBA in order to start and run a successful business. Lajwanti Dsouza speaks to Rashmi Bansal and understand the author behind the book.



Your first book celebrates the MBA as a route to entrepreneurship while the second says that one need not have an MBA to be an entrepreneur. How do you explain the contradiction?

The earlier book was commissioned by IIMA and was naturally an effort to highlight those who have become successful after graduating from a b-school. That book was meant to be on successful MBAs, so it was. But my new book is what I have personally realised and felt strongly about and that is that you do not need an MBA to be successful. There are lots of success stories of those who have made it without an MBA. The MBA-hype has to be grounded.



So you think that the MBA degree is over-hyped?

Yes, there is an obsession with the degree. As if one cannot do anything without the degree. My book says that there are lots of ways of making it big in this world. The MBA is no ticket to success. People are missing out on varied experiences in this world. Lots of young people have just one goal - MBA. They dont realise that by doing other things and experimenting and taking different steps, one can also make it big. You have to have different experiences in your life before you embark on that one thing. Yes, you need to have that one quality to stand out in the crowd for people to support you. People only look at what an external factor or another person can do for you. We dont go deep into what we can do for ourselves. When I was once on an interview panel at a b-school, a bus conductors son came for the interview. I was sure he would never be able to afford the fees but he said his father had advised him to do the MBA while he was still working for which he could take a loan from the provident fund. I didnt think that the boy needed to do an MBA. His communication and English skills were also poor. But if we said a no to him, he would pay money and do it elsewhere. We discussed rural management with him, though I dont remember what happened finally. This boy is typical of so many people who has a typical mindset about MBA.

Did you find a similar feeling among the 20 entrepreneurs you spoke to in your new book?

Yes, they have all at some time decided to give themselves a push. Whether it is Kunwer Sachdev of Su-kam, Chetan Mani of the Reva Electric Car or Sunita Ramnathka of Fem Care Pharma. They are simple people who have thought big and taken giant steps to achieve what they have. They did not run after a degree as if it were the last thing in the world to do. They have lived different experiences and done many things to get where they are. This is what is missing in many young people who think that getting into a b-school, especially an IIM is the last of the trials. And after the degree, life is made.



How much time did you spend with each of the entrepreneurs featured in your book?

I spent from a couple of hours, to a day or two depending on the situation and the person. For some, I made factory visits besides just speaking to the person. For those located out of Mumbai, I did what I could do in the given time. It is not possible to make several trips out of Mumbai.

But that is what you have been criticised for. That you do not spend enough time with the people you write about in the book. Do you think in a couple of hours, you can get the essence of the persons efforts?

I know people say that about my books but I dont want to research a person to death. I am not writing a biography on the person. I didnt speak to the families of the people either. I ask questions to the people I write about and they speak and more than often, they keep speaking, so they say what comes naturally to them. For the earlier book I wrote (Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish) I was given three months to finish my research and I thought then that it was too short a time frame. But I did finish it in three months and that was actually enough time. Thats when I realised that one can speak to a person for a few hours and get what one wants. They tell me what they think is important for my subject and if I dont get what I want, I ask more. But as long as I have got what I need to put in the book, the time taken with the person does not matter. I record all what they say and then transcribe it. So what I write down may not even be all of what they have said.



How did you shortlist on the 20 people? Why not more or less?

There were some more people I spoke to but since I did not get what I wanted, I did not include them. Some stories were not impressive. It is not easy getting first generation entrepreneurs. There are those who have changed their business from that of the familys but to get those who have ventured out on their own and are first in the family to get into entrepreneurship are few.



Did the economic recession affect your work?

Yes it did. People did not want to talk to me. They were not sure of what to speak about their companies at that stage. Some did not get back at all. Some I could not get through to, and had to be content speaking to their assistants. Some I could not get hold of their personal emails. It was a tough year for many and some even said they would rather write an autobiography than be featured in my book.

What is in it for an average reader in your book?

The individual stories are the connecting point. People like to find similarities in the stories they read and their lives. Even if the person in the book has a father who went to a particular school and the readers father also went to the same school, the reader forms a connection. Life stories become inspiring for readers. Readers like to read and form parallels with their own lives.



Doing business in India, ethics and success dont necessarily go hand-in-hand. Was that a concern while choosing companies?

Yes, I looked for ethical stories. (But at the same time) I am not doing investigative journalism in my book. I am writing about the persons experiences on his way to where he or she has reached. Bharat Vikas Group does facilities management for the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House so it makes sense to speak to Bharat Vikas than any other company that does facilities management. I may not be 100% right in all my cases but I try to speak to those who are ethically right. The size of the company is of no relevance to me. My theme is (on the personal experiences of) non-MBAs and not a study on top companies.

How did you go about shortlisting the people you wanted to talk to?

First, I looked for those who got into business without an MBA and did well. The next level of search was for those people who took the pains to get into a specific business or venture. Like R Sriram (Crossword Bookstores) wanted to be part of a bookstore only. He did not want to enter any other business. There is a difference. If everybody makes plastic buckets and you open another company making plastic buckets, its not a big deal. But if you make different types of plastic buckets or buckets of another material, then it is something.



Why are your books so urban in nature? Why are there no rural entrepreneurs in your book?

My readers are urban so naturally I write on urban people. Since my job was to get first generation of successful entrepreneurs, I didnt think I would find many of them in rural India. I am only trying to write about people ahead of their time. And I didnt get enough interesting people in smaller towns. I did got to Patna for my work, though.



Have you been able to find out a stereotype among the people you spoke to? Do all successful entrepreneurs have similar growth charts?

Not at all. They are all unique. At the surface level, they are all up there but their stories are different. Their backgrounds are different so their paths are different too. What I did find was that all the people I spoke to wanted to do things differently. All bright people are not destined to open big companies. But some take bold steps to realise their potential.



Why are there so few women in the book?

I did not get enough women. In India, women entrepreneurs is a different concept. For every successful man, there is a lady who can be given credit for his success. But who is there for a woman? Maybe her maid servant. In India, it is taken for granted that the woman has to look after the house and the children, no matter what post she holds at her workplace. Society makes her responsible for all functions in her house to the point that if there is a slip-up somewhere, she is made to feel guilty about it. The man has no such pressures. He can walk in and out of his office and home and squarely look at his career path. He may not even be aware of which class his children are in. But can you expect an Indian woman to take ten years of her life and only concentrate on her career? It might work only if she is unmarried or in some cases, does not have children. But otherwise, it is asking too much and there are few cases of such type to speak about. Also an MBA for a woman might actually be a good idea. Post-college, if she does an MBA, at least she can put off marriage for a few years, broaden her horizon and think of different careers.



Planning the next book? What is it about?

Yes, it is going to be on social entrepreneurs. Should be done by early next year.



Going by the book, do you say your own MBA was a waste?

Not at all. I enjoyed doing MBA. At IIMA, we were treated like adults. You know, one of the first exams we appeared for, we were allowed to go for a walk, to the restroom or even check our books while we sat for the exams. There was no supervision like there is in schools or other colleges. Of course, since the emphasis was little on theory, there was hardly anything that we could copy. And since there was so much freedom, people never felt like copying. Today it is different, theory forms such a large part of the study. There is so much emphasis on what is in the books. If teachers are not participative today, there will be little learned by students. As it is students hardly open their mouths in the first year. I did my MBA only because while I was a journalist, I was promised that I would head a youth section supplement in the paper. That was eventually denied to me because I was too young and thats when I felt a degree would have helped me get that assignment, thats when I thought of the MBA. Also the newspaper where I worked, there were two IIM interns who brainwashed me into joining an IIM which is why I finally did it.



What does your daughter think about your books?

My daughter is small but she comes for my book events. She does not think highly of my books. She also thinks I am not cued in enough into music and I dont know as much as I should. Children are the best reality check one can have.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

It is official: CAT 2010 will be held on 20 days between October 27 and November 23, 2010. The IIMs will release the CAT advertisement in newspapers on the last Sunday of August and the registration and form sales process will begin three days after that.

"There will be logical breaks in between the exam such as those for Diwali," CAT 2010 Convenor Prof Himanshu Rai told PaGaLGuY.com. According to the government calendar for 2010, the period between October 27 and November 23 has three gazetted and three restricted holidays.

The test will be held in the same 32 cities as it was in 2009, but the number of test centers will be reduced, he added.

The story was first broken on MBAUniverse.com.

[knowledgewharton]

(Courtesy: Knowledge@Wharton)

Six months ago, Chunnilal Menaria's wife grumbled about her husband spending US$45 on a mobile phone. They lived in a one-room stone house, with no toilets or running water, only eight hours of electricity a day and earned US$60 a month with which they fed their family of five. The monsoon seasons, from which India derives much of its annual rainfall, have been poor over the past couple years and forced Menaria to take up carpentry to supplement his dwindling income from farming. Each day, he walked about eight miles around his village in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, in search of work. With luck, he made US$2 a day. Yet, for Menaria, the Micromax X1i phone is the best investment he has ever made. "It literally changed my life," he says. "Now that everyone has access to a phone, I don't waste time walking around anymore. We just call each other. My monthly income has increased to US$100."

Reaching Menaria and other customers in India's rural areas is expected to be the next frontier for expanding the country's mobile phone market. Both locally grown brands and multinational corporations are trying to build customer awareness and market share in India's hinterland, offering devices at lower price points and with features that address the specific challenges facing those living outside India's cities. Emerging as the victor in this race, however, will depend on innovation at every level of the process -- from product development to after-sale customer service, experts say.

With 10 million to 12 million subscribers being added every month, India's 100 million unit (shipped in 2009, according to IDC India) handset market is among the fastest-growing in the world. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), market penetration for wireless phones in the country is at 49.6% with approximately 584 million users as of March 2010, up from only about 2% in 1995. "We estimate that overall mobile teledensity in the country will approximately 95% by 2014," notes Naveen Mishra, lead analyst, telecoms research, at IDC India. "And with penetration in rural areas being much lower than urban , the next phase of growth will undoubtedly come from there."

The expected growth provides some of the explanation for the plethora of homegrown mobile handset vendors -- including Karbonn, Spice, Lava, and even domestic consumer electronics giant Videocon -- that have inundated the Indian market. Some started as regional vendors, but have developed into pan-India players. The government's ban on cheaper gray market phones with no identifying International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number may have been primarily responsible for the sudden spawning of local vendors. But IDC's numbers suggest a deeper shift in industry dynamics. The number of local players grew to 28 and registered a combined market share of 12.3% in 2009, up from five players with less than 1% combined share in 2008.

In fact, two-year-old, Gurgaon-based Micromax has replaced LG of Korea as India's third-largest GSM handset vendor with a market share of 6%. Nokia is first with a 62% market share and Samsung is second at 8%. "When we entered this space, it was a virgin market dominated by 'Tier A' brands. We wanted to create and become leaders in a new vertical. Today, 70% of our sales come from rural areas," states Vikas Jain, co-founder and business director of Micromax. With mobile penetration in rural areas doubling to 20% in 2009, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), it's not surprising that most brands old and new report a substantial percentage of sales from those regions.

Many emerging vendors are attracting rural customers like Menaria by keeping their devices affordable, offering phones that are priced at no more than US$300. Pune (Maharashtra)-based Byond Tech derives as much as 75% of its sales from rural markets, numbers the company attributes to better pricing. "Earlier, established players offered phones with the six key features -- FM radio, Bluetooth, camera, MP3, video and expandable memory -- for US$75 to $100. Now new players are offering similar products for US$25," says Shripal Gandhi, director of Byond Tech. "More than 85% of handset sales in India are in the price range US$35-$75." For instance, Gandhi's BY888 model, a low-end smartphone, costs about US$100 whereas "any of Nokia's E-series phones with similar features will cost more than US$300".

But the big boys aren't too far behind. Samsung's Guru series, which accounts for approximately 35% of its sales in India, caters specifically to the price-conscious segment with phones that cost as little as US$35. Nokia recently launched a smartphone priced below US$130 (with plans to go even lower) and Vodafone intends to begin selling a handset for US$16. The increase in India's value-added tax has compelled players to further cut prices in some states. However, "between the established players and the new ones there is still a 30% gap in the price on a feature-to-feature comparison. That's a big gap. So even if the big players lower their prices, they will feel the pinch," notes Sunil Dutt, president of HP India's personal systems group.

But price is exactly the kind of differentiation that Micromax's Jain tries hard to avoid. "If a price war was my approach, I would address the 35% of the market segment where Nokia adds most of its customers with lower-priced handsets," he states. "There have been some Indian brands that function purely on a price play, but we want to draw the customer by highlighting the product, not the price." Jagmohan Singh Raju, a professor of marketing at Wharton, points out that brands will not win additional market share purely based on the cost of their products. "Prices of phones fall quite rapidly anyway. Broadening your product line is not a price war. The fact that can offer cheaper models doesn't mean they are going to lower the prices of their other phones," he says. "The real challenge here will be the innovation."

Solar Power, Mosquito Repellants and Other Value-Adds

Industry observers believe value-added services might be the tipping point for attracting new handset customers in rural areas. Micromax, for example, offers a lower-priced device priced for non-urban markets that can also be used as a universal remote or a gaming device, and is developing phones that also function as mosquito repellants. Additionally, the company is planning to bundle insurance services with handsets. "We are developing a concept where, once a person buys a handset, he can get insurance for the handset and for himself," Jain states. "In rural areas, people are not inclined to insure themselves, but if it is available free of cost, they are very interested." Large sales volumes make it easier to negotiate with insurance providers, he adds. Samsung has launched the world's first solar-powered phone, which also includes a "mobile prayer" feature that provides hymns and wallpapers for different religions. Nokia's Life Tools gives farmers crop prices and weather predictions for a nominal monthly fee.

The Indian market has been a unique learning ground for vendors of all sizes. Companies developed their product lines knowing that the phones would be used for a lot more than just talking, with features that would combat some of the barriers to bringing technology to consumers in rural areas and those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Mobile devices came equipped with long battery life (as much as 30 days); built-in flashlights (a lifesaver during frequent power outages); loud audio and video players (because of noisy environments); larger displays, and expandable memory. Other features include multiple address books (for shared users), dust and dirt-resistant keypads, regional language interfaces and pictorially clear icons to simplify use for consumers who can't read or write well.

The intense competition among service providers has resulted in increasingly lower call rates and, unlike in the United States, mobile service providers in India do not offer handsets as part of calling plans. Those two factors have made phones that can hold two subscriber identity module (SIM) cards -- which allow the use of two services in the same device -- a major volume-generator for emerging vendors. "Our entire , barring one, contains only dual-SIM phones," notes Sudhir Kumar, national sales manager for telecommunications at Intex Technologies. "Customers keep the SIM for incoming calls constant and keep changing to the second SIM lowering call rates. And with Nokia not having dual-SIM models, there is not much competition there from them."

However, with the changing demographics of the market for mobile phones, innovation cannot be restricted simply to the product. Companies also must alter their traditional marketing methods. Many brands are adopting regional language advertising and using below-the-line (BTL) sales promotions to break through advertising clutter and reach populations with little or no access to television or newspapers.

With the increased focus on regional and smaller markets, Samsung India will this year spend more than half its total marketing budget on BTL activities -- an 8-10% increase in spending over last year, according to Ranjit Yadav, the company's director of IT and telecommunications. Emerging vendors are also discovering that BTL promotions -- including traveling road shows that offer phone demonstrations, performances by local singers and opportunities for face-to-face interaction with potential customers -- are the most effective way to raise brand awareness and build equity.

"Nokia's USP is simply that it has been in the market for the past 10 years. It has more awareness and customer trust and that is primarily why Nokia sells," states Deepesh Gupta, managing director of Zen Mobile. Some companies are using famous faces to help build that kind of visibility. Menaria, for example, could not specifically identify Micromax as his cell phone brand; for him the new brands are all "China ka" (from China). But he could differentiate the device from others based on the company's popular television commercial featuring leading Hindi film actor Akshay Kumar. Videocon features prominent cricket players in its advertisements. Micromax and Karbonn advertised heavily during the recently concluded Indian Premier cricket league, where 10-second advertising spots cost as much as US$11,000-16,000.

Building awareness requires deep pockets, however. Marketing budgets for the current year are at US$20 million at Micromax, US$10 million at Byond Tech and US$7 million at Zen Mobile. For companies that did not exist two years ago, these sums represent a significant investment. Dutt notes that the companies can afford to invest heavily in marketing because "at this point, the new players are enjoying healthy gross margins not only because of their volumes but because of their sourcing benefits, lower costs involved and healthy inventory turns and returns on capital."

Margins Still Comfortable

But distribution is perhaps the most consequential variable in a fiercely competitive market. While most companies are using conventional models to bring their phones to the market, there is also a significant amount of experimentation within that framework. Micromax has 55,000 outlets and is already selling more than a million units a month. Jain says his firm bills its main distributors every three days, enabling them to replenish their inventory twice a week. "This means can rotate his capital many times each month," he explains. Commissions vary from 2% to 10%. But Dutt believes that, instead of focusing on the percentage of gross margin paid to distributors, "the brands need to focus on the return on investment they are ensuring them. That's a bigger game changer."

Even established players are rethinking their strategy, whether it's Nokia's sales vans that drive through rural towns or Samsung's e-kiosk sales outlets. But back-end support, including after-sale customer service, is also a critical part of distribution. Even a smaller player like Intex, with sales of 150,000 units a month, has 425 service centers and invests continually to maintain healthy sales to service center ratios. "Good service is how can build their brand," Wharton's Raju notes. "When people are buying their second phone, they shouldn't switch to Nokia, they should upgrade to the next version of the same brand."

Customer retention, however, will also involve greater customization, emphasis on research and development, and leaner supply chains. In addition, most brands are currently launching at least two new models each month. Against that backdrop, experts say it makes sense for new vendors to establish their own manufacturing centers. Many companies plan to set up their own plants by the end of this year. But Zen's Gupta warns that "such claims are easy to make. These people are not actually going to be manufacturing. It will be more of assembling as a way of getting certain tax advantages. The volumes don't make it viable to manufacture here."

With increasing competition and thinning margins, volumes will be crucial for mobile handset manufacturers to survive. But company officials downplay any pressure they face in this area. "First, it's not like we're selling at a loss; second, our volumes have increased, and third, when the portfolio is as balanced as ours, your overall figures are comfortable enough for you to move forward," notes Samsung's Yadav. Even Jain defends Micromax's healthy margins, citing private equity firm TA Associates' recent purchase of a 20% stake in his company. "Margins are not being squeezed," he stresses. "We work on a margin of about 10%."

Observers say the longer-term outlook for India's handset industry in India however is intense competition and further consolidation. Videocon D2H CEO Anil Khera envisions only a few Indian players emerging as strong brands, yet "garnering a cumulative market share of 50% in a year." It will be interesting but certainly not easy. As Intex's Kumar says, "The boys are playing these days; the men have yet to come."

Copyright 2010 The Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania.

[guest_writer (Guest)]

Former Chief Operating Officer officer of BPL Mobile and President, Aegis Global Academy Mr Subir Ghosh narrates his experience of turning BPL Mobile into a customer-focused company. As India becomes a services-led economy, its companies need to increase focus on the customer experience of their products, he adds.

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As India moves from an agriculture and manufacturing economy to a services-led economy, interactions between companies and their customers are beginning to gain increasing importance. Customers are more likely to be loyal to services that provide a more customized experience and interface. The quality and experience of these interactions can prove decisive to an organizations ability to compete.

Businesses in the services sector --- such as banking, retail and telecom --- today account for more than half of India's Gross Domestic Product. According to the data for the financial year 2006-2007, the share of services in India's GDP was 55.1 %. By some estimates, the share shot up to 62.5 % in 2009-10.

But research reports show that most organizations in India are yet to integrate a customer experience management framework formally into their business operations. Few companies link the service experience of their products to the organizations success.

As an example, consider that the government regulatory body for the banking sector received 44% higher customer-service related complaints in 2008 compared to 2007. Rectifying these complaints must have hurt the banks' finances and brand images.

To improve customer experience quality in banks, the Reserve Bank of India is contemplating a rule by which banks will be penalized for poor customer experience. Banks will have to maintain higher cash reserve ratios if they do not meet the requisite service standards. If this rule were to be implemented, we will be able to trace a direct connection between customer experience and a banks balance sheets.

The situation is no better in other sectors, be it retail or telecom. Poor customer experience impacts an organization's balance sheets in three ways. First, a higher number of customer complaints results in loss of customers. Second, resolving the complaints needs additional expenditure. Third, in order to compensate for the lost customers, the company is forced to spend money on advertising or provide promotional discounts, which increase operational costs even further.

Hence, in todays global economy, a service organizations competitive worth is largely dependent on customer loyalty, which is basically customer expectation versus actual usage experience. The lesser the gap in between them, the greater is the likelihood of customer loyalty.

From a larger perspective, every individual stands to benefit from an economy that respects customer experience. Every person deserves to be treated with fairness and courtesy in every interaction with a service provider be it a bank, a telecom service provider, or an insurance company.

My own experience with implementing a customer experience culture at BPL Mobile

In the early years of the new millennium, GSM mobile operators were threatened with a challenge that made the industry freeze in its tracks. The challenge was brought by the introduction of WLL (Wireless Local Loop), a much cheaper technology that claimed regulatory concessions from the government on the pretext of being a 'limited mobility service' but quickly manipulated the regulatory and political framework to turn itself into a full mobility service at a much cheaper cost.

The GSM operators thus grew wary of investing more capital into growing their networks, as they had already accumulated huge losses and didn't quite know how to move forward with the new WLL service threatening to run away with the market.

Operating managers (I was then Deputy Chief Operating Officer of BPL Mobile) thus had to deal with the challenging task of increasing revenue and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores (those were my Key Result Areas) with a network that we couldn't expand.

The choice then was between either focusing completely on acquiring new customers, or protecting our existing customers by providing them a distinctly superior customer experience, or a judicious mix of both with the emphasis being on one of the either.

Thus was born the 'Customer Asset Management' function in BPL Mobile which grouped all functions of the company into the Acquisition Group (responsible for getting new customers) and the Retention Group (responsible for retaining and increasing revenue from customers who were more than three months old).

The strategy brought large changes in technology and people processes within BPL Mobile to create a service culture within the organization. We used data-mining technology to study large amounts of usage-data of our customers and this helped us to customize our process and product offerings on a massive level. The end-result was that we started delivering a quality of service which made every customer feel that he was an individual and not just another number, despite the fact that telecom was a mass consumer service. It increased the tendency of our existing customers to stick with us for a longer time and shot up our CSAT scores, not to speak of revenue and bottomline growth that were beyond anyone's imagination despite the doomsday anxiety that had gripped the GSM market.

However, bringing about this transformation was not easy. Any organisation that wishes to adopt a customer-centric culture must first convert to an 'inverted pyramid' structure, one that makes the person who actually transacts with the customer the most important entity. It needs to put in demonstrably visible measures such as making every superior in the company accountable to the employees below him. Together, they need to resolve customer queries and problems within a specified turnaround time or else the issue automatically gets escalated to his superior, thus making every person within the system accountable to the guy at the bottom of the pyramid who is the face of the organisation as far as the customer is concerned. While implementing these measures, the popular saying within the company was that there should be only two types of jobs in the company - one that serves the customer and the other that facilitates the one that serves the customer, and any job that did not fit into either of these categories must cease to exist.

We also linked everybody's salaries to the CSAT scores and their ability to face customers --- we got all non-customer-facing roles irrespective of their seniority spend a minimum number of hours in customer-facing positions regularly. One had to regularly interact with customers in order to be eligible for individual performance-linked-pay. Once, I even had mine docked for missing customer interaction.

Considering where we were coming from, there was initially a lot of cultural resistance to change within BPL Mobile. Getting rid of the 'silo-mentality' was perhaps the biggest challenge. Employees from Finance, Human Resources and IT found it tough to view their roles as ones being responsible for customer experience. Aligning these functions into the customer experience framework and getting them to accept monetary penalties for poor CSAT performance was always the biggest hurdle. In such type of a make or break situation, the resolve of a company's top management, particularly the CEO, played a huge role. The questions in the affected employees' minds were --- is this genuine commitment to customer experience or is it mere lip service? Is the focus on customer experience due to cost, necessity, business differentiation or is it due to the very essence of the brand?

This skepticism can only be gotten around by demonstrably showing that such a strategy of solving crucial business problems does indeed translate into lowering of costs and enhancement of revenues, not to speak of a substantially enhanced brand image and long-term ability to compete with the rest of the market.

About the Author: Mr Subir Ghosh is the President of Aegis Global Academy an ESSAR enterprise. His experience spans nearly 28 years in diverse industries like consumer products, consumer durables, and the telecom and retail sectors and includes roles as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of service companies like BPL Mobile, The MobileStore and Planet M. He can be contacted at - [email protected]

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Folks, nominations for the CAT Dream Teams and the Underdog Teams are now open. All those who missed it last year, this is your chance! You may now nominate yourself into the city dream teams of Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mumbai or Chennai. Else, run for the Underdogs Team. And of course, you can also nominate your national Dream Team.

What are PaGaLGuY CAT Dream Teams about?

Dream Teams are teams of extremely driven CAT aspirants who have a high likelihood of cracking the CAT exam. They are nominated on the basis of performance in the mock CATs. Members of Dream Teams tend to be consistent 99+ percentilers and often hold pro-level control over one or more sections.

The tradition of Dream Teams started in 2005 with a simple question, "Who are the top contenders from PG to crack CAT 2005? Choose your 11."

Thus started the annual ritual of PaGaLGuY members nominating the 11 best PaGaLGuY members most likely to crack that year's CAT, based on their performance in various mock CAT tests.

What do the members of Dream Team do after being selected?

The Dream Team brings together people who are most likely to crack the CAT that year. Despite being competitors, they collaborate, share resources and help each other day in and out on various concepts and questions. Basically, it is the best kind of pan-India study group you can imagine to have. Once you are part of a Dream Team, you will find yourself use technology and Internet tools to the fullest to collaborate with your team members and leave no stone unturned in strengthening your preparation. You will also frequently meet your team members offline to share material and resources, analyze mock CATs and prepare for Group Discussions and Personal Interviews.

Each Dream Team has a Mentor, usually an IIM student and the member of a previous year's Dream Team.

What are the types of Dream Teams?

This year, there are nine city Dream Teams and one National Dream Team.

Can I nominate myself to a city Dream Teams 2010?

Yes, you can. Pick your city and if your city is not in the list, pick the one closest to you and nominate yourself.

• Ahmedabad Dream Team (Mentor: Varun Rajaram, IIM Lucknow 2010-12)


• Bangalore Dream Team (Mentor: Prem Ravi, IIM Calcutta 2010-12)


• Chennai Dream Team (Mentor: Naga Raj, winner of PaGaLGuY Quant God Award 2009-10)


• Delhi-NCR Dream Team (Mentor: Ranjeet Pratap Singh, FMS Delhi 2010-12)


• Kolkata Dream Team


• Hyderabad Dream Team (Mentor: Rahul Kishore Singh, FMS Delhi 2010-12)


• Lucknow Dream Team (Mentor: Rohitashva Tomar, IIM Ahmedabad 2010-12)


• Mumbai Dream Team (Mentor: Vivek Khanchandani, NITIE 2009-11)


• Pune Dream Team (Mentor: Nishant Choudhury, IIM Calcutta 2010-12)

Can I nominate myself to the national Dream Team?

No, but you can nominate any 11 people on PaGaLGuY in whose abilities you have complete trust. Nominate now.

The selectors of PaGaLGuY Dream Team are alumni of past Dream Teams and they are Prem Ravi (IIM Calcutta 2010-12), Rohit Gupta (IIM Ahmedabad 2010-12) and Gagandeep Singh Nanda ( IIM Lucknow 2010-12).

What is the Underdogs Team?

The Underdogs Team starts where the Dream Team ends. The Underdogs Team shall have 11 hard working dreamers with a never-say-die attitude. They may not have stellar mock scores yet, but they are doing well and are serious about making it to a top-b-school. Just out of their attitudes, they often give a tough fight to the Dream Teams.

You can nominate yourself to this team, if you feel you have that kind of a winning attitude. Nominate yourself.

The selectors of Underdogs Team 2010 are Prem Ravi (IIM Calcutta 2010-12), Sinchan Mukherjee (IIM Calcutta 2009-11) and Shashank Prabhu (Maharashtra CET 2010 Topper).

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Harvard Business School (HBS) has no plans to compete with Indian b-schools, but it would continue to help them build capacity to meet the local demand, said Harvard Business School Dean Prof Nitin Nohria in Mumbai on Tuesday.

"Last year, we distributed 429,000 case studies in India and are involved with 16 business schools to train their professors in becoming better teachers," he told mediapersons during his Mumbai pit-stop of an 11-day world tour.

The IIT Bombay-educated Prof Nohria, who took over as Harvard's new Dean earlier this month, is on an 11-day world tour of London, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and San Francisco to meet HBS alumni and business leaders.

Speaking about HBS' focus on India, he said that the 102-year old school has created 80 case studies on Indian businesses which were used widely across other business schools. The school will continue to do more research and establish a center to grow its Executive Development Programs in India, he added. Currently, HBS conducts these programs out of hotel premises in Indian cities.

Speaking at Assocham's and the Piramal Group's 13th JRD Tata Memorial Oration on 'India and the Globalization of Business' in South Mumbai in the evening, he narrated how last year several HBS students had chosen to complete their summer internships in India, rejecting offers in the US or Europe.

"When I joined HBS in 1988, nearly all of the case studies taught at the school were of American businesses. But last year, half the cases developed were international case studies," he said.

In the insightful talk, the co-author and co-editor of 16 management books said that Indian companies will have to invest heavily in innovation in order to compete in the globalized world.

Edited excerpts from the talk

• The success of American businesses lies in their ability to be dynamic. Every decade of the 20th century saw businesses reinventing themselves to survive and compete.


• Around the time India opened up its economic policies in the 1990s, Indian companies woke up to international competition by making themselves more efficient. Which is why in the 1990s we witnessed the wave of ISO 9000 certifications.


• A few companies tried to fight competition by using political lobbying and manipulating regulatory mechanisms, but soon they realized that these tactics didn't work in the new world. Many of these companies eventually became irrelevant while some, such as Bajaj Auto saw their monopolistic ways of business failing and reinvented themselves to survive.


• Post-millennium, Indian companies started to compete by reacting to local needs by building customized products. Tata Motors' 'Tata Ace' mini-sized truck for small businesses or Bharti Enterprises' hedging on the rural Indian market provided them competitive edge.


• The next stage of evolution for Indian companies will be to build capacity for innovation. If one takes a hard look at Indian companies, there is no globally competitive innovative product to be seen yet. Even the Tata Ace or Tata Nano have not proven themselves to be viable globally.


• Companies such as Samsung have invested on innovation processes to secure market success with a product line that has beaten others such as Sony and is threatening Apple.


• In India, the pharmaceutical sector has a great chance to build globally innovative products, including mass-usage drugs.


• Though many might like to think of the 21st century as one that belongs to Asia, I believe that no single region will dominate. Yes, there might a decade when China is on top, and another decade when India is ahead, but the USA, Europe, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Bangladesh, Turkey and others will also rise.

Prof Nohria's intellectual interests center on human motivation, leadership, corporate transformation and accountability and sustainable economic and human performance.

[laj (Lajwanti D'Souza)]

(Photo credit: James Whatley)

Last week, the Chennai-headquartered Brilliant Tutorials' branch in New Delhi was asked to cough up a refund of Rs 36,250 to a student who left the study course mid-way due to ill health. The New Delhi Consumer Forum, which passed the order, also asked the coaching institute to pay Rs 5,000 as harassment compensation to the student and Rs 2,000 as litigation cost. According to the reported details of the case, the student had enrolled for a two-year course with the institute. However, after two months, the student had to discontinue the classes due to 'health problems'. He approached the institute for a refund of the remaining half of the period and was assured that it would be granted. However, when he didnt get the money, he approached the court.

Brilliant Tutorials told the Forum that as per the terms of admission, fees once paid were not refundable. However, the forum ruled that if the services were not availed of, the fees are bound to be refunded. The forum added that "A student or a trainee may leave midstream if he finds the service deficient, substandard and non-yielding, and to tell him that fees once paid are not refundable was an unfair trade practice, as no service provider can take or charge the consideration of the service which it has either not given or has not been availed." The forum ruled, "We find that the institutes stand that fees once paid shall not be refundable is not tenable and they are liable to refund the fees on pro-rata basis for the period the complainant has not attended their coaching services." It directed the institute to refund the fees and provide compensation within a month.

Reacting to the verdict, Chairperson of Pune-based Career Forum, Sujata Khanna says that a refund is not impossible provided that material costs are cut on a pro-rata basis. "The study material of a coaching class is costly. If you are talking of even 6,000 pages, it is a lot of investment on part of the coaching institute. And study material once opened cannot be given to another student, so it amounts to almost waste. So after deducting the material amount, the rest, which is essentially the unused service component can be refunded."

Khanna adds that this is besides the issue faced by the tutorial that one seat will remain vacant in the class and it would be difficult to fill that one seat after the classes have begun.

According to ARKS Srinivas, Director of test-prep company T.I.M.E. at Kolkata, the largest cost component of the coaching is incurred within the first few months at most institutes. "How do you make a qualitative assessment of refund when the first few months of classes are most important?" asks Srinivas.

Srinivas also added that besides the teaching, a large part of the investment for a particular student is done even before the coaching classes start. "At least 25% of the fees collected goes into paying royalty for the course-material. Plus a service tax of about 10% is also paid much before. This means that 35% and more is used up even before a class starts. This makes the issue of refund a little different from the point of view of the coaching class," explains Shrinivas.

Gejo Srinivasan, Principal Consultant at Career Launcher explains that fee figures are usually arrived at after taking into account the number of students and the faculty numbers and quality involved. If a student backs out, these figures get upset. "Not to mention the empty seats. How does one replenish the seats months after classes have started everywhere?" he asks.

We spoke to a few students about this. Chennai-based N Nagaraj, who is currently studying for the CAT feels that refunds should not be given without riders. "It depends on a lot of factors like how seriously the student had taken his classes and the faculty strength invoved. All these factors should be kept in mind when a refund issue is discussed." Bangalore-based Abhishek Bhatia, also appearing for the CAT this year asks how a coaching class will fill a vacant seat if a student leaves mid-way. "In the first week itself, the student should take a decision on whether the class is going to benefit him or not. The coaching institutes should have a minimum cut-off time to allow students to leave if they want to. Beyond this time, refunds should not be allowed unless the circumstances are really difficult."

Arshdeep Kaur from Chandigarh, also preparing for her CAT this year, begs to differ to a certain extent. "There should be a provision made for at least some of the money to be refunded. Often at coaching institutes, there are no demo classes and it is only much later the student may realize that the class is not good enough. In that case a refund should be permitted because that becomes a genuine reason for leaving."

Both coaching classes and students however agree that if the cases is genuine, a refund should be allowed and the decision should be taken on a case-to-case basis, and after deducting the amount already invested on the student.

A problem however arises when the coaching institute fails to see the reason for quitting as an authentic one.

Career Forum's Khanna says that a proper refund policy should be laid out by the institute so that disputes of any kind can be solved. "The refund should be calculated starting the day the student asks for a refund in writing and not from the day, he or she stops attending the class," she suggests.

ARKS Srinivas says that the Consumer Forum ruling will certainly help students who register at the numerous small coaching institutes with questionable quality.

Srinivasan suggests that a student's claim for refund is legitimate only if he has done his bit in availing the class's services properly. "A coaching class does not give you a formal degree in the end like a college does. So a student can say whether his coaching class was successful or not only if he has attended his lectures and been an active partcipant in the activities prescribed," he explains.

What do you think? What according to you makes a refund claim legitimate and what does not? Do answer the poll and leave a comment!

[laj (Lajwanti D'Souza)]

Five 99-percentilers who are now studying at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) speak about what they did right when preparing for the CAT. Read through their experiences, you just might find a magic pill or two!

What to read

Shreyans Shrimali from IIM Ahmedabad with a CAT 2009 score of 99.99 percentile: "A lot of practice material exists in the form of books, papers, tutorials, etc for the uninitiated. To start with, the previous ten years' CAT papers serve as a very good source of getting acquainted with the basics. Most DI concepts get covered in these. For quant, the PaGaLGuY Quant thread is a great resource. Since I was working, I could never study from books. But I solved any and every mock test that I came across from previous years. Specifically, I used to choose the moderate and easy level questions from these tests and learn all their concepts. By the end of my preparations, I was pretty sure that given the variations in the questions I have seen, I will be able to handle new ones. This actually came true for me as the CAT paper in 2009 was a stereotypical one with very few variations. Even if CAT 2010 is not like that, practicing as much as possible will help in facing new challenges. Verbal was always tricky for me. I concentrated on three major types of questions for this section. I worked on Reading Comprehension by reading TimesBlogs and magazines. I learnt a lot of words and their usages; The WordCommand software and Thesaurus.com were a few sources for this. Finally for sentence correction, I relied on the Sentence Correction thread and the downloadable material on PaGaLGuY."

Rohitashva Tomar from IIM Ahmedabad with a CAT score of 99.55 percentile: "The best source (of material for improving reading) is The Hindu. With more emphasis on inferential questions in RC it is good to read quality articles and develop a good reading speed. In addition, it helps in interpreting complex passages and understanding their meanings. For quant I read a book called Quantum CAT before taking mocks and I recommend this to people like me who are weak in quant. This book has all the basic concepts and covers all the topics. For DI the only good source is last years mocks as no book provides questions of the level of CAT. Practise as much from these and try to solve a variety of questions so that every time you attempt the questions, they become easier to tackle."

Omkar Sathe from IIM Calcutta who score a 99.65 percentile in CAT: "I recommend reading books such as Shantaram, Nautical Miles, Ayn Rand. I recommend the Hindu editorials. As far as magazines are concerned, it's better to read those dealing with current affairs. Reading editorials and news magazine helps immensely in the GD-PI stage. The level of study depends on where you stand right now, and your target institutes. If you are aiming for the very best, then your preparation needs to reflect that in terms of your effort. To be part of that elite crowd, you have to put in efforts which say that you deserve that coveted seat. Since English was my strong section, (99.38 percentile in CAT and 99.86 percentile in XAT), let me speak about this section. Performance in verbal ability can be most effectively improved by reading good books, newspaper editorials and magazines. Reading will help improve your reading speed and comprehension, will enable you to develop a quicker eye for questions in Sentence Correction or Sentence Completion and will unveil new phrases and words (with their proper usage). Since there are only about 70 days left for preparation, it also would make sense to practice those types of questions where 'rules' can be applied. Generally speaking, one must try to develop expertise in at least two good sections. The disadvantage of having only one strong section is that if that section has very tough questions in the exam, capitalizing on that strength becomes tougher too."

Varun Rajaram from IIM Lucknow who scored a 99.62 percentile in CAT: "Reading material can comprise anything that ranges from your coaching class material to Arun Sharma's book for quant. Articles from the Internet for verbal and DI exercises from last year's mocks and previous CAT papers are also a good source. I believe verbal is the section that makes or breaks a good CAT percentile and it's this section which is often neglected. Regular reading can help tremendously. www.aldaily.com has some good articles that improve your reading speed and analytical skills as well. Ideally, 6-7 hours of daily study would do. This again is purely inferential from past experience and the average work hours that peers and colleagues did. Even 3-4 hours of undivided attention to books should clinch it."

Rohit Gupta from IIM Ahmedabad who scored a 99.85 percentile in CAT: "One must definitely read the editorials in The Hindu newspaper and the New York Times. The quality put out by both the papers is very very good. One should comprehend what is written. Reading both daily is possibly the best read while preparing for CAT."

How to approach mock-tests

Rohitashva Tomar: "There is no fixed number of mocks that you should take but drawing from my experience I would say that any one coaching institute's test-series is more than sufficient. The emphasis should be more on analyzing the mocks after the actual test and learning about your mistakes and knowing how not to repeat them. There are around 20 AIMCATS offered by T.I.M.E. so if one is taking 15-16 followed by good analysis then that should be enough."

Shreyans Shrimali: "The real test is not just of aptitude but of confidence and outlook. The real time simulation that mocks provide can never be matched by preparing all by oneself. While I was attempting my CAT, the structured approach that I followed was the result of the mocks I had taken. I was sure of my strong areas, how I should distribute the time and the format. More than these, I was prepared to handle the next big surprise I will get as I click the NEXT button. Some of these things can only be experienced, but without ample practice of the test format, one is sure to lose a few crucial minutes figuring out the progress while attempting the final test. Attempting ten mocks in all should ensure familiarity with the test as well as about personal areas of improvements. Everything you do over and above this will add to your skills as well as instill confidence to face the C-day. I personally followed T.I.M.E. but the rest are equally good. Just make sure that the number of participants taking your test-series is large enough for your scores to mean something."

Varun Rajaram: "Ideally, you should take 35-40 mocks before CAT. Merely attempting mocks doesn't help; the most crucial part of the process is the analysis of mocks after the exam."

Rohit Gupta: "Mocks have to be taken but not too many. Mocks help you judge your speed as well as knowledge. Take mocks till your analysis skills, knowledge and speed are upto the mark."

To what extent do coaching classes help

Rohitashva Tomar: "I took CAT coaching during my college days and from my experience I can say that they do help in streamlining your preparation. If one is in college and is taking CAT for first time then joining coaching is a good idea. It is not needed for someone who is taking CAT for a second time as it will not add anything to the preparation process. At that stage, the emphasis should be more on taking mocks and brushing up areas in which the person is weak."

Shreyans Shrimali: "Though I did not attend classes this year, I did earlier during my preparation for CAT 2007. Classes can be very crucial for those who are at a loss to understand where to start and how to go forward. Attending DI sessions can be very useful as the material available for the subject is neither enough nor of standard quality. But there is always the threat of time wastage if one attends all the classes. Identify your weak areas and seek guidance for them specifically at the classes."

Rohit Gupta: "Coaching classes are necessary only if one uses them as a supplemntary study source. They cannot and should not be your main study focus. The problem arises when students consider them as the main source of study and depend entirely on them."

Varun Rajaram : "Coaching institutes help to the extent that they provide material for practice both inside the classroom and outside of it. However I quit my coaching classes within a month of joining as I felt they were not being beneficial. Mock tests at coaching classes are a must, though."

Cut down on social life?

Rohitashva Tomar: "A big no. One should not cut down on social life at all. A person cannot study for the whole day and if you do that then you lose steam after some time. During CAT preparation the most important thing is to remain motivated and for that its necessary that you are not overburdening yourself. It does not mean that you waste time, but just take things one at a time and dont overburden yourself."

Shreyans Shrimali: "Life does not end with CAT. If you succeed, you still need friends and family to share your happiness. If you fail, you need support before you return and strike back. In fact, the CAT score becomes useless once you get an MBA admission, but your close ones stay with you. Do not cut off from them. Go out occasionally, have fun and feel rejuvenated. CAT is not about the number of hours put in, but the amount of effort put in within a fixed preparation period."

Rohit Gupta: "If one is working, then one is bound to cut down on social life a little at least. Otherwise where will the time to study come from? If one is not working, then there is absolutely no need to cut down on social life because of CAT preparation. "

Omkar Sathe: "I firmly believe that cutting down on social life should only be a last resort, to be exercised only in the most dire of circumstances. In fact, it helps to expand your social circle to include more people with similar aspirations, because they will be the ones who will help you when you get those depressingly bad mock scores. So having fun, enjoying oneself is equally important as is preparation for the CAT. Of course, that does not mean one should go out to party the night before CAT."

Varun Rajaram: "Cutting down on social life is purely a personal choice. I would advise against it as a good social life inadvertendly leads to a good frame of mind which effectively translates into good scores. So a good balance is required."

Keeping the right attitude

Rohitashva Tomar: "Remain upbeat all the time. Never get bogged down by low scores in mocks; instead learn from them and realize that you have to do better the next time. Keeping yourself motivated is the key to good performance. Dont lose confidence, motivate yourself, learn from the mistakes and analyze mocks thoroughly."

Shreyas Shrimali: "I won't think twice before promoting attitude to the top of the list of things a CAT taker should get right. Start with confidence of success in your mind. Picture it, live it. Whenever you fail in any mock test, think about success again. Very few people are consistent throughout the preparation period. The rest equally falter, not just once or twice but many many times. I scored to be in the 99 percentile only four times out of the 16 mocks that I took, but it never deterred me from believing that I could succeed. Also, a strong driving force in your mind works wonders. I had a reason why I wanted to work hard and I kept reminding myself about it. It helped me come out of the lows caused by scoring in the 80 and 70 percentiles during the preparation."

Varun Rajaram: "I think the hype leads to half the pressure in CAT. Its important not to be bogged down by pressure and work coolly.There will be bad phases but there will be more good ones provided studies are regular."

[guest_writer (Guest)]

In the last one decade, there are some common things that business schools in India have showcased to lure students to their MBA or equivalent programmes. Due to the excessive usage of these so called Unique Selling propositions by almost every private b-school, these terms have now become irrelevant and are no more associated with the way aspirants think about choosing their b-schools.

The following terminology is often used by b-schools to attract aspirants. I will take each one by one and explain why none of them is anything worth boasting about at all.

1. Approvals - of the programme (mostly the AICTE, and at other times the NAAC, UGC, etc). This no longer has any significance as most of the 2,000 odd b-schools with these approvals are the ones sulking the most and possibly are the worst examples of how a b-school shouldn't be. The only quality AICTE-approved b-schools are the one that have been around for long and will flourish despite or without AICTE approvals.

2. Air-conditioned campus - How does it matter?

3. Well-stocked Library - Isn't this the bare minimum required facility in any MBA programme? How can it be a unique selling proposition?

4. Free Laptop - Sounds like some kind of a free alarm-clock-cum-radio being offered along with a magazine subscription to attract people to join. Why would someone who is investing Rs six lakh in fees and expenses worry about a laptop worth Rs 20,000? More so, how can this be a salient feature of an MBA programme?

5. 100% Placements, Placement partners - A closer look will reveal how much of this is true. Some in the sector speak of horrific stories of how HR departments of companies are paid money by b-schools to get the student an offer for three months and then chuck him out. If this is true, then its a big scandal in itself. The important question is - Do I want to join an Educational institute or a Placement Agency to find me a job? Moreover, even the top-20 (by any definition) b-schools do not manage 100% placements, so how can these private b-schools even dream of doing so?

6. Additional programmes in SAP, Super-specializations - This is actually laughing-stock material. I mean, there are so many more elective course credits available for students in some of the best b-schools that something like this is hilarious.

7. Hostel facility - What about a hostel is a key feature or a unique selling proposition?

8. Visiting Faculty from XYZ b-schools (usually the IIMs or XLRI) - Which means that the schools own fulltime faculty strength is either low or nil and therefore academic rigour is absent. Employing visiting faculty is always a way of saving costs for any b-school. Which means that a large part of the fees being charged by them is going straight into their pockets --- but certainly not into many professors fulltime salary accounts.

9. Hygienic canteen - As if the food in all other campuses is killing aspirants.

10. Wi-fi campus - This is the biggest farce of all. If one belonged to the 1980s, they may say wow to that. But the current young generation, which takes technology in daily life for granted, will find this mention amusing.

11. Scholarships - This usually means discount. It turns education into some kind of a bargainable commodity. This word has been overused and aspirants have no respect for something like this anymore. Most students now consider a b-school advertising scholarships as too desperate. Moreover, any b-school which treats education as a bargainable commodity is likely to treat it exactly as that when it comes to delivering the goods.

12. International Curriculum - Some even go the lengths of claiming that their curriculum reflects those of Harvard's or Wharton's. For the small section of people who are not in the know this might be an attraction, but any MBA aspirant who does even the minimum research, this is a lie. One cannot ever replicate the curriculum of these Universities because the kind of course credits available in those schools and the resultant number of teaching hours require a huge fulltime faculty-strength (upwards of 300) that even the best in India havent been able to execute.

13. Ranked X in India - There are so many b-school rankings in the country now, that every private b-school has a chance to get into a top position in some or the other rankings and still have room for more. So many private b-schools now claim to have a good b-school rank that aspirants have become blind to the word.

14. B-school backed by IIM alumni - Great educational institutions are formed by academics from top universities and not business professionals who have been trained to work in the industry. Moreover, there are all kinds of people graduating from an IIM --- some become good managers and some dont. Without going into the individual credentials of each of the purported IIM alumni backers, this argument is pure rhetoric. In many cases, this IIM alumni promoter is a rich man with lots of spare cash who isnt averse to making a small side-investment in an educational venture as long as he doesnt have involve himself in the day-to-day functioning --- and in exchange the b-school copiously uses his name for marketing itself.

Several b-schools that form an immaculate marketing campaign around the above often wonder why it is not translating to proportionate application form sales or enquiries. As the academic-session date draws closer, these b-schools then have to buy contact number databases of MBA aspirants from various sources and fill up their seats after a large-scale telemarketing exercise. That does get them students, but never the good quality students that will get these b-schools anywhere near a long-lasting reputation.

If b-schools avoid these terms and start properly identifying themselves with aspirants, it will translate into better response for bschools in every possible way. The question is --- would they have anything substantial to talk about if they choose to omit these terms from their advertisements?

Related reads

• The 'B-school brochure deconstruction guide'


• Why over 1,500 b-schools in India could shut down in the next two years


• Walking the tightrope: What is it like to start a new business school in these times

The author heads the Sales and Marketing team at PaGaLGuY.com.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Last week, we had an opportunity to have a quick phone conversation with Prometric's Vice President (Solution Services) David A Meissner during his visit to New Delhi about scoring, testing environments and results. Following is an edited excerpt:

Why is it not possible for a candidate to get his raw score from Prometric?

There are a couple of reasons. First, the raw score is at best a misleading figure and can create a significant source of concern without going through the full equating process. Without the equating, the raw score does not mean anything. By knowing the raw score, the candidates could come with the feeling that they deserved a higher score if they focused just on the raw score. Our concern which is also shared by the IIMs is that releasing that information will create more confusion than clarity. Secondly, there is the concern that if we release the raw score information we might end up enabling access to sensitive procedures in the scoring routine, thereby undermining the security of the exam. I would also like to say that in other examinations that use similar methods of equating, it is not an unusual practice to not release the raw score.

Why would it take you more than one-and-half month to release the CAT results, despite computerization of the exam?

The reason why there is a seven-week delay in releasing the result is because we are going to be employing 40 test-forms (question papers). Each test-form has to undergo the equating process in order to ensure that candidates receive scores that are reflective of their performance. That takes several weeks to analyze. To commit to a shorter time would have us run the risk of not releasing accurate scores.

How critical is the public knowledge of questions from prior test slots to the fairness of the exam?

In this particular exam we have gone to great lengths to minimize commonality of content between forms, the exception being the equating items. While creating the test forms we have minimized the opportunity for candidates to harvest items and share with others and get any sort of advantage. We have designed discrete test-forms in a way that knowing items will have no effect on the score of subsequent candidates.

How about cloned items, which are similar questions but with different variable values?

Cloned items, or item models are used to facilitate creation of a large number of test questions. You take a base question and change certain variables to get more questions. When we create cloned items we choose questions that wouldn't be prone to memorization. However in certain areas such as Data Interpretation, there are only a few basic principles that are being assessed that one might say are prone to memorizing and sharing of content. The questions, which are created by professors of the IIMs and IITs undergo a detailed review process before being kept or discarded. While doing that we have to be careful to the challenges you describe.

After the equating was completed for CAT 2009, by what factor did the easiest test and the most difficult test differ?

I don't have that information and I'm not sure we can release that to the public.

Is there a provision for a large-scale retest in CAT 2010 if things go wrong again at the same scale as last year?

Yes we have built in contingencies in many ways, such as additional workstations and sessions at every location that will remain on standby in case some workstations fail.

[vasundhara_vyas]

The most awaited CAT 2010 registration has finally begun. Not wanting to be a mere spectator to everybody's comments, I decided to try my hand at the process myself. More so this year, because I wanted to experience the preparedness of Prometric and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for this year's test.

After procuring my voucher from the Axis Bank branch in Fort, the two slips of paper were amongst my latest, most prized possessions. It also brought back memories of 2003, when I had first filled the CAT form. That time it was a similar stamped pay-in form, but with it was an envelope that contained the brochure which had the application form in it, to be filled by hand.

After scratching the voucher for the voucher number, I decided to register instantly. The voucher has detailed instructions on how to go about the registration process from mentioning the CAT website address to the details that would be mentioned on the admit card. The voucher also prints a 'Disclaimer' where the candidates are warned not to provide any false information and if the candidate is found to provide false information, he/she will not be allowed to appear for CAT in the future.

As I began the process of registering, at first, the website took over 3-4 minutes to respond and the session ended abruptly. After the first bubble of excitement burst, I geared up for it again and started afresh.

As I started filling up the details in the registration form and pressed the submit button, the form popped right back. "The user name can contain only alphabetic characters", it said to my initially entry of adding an under-score between my name and surname. After making the needed change in the user name, I filled all the details once again and submitted. The form popped right back saying 'The password has to be 7 to 20 characters with atleast one numeric character". I had to begin the process of filling the form from scratch, this time keeping the instructions about the user name and password in mind.

I'd like to suggest to Prometric and IIMs, that little hints, somewhere on the form on exactly how to go about filling the form will save a lot of time and stress.

I finally got it all right with the first page and on reaching the second where i was asked to file details regarding my previous academic and work experience.

On the whole, the registration process took me 20 - 25 minutes to complete, which is considered to be much quicker than the last year's registration process, where in CAT aspirants took even more than an hour. Even the form has been made more precise and detailed, though seeking more information from the candidate.

As soon as i completed filling the form, giving the date preference for the test, slot and the center where I would be taking the test, an email from 'email confirmations' arrived instantly on my email id. Thankfully, that at lest was fast and without error.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

CATIIM.IN has been hacked. It is currently hosting malware files as listed by multiple antivirus software and also google's safe browsing diagnostic pages. Don't visit the site until the infection/hack clears up.

If you visit the site without any antivirus or malware detecting software on your machine, there is a high chance you will end up infecting your computer. The timing of this hack is awful for the candidates. More information on this as the day progresses. In most of such cases a security exploit would have been found on the server by the people who decided to target the site. This does not bode terribly well for Prometric as there will be enough questions on the sanctity of the data collected by them from the students and also their ability to host a secure website.

We request users to not visit the website until the team at Prometric fixes the site. We'll report back as soon as it happens.

UPDATE: Prometric sent us the following official statement admitting that there indeed was malware on 'Catiim.in'. It goes on to further say that it has been removed and that candidate data was not compromised as a result of the attack. Full text of the statement below:

"Prometric has been investigating reports that IIMs CAT web site www.catiim.in has been displaying warning messages on certain browsers. A malware was discovered and removed overnight. It will take several hours for the warnings to disappear from Google Chrome. As is stated at the bottom of the candidate registration page, we advise candidates to use the following approved browsers: Internet Explorer version 7 or above, or Firefox version 3.0 and above.

The affected site provides information about the CAT to candidates; it does not store or contain any candidate information.

If access to www.catiim.in is not available, the alternative site https://iim.prometric.com/ is the Prometric web site for accepting candidate applications and appointments. Candidate information is protected with enterprise-class security technology, is confirmed to be safe from harm, is completely segregated from the www.catiim.in web site, and has undergone rigorous security and vulnerability testing.

At no time did this issue impede the ability of candidates to register for the CAT, nor has any candidate application or appointment data been compromised." (End of statement)

Meanwhile. the Google search continues to show a 'This site may harm your computer' advisory for all webpages on 'Catiim.in' (see screenshot below). It usually takes Google a few hours after a website is cleaned up of malware to take the advisory down. One could start surfing the site on the browsers recommended by Prometric, but to be absolutely safe one might want to wait for the advisory to be taken down from Google.

PS: The alert is only being shown on Google Chrome and for people using Kaspersky Antivirus, Avast & Nod32. If you are just using Firefox or IE, you may or may not see any error, but that doesn't mean the site is secure.

PS2: Alert now showing on all of Chrome, Safari and Firefox on Windows, Ubuntu or Mac OS.

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

Looks like the catiim.in site is now safe for browsing. Google has removed the malware advisory on the website. For all the people who don't use antivirus software, this might be a good time to think about getting something to protect their machines. There are multiple free antivirus, malware scanning and firewall solutions available out there. Stay safe.

This story is in continuation to what happened earlier today when the catiim.in website appeared to have been hacked.

[vasundhara_vyas]

From newspaper editions to internet ones and from broadcast to podcast, the rapidly changing communications industry is in urgent need of expert governance. To meet this demand, the Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad (MICA) recently launched a Fellowship Programme in Management (FPM) for industry enthusiasts who not only want to keep pace with the changing times but also serve as experts.

According to Dean of Research at MICA, Professor Pradeep Krishnatray, the programme has been initiated to overcome the shortage of scholars, faculty and researchers who need to oversee the transforming communications industry. The fundamentals of communications are changing. With new devices like mobile phones and internet, no single medium of communication can be it. Today, it means integration of the traditional and the new media and to record this transformation scholars and researchers are needed.

Besides creating a team of experts to deal with the new scenario in communications, this programme is also expected to feed the faculty requirements of MICA and other establishments in India and abroad. The programme hopes to breed quality faculty and researchers in-house, and churn out fellows who can generate research in the field of communications which is almost non-existent at this point. In quite a few institutes offering fellowship programmes, including the Indian Institutes of Management, graduates from the fellowship programme are absorbed as faculty by the institute. In fact, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has close to 40 percent of the faculty members who are fellowship holders of the institute, including the current director, Professor Samir Barua and the newly appointed Dean of Faculty, Professor Ajay Pandey.

With this programme, MICA also hopes to increase its student-faculty ratio. MICA presently has close to 400 students at a time on campus, besides the several on-line courses. For all the students put together, there are 23 permanent faculties and several visiting and guest faculty from industry in India and abroad. This makes the faculty-student ratio over 1:20. MICA hopes to increase the ratio to 1:15, which is the ratio in IIMA.

Besides, Krishnatray, the credit for this programme also goes to Professor Ashok Ranchhod, who is presently the director.

The three year programme, which has already begun work, has received approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The areas of discipline that the programme offers include Integrated Marketing Communication (which is the study of complementary use of media,) Communication and Social Change (which is the study of societal changes brought about by communication), Communication and Cultural Studies (which is the study of implication and influence of communication on tradition and communities) and New Media and Communication (study of new media like internet.)

Though there is a provision for ten seats, the first batch has commenced with nine students. According to Krishnatray, there were forty applications for the fellowship programme, but only nine were selected on the basis of their credentials which were tested during the selected process. These come from diverse backgrounds within the communications expanse, like radio, marketing, advertising and others. One of the candidates is also a fresher with a strong communications and marketing background.

Being a full time course, the students live on the campus. The selection process for the programme includes a written exam which is subjective, a presentation and a final interview. Candidates with a background in communication management and who possess basic analytical and statistical skills are preferred. There are no fees for the fellowship programme and participants are given a stipend amount of Rs 20,000 per month, which the enrolled participants say is more than enough, since all their other needs are looked after by the institute.

As a part of the course, the candidates will be expected to spend one term of their second year in a university abroad and be assigned to an academician or a researcher there. The fellows will have to prepare the first draft of their project abroad which they will continue to work on after they return, said Krishnatray. In the third year, candidates will assist a current faculty member back home and on completion of the course, will have to teach at MICA for at least two years.

The average age of the candidates in the FPM is slightly higher than the other courses. About 46 per cent of the batch doing Post Graduate Diploma in Management is aged between 22 and 23 years and 43 per cent is aged between 20 and 21 years, while the candidates in the FPM programme are aged between 28 and 32 years.

Priti Das, one of the candidates enrolled in the programme, has worked for various companies in the last six years, most of her job profiles related to marketing and development. Her last job was however that of a radio jockey. Talking about her expectations of the course, she said: "I expect this course to be a platform wherein I can integrate with academics, all that I have learnt as part of the industry. The other exciting bit is assisting a professor and then teaching at the institute. Das hopes to work as an independent consultant in the years to come.

In the batch are also the likes of Shiba Daveshar, who has worked in a daily newspaper for 10 years. I always wanted to get into academics, she says citing the reasons for her entry into the FPM. Tanupam Akuli has also enrolled into the programme to gain academic experience and is keeping the options of going back to the corporate world. Akuli, an engineer with a management degree and six years of marketing work experience, said: "Before I took the decision of taking this break and getting back to academics, I spoke to a few friends and HR guys in the corporate circle. The HR people told me that while there is a lot of movement from the corporate to academics, the other way around movement is also prevalent and the industry is happy to welcome people from education field.

The institute is also planning to make the FPM a professional doctorate programme for people with considerable work experience and who have published great amount of research and papers as a part of their job. This is widely prevalent in universities abroad but not in India, said Krishnatray.

[shashank3012 (Shashank Prabhu)]

This year, Prometric is leaving no stone unturned in interfacing with the media, ostensibly in order to create goodwill among CAT 2010 takers. Last week, Prometric provided a sneak preview into the CAT 2010 testing interface to the media in New Delhi and Mumbai. Some excerpts from the Mumbai press conference with their Managing Director Soumitra Roy.

Registering for CAT 2010

The CAT 2010 website has been redesigned to match the Global Usability Standards and the registration process is reported to be much smoother than what it was last year, said Mr Roy. Also, videos uploaded on the site are meant to familiarize the candidates with the check-in process.

Test Centers, Checking-in on the test day

CAT 2010 will be held in 33 cities across 78 centers, in a total of 247 testing labs and 9,000+ computer terminals. That's down from 104 centers in CAT 2009 all amounting to more than 17,000 computer terminals.

We have given utmost priority to the physical and technical infrastructure (while choosing the centers), the security arrangements and the backup power-supply options. We will personally make sure that all the systems have updated software the absence of which was one of the causes of some of the glitches last year, Mr Roy told journalists.

The candidates would have to reach their test-centers at least 1.5 hours prior to their slots. No belongings would be allowed inside the testing lab except a photo identity card, a printout of the CAT admit card and the CAT voucher. Washrooms would be out of bounds from 30 minutes before the test till the end of the test.

The check-in process would include one to go through biometric analysis (fingerprint machines, digital photographs). Last year, there were several instances of proxy testing which were weeded out due to biometric analysis done before the test. This year, the candidates who clear the entire admission process will be subjected to biometric analysis again after the final admission so as to avoid any such instances. We believe that security and fairness are of utmost importance to the conduct of the test, Mr Roy said.

Practice Test and Tutorial

A practice test and tutorial will be made available on the CAT website in a few days for candidates to develop comfort with the testing interface. The practice test will be 15 minutes and 12 questions long and can be taken as many times as one wishes to. The tutorial will be also delivered to candidates before the actual test.

The Test Interface

The CAT 2010 test interface will basically have two screens.

1. The Question Screen where you will have the questions followed by answer options


2. The Review Screen which will be a snapshot of the entire test showing questions that have been attempted, unanswered or marked for review.

One can easily toggle between these two screens.

The interface closely resembles that of CAT 2009. The one most important change is the modified placement of the 'QUIT' button. It is now placed on the Review screen only and not on the Question screen. So the chances that you will accidentally end are lowered. Even if you do accidentally click the QUIT button on the Review page, you will still be asked to confirm your decision once. However, ending the test early does not mean you can leave the test center before the official end time.

If you wish to undo an attempt on a question, you can click on the answer option again to put the question in the 'unattempted' category again. You can also mark questions so that you can come to them later in the test. However if you have marked questions that you have already attempted, they will still be evaluated. So marking a question does not mean that it will be untouched during the scoring process.

The Review screen clearly demarcates the completed, complete and marked questions. One can jump to any question by double clicking on the question number. Options allow you to view only the incomplete questions or only the marked questions.

Test pattern, Marking scheme

There will be 60 questions in the test divided into three sections --- Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation.

Asked if the sections would be demarcated from each other, Mr Roy said, The sections are not demarcated as of now, but, if the IIMs demand it, it will be done.

You will get +3 for each correct answer and -1 for each incorrect answer. Unattempted questions will not fetch any negative marks.

Contingency planning

In case of power failure or system shutdown or missing graphs in questions, the candidate will be allotted a new computer terminal and the test will resume from the point where it had aborted.

If you are unlucky enough to experience major disruptions during the test, you will be allowed to take the test again within the CAT window (October 27 to November 24). Gaps have been left in between the testing days to accommodate such cases.

After 33 years of paper based testing, CAT moved to the computer based format for the first time in 2009. Yes, there were certain errors in the process last time around. To get a candidate's perspective, we have gone through many of the blogs and have used the feedback to cut down on the errors this time around. But with the test being conducted in 33 cities across 78 centers, in 247 labs and 9,000 plus systems in a window period of 20 days, we cannot say that it will be a completely glitch-free test, said Mr Roy explaining the need for contingency planning.

Non Disclosure Agreement

The non disclosure agreement which prohibits candidates from revealing CAT questions will stay this year too. According to Mr Roy, Prometric has reported cases of question leakage to the IIMs (in 2009) and it is in their jurisdiction to take any further action against the concerned people.

Almost all the questions (that were leaked) on the blogs were not even close to the actual questions which appeared in CAT and it's humanly not possible to memorize the questions unless one appears solely for that purpose, he added.

When asked about dummy candidates from coaching institutes who appeared solely for the purpose of leaking questions to their students, Mr Roy said, Even if the questions ere leaked via internal mail lists, there won't be any questions which are exactly the same in any two different sets. The only questions which will get repeated will be the anchor questions. The data available from the percentage of people attempting a particular question correctly or incorrectly will be used to design questions for further editions of the CAT.

[vasundhara_vyas]

The mock CAT season of this year is in its full bloom but it is not leaving many who are preparing for the CAT seriously too happy. It's not the difficulty level of the test papers or 'technical glitches' at the mock CAT centers, but the percentiles they are getting that is irking them.

Many who are preparing for the CAT for the third or the forth time are realising than even though their absolute scores in the mocks have remained similar or even increased compared to the previous year, their percentiles aren't getting any better. In fact, despite scoring more, the percentiles are often dropping. It has taken them a while to understand that this bizarre trend had nothing to do with faulty preparation, but the reducing number of people who were taking the mock tests.

With only five weeks to go for the CAT 2010 tests to start, the number of candidates taking the mock CATs conducted by several test preparation companies are seeing a major drop in comparison to previous years. Though the registration for CAT 2010 is still on, a reducing number of mock test takers could be an indicator of what to expect at the actual CAT.

In the last all-India mock CATs conducted by T.I.M.E. in mid-September, the 'AIMCAT 1106', the number of candidates appearing was in very close vicinity of 13,640. Participation in the three AIMCATs conducted before the 1106 had a meager population in the neighborhoods of 15,565 (AIMCAT 1107), 17,200 (AIMCAT 110 and 17,425 (AIMCAT 1109).

Compared to this in 2009, the number of candidates appearing for mock CATs were over 25,000 and in years before that when CAT was conducted in the paper-pencil format, the mock CATs have had a participation of as much as 30,000 to 32,000 candidates. The all-India mock conducted by IMS last week too had around 10,000 candidates appearing and around 13,000 candidates appeared in the mock CAT conducted by Career Launcher.

(Explanation of how the test-taker numbers were derived is written at the end.)

Kinjal Das, who will be appearing for CAT for the third time this year said, "Any national mock CAT until last year had at least 23,000 to 27,000 candidates participating. But this year that number has reduced to 15,000 to 17,000."

How does a reducing population in mock CATs affect an aspirant? Say, if a candidate is ranked 5,000 among 30,000 then his percentile will be 83.33. But the same candidate if maintains his rank at 5,000, but the number of candidates drop to 20,000 then his percentile become 75. This huge variation in the percentile despite the same score and rank can be disheartening for many. Not all candidates know how many people appeared in a mock CAT. Without that number in perspective, percentile is half-knowledge. With reducing numbers, the value of mock CATs too is likely to be seen as diminutive. Unless of course, the number of test-takers for CAT 2010 too drops by an equal proportion as it is doing for mock CATs.

Arjun Chakravorty, Center Manager of IMS Learning Resources at Koramangala, Bangalore said, "The number of students who have enrolled with us for the CAT coaching this year has dropped marginally, but the quality of the candidates has improved. The candidates that have enrolled are focused and aspire management education by their own choice and not peer pressure."

In a percentile-based competition such as this, the absence of non-serious aspirants can provide those whose performance would traditionally have been in the 70-90 percentile category a misrepresented idea of their preparation.

However, reducing mock population may not necessarily mean that the CAT is losing takers. Those analysing the trend also feel that the dip in the number of mock CAT takers is related to the fact that an increasing number of CAT takers have fulltime day jobs. Abhishek S, who is giving CAT a third attempt said, "There are two things that are happening. Firstly, as the CAT test dates have been advanced, the coaching classes are having to complete their courses and the tests in lesser time. There are two tests that are being conducted in one week which increases the pressure on any student. The working people thus opt out of these tests very frequently. The other thing is, even if there are tests conduced over the weekend, the slots are usually full within hours of the mock CAT being announced. If the working people do not register for the tests in time, their opportunity is lost in this case also."

Unable to fit mock CATs offered by coaching institutes into their schedules, the working population are also opting for home-based mock tests delivered through the Internet by various websites.

Though the number of candidates appearing for the mock CAT might not be a sure shot indicator of the actual number of candidates who are attempting to bell the CAT 2010, one cannot not think about the dip in the number of CAT applicants in 2009 compared to that in CAT 2008. That gives rise to the big question: is it the beginning of the end of the MBA wave?

How the number of test takers in the mock CATs was calculated

Even if the coaching institutes don't provide the number of students taking the test, one can still derive the approximate number of test takers with the help of the percentile they provide and the rank they give along with the results. A percentile is basically the percentage of people whom you have outscored. People who clear the sectional cut-offs and the overall cut-off are eligible for a rank in the Toppers List. So, if someone has a rank 15 at a score of 99.85 percentile, it means that, 0.15 percentile of the junta corresponds to 15 people. So, the total number of test takers comes out to be at least 10,000. Even if we assume that a few of the high scorers do miss the sectional cutoffs, the number won't go way above the estimate.

[vasundhara_vyas]

The longer testing window seems to also have inspired a longer registration window for CAT 2010. The CAT Committee has decided to advance the final registration deadlines for CAT 2010 by one week. Vouchers will now be on sale at Axis Bank branches until October 4, while candidates can now register for the test till October 7, which is only 20 days before the actual test begins.

The registration date has been advanced by the CAT Committee for the second year in a row now. The reason was evident last year, as the number of candidates who registered had dipped from 2.7 lakhs in 2008 to 2.4 lakhs in 2009. This move of extending registration indicates that the number or takers for the CAT may be falling. In a press conference only a week ago, a Prometric official had mentioned that close to 1.75 lakh candidates had already registered and they were hoping that it will increase and reach the same number of candidates that had registered last year.

When PaGaLGuY contacted the CAT Convener, professor Himanshu Rai, he confirmed the advancement of the registration date. He said, We received requests from many candidates who had last minute queries or had not been able to register as yet. So we decided to defer the date of registering and advance it by a week."

In its second year, feedback about the CAT registration website has been good. Candidates who are registering for the test for the second time this year have felt the difference and have had a fairly smooth experience of registering online. The website is a more self explanatory and user-friendly, as claimed by Prometric.

Last year, the IIMs had attributed falling CAT numbers to the recession. If we are to see a further reduction in CAT candidates this year, the reasons may be deeper and manifold. The exam in its computer-based format could indeed be inaccessible to candidates from rural areas or tier-3 towns. The test costs more than the paper-pencil test and preparation for it has become costlier. Some even attribute the general falling interest in CAT to increased opportunities in government jobs, such as the ones opened by increased vacancies in Bank PO exams in a few states of North India.

The number of candidates taking the CAT may dip, but it being the only way to get into the premium b-schools of the country, the candidates seriously aiming for the Indian Institutes of Management may remain or even increase by the year. It may just be the hangers-on who are deserting the ship.

The final story will only be clear when the final number of candidates that have registered for the test are declared after October 7. If they do reduce, the only thing to be happy about is that this year there will be a little less competition than the year before and stepping into your dream institute might be a little easier.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

All but 70 kms stop IIM Rohtak from being called IIM Delhi. For advocates of building new IITs and IIMs near large industrialised metropolitan cities, the newest IIM at Rohtak would sound like a prayer answered in disguise, considering that it is just two-hours away from the country's capital. And the travel time would be lesser, if the National Highway 7 --- which transports you from New Delhi right to the doorstep of IIM Rohtak's temporary campus --- were widened and made less bumpy.

You can always travel to IIM Rohtak in an air-conditioned cab, but if you are looking for a sneak preview of the local milieu that the b-school's students will spend two years in, I'd recommend a Haryana Roadways bus. The two-hour journey took me through typical Haryana scenery --- vast paddy fields interrupted the occasional factory complex. The audio system played loud animated dialogues from 70's movies spoken in the local dialect, diverting my attention away (mostly) from the several bumpy stretches on the monsoon-beaten highway.

The sprawling Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU) campus, the temporary home of IIM Rohtak lies right at the entrance of Rohtak city and the bus dropped me barely a few hundred meters from the gate, where a large blue board pointed in the direction of the set of buildings allocated to the IIM.

Like all previous IIMs, IIM Rohtak too has its beginnings in exile. It will only be until the third or fourth batch joins the b-school that its own 200-acre permanent campus --- 20 kms away in the neighbouring village of Garnauthi --- will be ready for use.

As I entered the hostel block, the accounting term exam had just ended and the batch was enjoying a game of cricket.

We have another exam tomorrow but we'll get down to studying only as evening approaches, said Ankush Garg, a student of the first ever batch of IIM Rohtak as he showed me around the campus.

Two entire buildings of MDU have been given to IIM Rohtak. The hostel has single rooms for each student. The academic block has two classrooms, each with a capacity of 50 students and loaded with projectors and pull-down screens. The rest of the academic block is a sequence of rooms for the faculty and administration, most of which are vacant and waiting for its new occupants. The faculty is in the process of being recruited by IIM Lucknow, the mentor institution responsible for setting up IIM Rohtak. The students have access to all of MDU's library, auditorium and sports facilities.

We are happy with the temporary campus. We were apprehensive about what we might get, especially after we heard stories about some of the earlier IIMs being started out of single rooms of engineering colleges. But after we saw pictures of this campus posted on discussion forums, we were satisfied with the infrastructure we will get, says 23-year old Shivank Sharma, who spent an year with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited before joining IIM Rohtak's first batch.

The school runs completely on the back of faculty members from and curriculum formulated by IIM Lucknow, both from the main and the Noida campuses. To that extent, IIM Rohtak functions almost like a satellite campus of IIM Lucknow. But that will begin to change when the school gets its own Director (a senior professor from IIM Kozhikode has been named) on October 1 and also starts to replace the IIM Lucknow faculty by its own over the next year.

For now, faculty from IIM Lucknow and its Noida campus does to-and-fro to IIM rohtak only for classes and occasionally stays overnight in the campus. Without a resident faculty, the academic block carries a vacant air.

The dilemma of joining a new IIM

For students of the 48-strong first batch, it was the active interest taken by IIM Lucknow that made a huge difference when it came to taking a decision about whether or not to join a new IIM. There was general skepticism doing the rounds about the success of the new IIMs. Besides, joining a new institution means that one would not have any seniors --- essential mentors in college life. By choice or in hindsight, the students see the absence of seniors as both a boon and a bane.

Having no seniors means that we have to be completely on our own. It is partly a disadvantage as we have nobody we can seek help from for the assignments and projects. But on the brighter side, we don't feel suppressed as there are no existing traditions or rules that we must conform to, says Shivank.

Soon after we joined, the faculty gave us numbers of several students from IIM Lucknow. We often call them for advice and in a way, they have been acting as seniors for us, says 25-year old Sourabh Modi, who spent two years in the IT industry before joining IIM Rohtak.

Apart from that, the professors including our in-charge faculty Prof NK Gupta have been very forthcoming with help. He sits at IIM Lucknow's Noida campus and we can call him anytime, he adds.

The advantage of being located near New Delhi seemed to be another factor that helped the students attain conviction about their decisions. For many, the IIM brand was reason enough to desert final admissions at schools such as MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad and FMS Delhi and join IIM Rohtak.

Starting up

Soon after joining, the batch spent the first week getting to know each other and organizing themselves. Here too, the students took inspiration and advice from IIM Lucknow students and professors.

The student activity council was among the first ones to be formed. It's an important body that coordinates between all other committees. After that we formed the hospitality committee, the industrial relations team and the placement committee, says 22-year old Namit Chopra, an IIT Delhi graduate who joined IIM Rohtak after securing a CAT 2009 percentile of 99.72.

The students have already started participating in festivals and competitions at other b-schools as well as organizing their own intra-college events. We organized a mock IPL-like cricket event called Run-sangram, wherein we organized ourselves into team owners and bid for players each of whom had a price, adds Namit.

The students are particularly kicked about the founding nature of their batch when it comes to forming committees and clubs. Imagine what it will be like when I visit this campus two decades later and can have the pride to say that I founded the placement committee, says Ankush Jain, a member of the placement committee.

The first batch though meritorious in their CAT scores (average CAT percentile for the General category students is 99.6), consists almost entirely of engineers. More than three-fourths of the class has less than an year of experience while only two students have more than three years of work experience. The most experienced student brings along with him 5 years in the IT industry. Of the 48 students, three (6 percent) are women. In that sense, the batch is relatively less diverse. While the older IIMs have been tweaking their admission criteria to admit students from a wider spectrum, IIM Rohtak appears to have played safe by admitting its first batch purely on academic merit.

Reaching out, placements

The batch is yet to test the waters with its placement drive to invite companies on campus for summer placements, but the initial experience of the industrial relations committee has been promising. Much of the confidence rests on the b-school's proximity to New Delhi and Gurgaon. A road passing via the district headquarter town of Jhajjar connects IIM Rohtak directly to the Delhi airport without the need of negotiating the sluggish Delhi traffic.

Our locational advantage got proved when we started contacting companies to invite them for talks and visits. We received positive responses within half-hour of making the calls. Companies such as DE Shaw even started contacting us on their own, showing interest in us and wanting to know about our batch, said Shivank, who is part of the school's industrial relations cell.

Everybody has been telling us that placing 48 students should not be very tough. Had our batch been larger then maybe there would have been a problem. Whatever be the case, our situation will never be like that of IIM Shillong where they had to organize placement interviews through videoconferencing, says Ankush Jain.

An initial survey has revealed equal preferences for finance and marketing areas. However, the students admit that it might be a bit too premature to expect very prestigious profiles in finance or consulting.

Meanwhile, a placement brochure draft has been made and budgets allocated for their printing. The students plan to start reaching out to companies starting October.

Unwinding

When work is over and it's time to take things easy, the batch congregates outside the hostel for a game of cricket. Socializing with other students in MDU has begun, especially with the engineering college students who often ask the IIM-ites for advice on cracking the CAT.

Fun traditions and rituals have started taking shape, birthday celebrations being one such. We celebrate each birthday with lots of cakes. There are just lots of cakes and they are rarely eaten, Ankush Jain quips.

Among the main things that worried us before joining was the kind of place that Rohtak is and whether we would have a life here, says Ankush Garg. By now, the batch has found its patent hang-outs and eat-outs around the campus.

A common complaint though, is the lack of good cinema halls in Rohtak. For example, we had to travel all the way to New Delhi to watch Inception because it wasn't playing anywhere here, says a student.

---------

As twilight sets in, I bid goodbye to IIM Rohtak and catch a shared cab back to New Delhi. It turns out that the cab is carrying a local Haryana politician and his family too, so the conversations soon turn to the Commonwealth Games mess and political gossip is passed around like a bag of french fries.

My impressions of IIM Rohtak --- it being the first batch, I found a rather cool bunch who spoke about their situation candidly and without reservations. I also found the campus to be sufficiently functional for a temporary campus. I have observed several reputed 2nd-tier b-schools function with much less. The school is located conveniently near the biggest city of India (in my experience, it took me only a little more time to reach IIM Rohtak from Connaught Place by road compared to that from the Kolkata airport to IIM Calcutta not very long ago), and if it plays its cards well, it can turn Delhi or Gurgaon companies going to off-the-mainstream-city IIMs to itself.

On the flipside, that the school is not teeming with elderly people (read permanent faculty) gives the campus a rather incomplete feel. Considering how the older IIMs are themselves facing difficulty in filling up their vacant faculty positions, populating the faculty rooms of IIM Rohtak will be a challenge. In order to fully harness its locational advantage for placements, and in order to compete with the newer IIMs, it will have to also increase batch diversity, which other IIMs have begun to boast of lately. But teaching a diverse and more experienced batch requires able faculty, both by numbers, quality and dedication. Much depends on how fast IIM Rohtak can manage faculty hiring and keep up the hiring with increasing batch sizes in the coming years.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Every year during the months of April and May when MBA students leave for their summer internship, it is time for the faculty to face blackboards and enter the learning mode.

What was previously the strength of only the very premier b-schools, a growing number of private and upcoming b-schools too are investing in Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) in order to upgrade the knowledge, teaching and research skills of an increasingly inexperienced teaching workforce. As a side-benefit, the schools are gaining brand visibility in academic circles and some are also scoring higher in b-school ratings.

Lasting between two to three days at a time, these FDPs are like boot-camps that introduce young management faculty to contemporary teaching methodologies, management research and software packages that are to be taught as part of the MBA curriculum. Usually the deans or directors of a reputed b-schools take these sessions and pass on their experience of teaching to the faculty.

A lot of young people are joining private b-schools as faculty right after they pass out of the PGDM program of a B or C grade institute. These people have no prior experience or exposure to teaching. For them, FDPs are very useful and better than on-the-job training, says Dr Madan Mohan, Dean of the Delhi-based Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS), which conducts FDPs once every three months.

The FDPs are especially helpful to b-schools that are having to hire fresh management graduates from lesser known institutes as faculty, owing to a systemic shortage of experienced management faculty in India.

In New Delhi for example, there is an active 'FDP circuit' of sorts among half a dozen well-known private b-schools that trains inexperienced faculty from newer private b-schools.

Delhi's Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB) conducts two to three FDPs every year between April and October. Their FDPs last 2-5 days and are attended by 20-30 faculty members from all across Delhi. Similarly, the Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka at Delhi conducts three FDPs every year, one of which is funded by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). Well-established private Delhi b-schools such as the International Management Institute (IMI), Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and Fore School of Management also conduct FDPs.

Young faculty, though knowledgeable about the course content, often know little about teaching methods beyond delivering lectures. Says Dr AK Puri, Director of FIIB, The lecture format is basically spoon-feeding and is boring for students. So we suggest methods to bring excitement to the classroom during the FDPs. Some of the teaching methods we talk about are the case-study method, role-plays, simulation games, crosswords and outbound training.

FDPs that teach the case-study method garner the highest participation, with upto 35 participants at a time.

At the Apeejay School of Management, it is FDPs on management subjects that receive the highest participation. Our sessions on quantitative analysis and tools of management receive the best response, says Apeejay's Director Dr Alok Saklani.

Other FDPs concentrate on specific areas of management such as finance, marketing or the use of statistical packages such as SPSS.

According to Prof S Garimella, Chairman of IMI's MDP and Consultancy Committee, FDPs translate into a direct benefit for MBA students. Many faculty members need updating and the knowledge of new pedagogical tools so that they can make their classroom sessions more interactive and make content and delivery of courses more interesting for students, Prof Garimella says.

While FDPs help b-schools make the best of the situation in what is clearly a scarcity of experienced faculty, it also brings along many side-benefits for the b-schools.

FDPs help by establishing our brand in the academic circles. It gives an opportunity for bonding among faculty of various colleges. Participants keep in touch with each other and share knowledge even after the FDP ends, says Dr Puri.

Prof Garimella agrees, We are able to build a good network of professors due to FDPs. Sometimes we end up doing joint research programmes with faculty we met at FDPs.

However, there are some hidden benefits too. Some such as Dr Madan Mohan of JIMS openly admit that FDPs help the b-school get a better position in various b-school rankings and that is a major driver for them to conduct these programmes.

Dr Puri however disagrees with this view, In fact, your FDPs will get participation only if you have a good rank. So the FDPs are dependent on rankings and not the other way round.

Schools such as Apeejay have also found it easier to hire faculty as a result of their FDPs, says Dr Saklani. FDPs have helped create goodwill for us in the market and often when people apply to us for faculty positions and we ask them how they came to know about us, they mention that they were attracted to us after they attended our FDP, he says.

There is no institutional effort to help teachers in the management sector grow. We are in a situation where teachers are mostly left to themselves for their upgradation. This is where FDPs help the most, Dr Puri concludes.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Prometric today released a practice CAT test on its website in order to familiarize candidates with the navigation and functionality of CAT 2010.

The test includes a tutorial followed by 12 sample questions in an interface that is supposed to look just like the actual CAT 2010.

"Candidates will have 15 minutes to try selecting, de-selecting, marking and reviewing responses as they navigate through the questions. These sample questions are not representative of the content or difficulty level of the actual test," a Prometric press release said.

In conjunction, Prometric also released a Practical Guide providing information on preparing for the test day. The guide explains in detail the procedure you will go through on your CAT test day.