Singapore Diary - Part IV

Alum Meet

Our only weekend
IIMB Alumni meet has been organized over the weekend so as to explore the business environment and opportunities and learn from their experiences. The alums first mentioned important takeaways from their career journey and there was 45 minutes of Q&A session. An important part of this meet was that we were divided into groups of 4-5 to have informal chat for 1 hour. I was particularly impressed with the humility and frankness of alums.


In the evening, we went to marina bay Sands to try our luck at Casino and I was surprised to learn that locals actually have to pay fees of S$ 100 for getting entry, and entry was free for the tourists.
We have heard a lot about Sentosa Island and one of the must visit places in Singapore. It is an artificial man-made beach and fun park and is frequented by everyone who comes to Singapore. No wonder a small country like Singapore is having so many tourists. It has worked very well within the constraints it had and developed its economy.

Day 9



Smart Cities, Siemens perspective

For week 2, the primary focus was on the industry and to learn about new developments here. One of the interesting concepts we learnt on this trip is about Smart Cities. As part of our international project, we are working with Prof Sekhar Kondepudi on defining Smart Cities and the work done so far on this. Monday was an interesting day with senior people from Siemens, Cisco, IBM discussed in detail on Smart City work, progress being made, lessons learnt so far and the opportunities it presents in future. Prof Sekhar discussed about the need for Smart Cities. He revealed mind boggling numbers on the data lying around and how most of it is unstructured. The way we are using the natural resources, there will be need to work on concepts of smart sustainable cities. We also had a chat with Mr. Steffen Endler, Siemens on their view and research projects. They have developed an interesting model to rate and compare the current city health which gives good indicator on where a city should target and invest to improve the quality of life of its people.

Mr. Gordon from Cisco has worked on a live project on Masdar, a new smart city being developed in Abu Dhabi. He discussed his experiences, views and lessons learnt. Some of the questions raised were around the return on investment, green energy and funding for smart cities. Similarly we had a session by Dr. Chen-Ritzo Ching-hua where she explained the research being done by IBM on these projects. How IBM is making inroads on such projects and why it makes sense for them to explore this area.  We also had some insight into the way Sodexho is doing business. They have discovered a unique opportunity in providing quality of life services at remote sites for industrial projects. Later in the day, we had a panel discussion with these speakers where people clarified their queries. I was wondering that this concept actually presents new wave of business opportunity as it is an elite market and cities and countries are making huge investments in such projects.


Discussion with our mentor


In evening we had a meeting with our project mentor, Prof Sekhar to discuss on the progress of the project and how we should take it forward. We discussed on the content of report and what areas to be targeted in report.

Day 10
The day started with session by Jayson Goh on Media companies and what lies in future. There will not be any need for typing in future and the machines will understand what you speak. This can open up whole sea of opportunities ad one critical barrier in using technology will be made redundant. Afterwards, the sessions revolved around the waste and water management in Singapore. Environment business is one of the biggest industries (to the tune of $300 billion) in the world today as all the nations are fighting to manage it. Singapore has very limited source of natural water and is dependent on water pact they had signed with Malaysia years ago which is due to expire. Besides this source, it is very costly to process sea water. Within these constraints, they invested in technology to recycle water. The water recycling technology is so advanced that one can drink water from any tap in Singapore as it meets WHO standards.

We also had a visit planned in the evening to water processing unit and waste management plant. Almost all the waste in Singapore is incinerated and is used to produce energy. This helps in dealing with the waste produced. The ash from the plant is dumped at a remote site in ocean and there is a plan to use that site once it is completely filled.

Singapore Diary - Part III

 

Preparing for the Friday event

Since the time I have landed here, there has not been a single day when this small country has failed to amaze me. I mean even Delhi is more than twice the area of the size of this country. Here people pay almost ten times more than what I pay in India for owning a car. Imagine paying 50 lakhs for a Swift or 90 lakhs for Toyota Corolla!!! The weather is not at all pleasant, cost of living is high, single party system, caning is still prevalent as mode of punishment and what not, but still it is a favorite destination amongst businesses as well as tourists. Unfortunately, even though Indians contribute a lot to the Singaporean economy, corporates or policy makers are hardly betting on India which can be interpreted from the discussions we had or presentations that were shown.


Trying Chinese Lunch

 Just the other day, there was a discussion on Chinese culture and surprised to hear that it is not difficult to distinguish a Singaporean Chinese from China Chinese. It was an eye-opener to know that Indian and Chinese culture have similar elements. We had tryst with Chinese food and our effort to use chopsticks were marked with irony. I am not joking, and it is quite an effort to eat with chopsticks and it in a way proves that these folks are really hard working. It is another story that most of us went to food court to satiate their tummies. In the afternoon, we had quite a productive discussion at Research Management Institute at NUS where we got to learn about the mechanism being followed by different rating agencies around the world. The common aspect between rating agencies is that everyone uses around the same data source but come up with different rankings based on their evaluation mechanism.
 


Understanding Art and Culture

The sessions at NUS are slowly getting serious with talks by Industry experts, business houses and government agencies in Singapore. We got deep understanding on how Singapore is controlling its exchange rate against basket of currencies despite being a surplus economy. An industry talk session by CEO of CWT Limited was quite fruitful. We always thought that China is the place for cheap labor, but was quite interesting to note that Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia are much cheaper. Despite pay higher rise expected in these, they would still be cheaper than China. Also learnt about the efficient cargo clearing capability of Singapore where 80% of cargo is cleared in 8 minutes while 100% is done in 15 minutes!!!
 

Jurong port

The talk by Zafar Momin who is on board of MapleTree Trust was quite interactive with many counterviews with regard to strategy and implementation coming up. The discussion was mostly centered on real-life and he stressed on understanding rather than memorizing. He mentioned lot of interesting quotes one of which is, "If the going is too easy, may be you are scratching the surface". Explained in simple words that life is challenging and nothing comes easy. We also visited Jurong Port which is a privately managed port in Singapore primarily handling cement cargos. I was pretty excited for this as I have never been to any shipping facility before. We also had a visit to Ikea Factory and got insights into its marketing and sales strategy. The layout is designed in a very convenient way so as to make it easy for any customer and at the same time optimizes its operations cost. No wonder they sell the stuff cheap and most of us contributed to Ikea cash flow that day :).

Singapore Diary - Part II

Astonished

Our discussions next day were focused on the Singapore, how it progressed despite having minimal resources and its development as a major hub for transport. We were surprised with the story of turning itself into a major financial center since its Independence. Probably the single party system played a big role in this. There was a fascinating comparison between roving vs. stationary bandit wherein even if there is a bandit who does not change places, it will be to his benefit that locality grows as he will have more at his disposal for his adventures. Another interesting fact was that there is no multiplier effect in Singapore economy because if leakages in system - hard to believe this for this fast paced economy. One has to appreciate the development advancement and infrastructure in this small city of 710 sq. km where more than 20% land is reclaimed from sea. Not sure how much ecological impact will have on the environment and marine life. 
 
We had a small talk on the movement of global economy around China and it has taken a shift from the time when it was centered on Japan and US. One astonishing observation was the role China is playing in the development of East Asian countries and how it is benefitting from it. India it seems is being left out because of its foreign policy which is not focused on East Asia. For example, we are not utilizing our historical ties with Myanmar for increasing trade with mineral rich Myanmar while China is making significant inroads because of our lax policy.
 


Should we invest here?

Post lunch, we had a lecture on the Aviation industry by Prof Anthony Chin, Academic Director for EPGP immersion. He described how aviation industry is fueling economic growth and what are the new models developing. Like what has been implemented in Tiger Airlines where there are charges for every single feature which were earlier considered basics in airline industry. There was an interesting talk on the port development and it’s financing.
 
I think Singapore has done a commendable job in coming this far. In the words of first PM of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, "there was no secret; we had no choice but to take a chance and sail into rough waters.” There are many lessons to be learnt from Singapore development by other countries like political stability, quality of governance, high salaries to ministers, openness, high cost of rebellion, single party system. We might not agree with all, but this model is effectively working for them.


Lets find some rodents

To surrender or not?

Of course we had our fun moments during the day. Some of us roamed around appreciating the beauty of campus while some were busy shooting rodents. So far, every day is bringing something new about this small country along with interesting cuisine. One thing I got to know is that this country is all about food and people love eating all the time. I have not find so many food joints and restaurants in every nook and corner even in India.

Singapore Diary - Part 1

Start of Journey

Waiting for boarding pass

As soon as we got breather from Term II exams on 16th August, the focus shifted to the 2 weeks international immersion program in Singapore, one of the top ten financial centers of the world. The enthusiasm of the batch was there to see and it reminded me of my school/college trips. Even though I have had numerous trips to Americas and Europe, a trip to East Asian was a first to me like to many of us and probably first trip outside the country for few of us. We boarded the 12:45 AM flight to Singapore to begin our 2 weeks journey at NUS. Once at the Singapore airport, most of us bought some stuff at duty free shops to take care of essentials for next 2 weeks.

 

Singapore, we are here

As we stepped out of airport, I was reminded of the sticky weather of Chennai or the hot summers of Delhi. It was totally different from the pleasant weather of Bangalore I have been enjoying for last 5 months. Once we were at our hotel, most of us dozed off to catch the lost sleep of previous night, while the higher mortals went to take a dip at the swimming pool. In the evening, it was time to browse the happenings all around. We went to Bugis mall which was quite close to our hotel. The first day itself, I realized that it is going to be challenging here to satisfy my vegetarian appetite, though my friends with taste of meat loved the variety of delicacies on offer.

 

 

First Day at NUS

 

Next morning, we started our first day at sprawling green and splendid NUS campus. It is lush beautiful and very well maintained. At the university, we were welcomed by Professor Tilak from Department of Economics, NUS. With that we kick started our journey to understand ASEAN economies. The first lecture by Professor Shandre provided invaluable insights to the ASEAN countries, their distribution and economic progress. We also learnt about how ASEAN countries have progressed from 2000 to 2011 after the Asian financial crisis of 1998 and also the impact of recent financial crisis of 2008 on the progress in these countries.

 

While in India, we keep on hearing about China and its fast paced growth, and it was no exception here. We also learnt that though China can play strong role in US, European economies etc. but they do have big challenge of managing social unrest. This blip aside, China is in fact a major player in ASEAN economy and the impact of growth in China is clearly visible here. An interesting aspect to know was that growth in Australia is directly influenced by growth in China as it exports most of the minerals to China. After that we had discussion on how India fits into the scheme of things at ASEAN and the trade pact, AIFTA, which India has with ASEAN. The drivers for growth in both regions were elaborated as India is a supply driven economy while ASEAN is demand driven economy. As mentioned by Prof Shandre, India has to improve on its policy making, Infrastructure and Innovation in its vision for 2020 and to have big impact on this region.

 

Later we had superb business insights by Mr. Sameer Arora, founder and Fund Manager, Helios Capital Fund. The discussion was very candid and he had a story for every situation. One interesting question was on the depreciation of rupee if exchange rate changes from 50 to 60 for a dollar. Most of us were caught at wrong foot as all along we have been calculating dollar appreciation and not rupee depreciation. Another takeaway was that there are cyclical changes in the equity markets and we should not be afraid of it. The best time to invest is when the market is slow as then you can get larger returns in long run.

 

Post Lunch we had meeting with Prof Sekhar for the project on Smart Cities. This is part of our international group project being driven by ITU for United Nations. We discussed the plan and deliverables for the project. With that we ended our first day at NUS.

Is Congress playing into the hands of NaMo?

While we all are busy washing dirty linen for last 2 days, my thoughts wandered towards the fancied ways NaMo is adopting to arrive at the big political scene and the flutter being generated by his 'puppy' comments. It was only few months back that BJP was struggling to find a leader who can spearhead their campaign for next General elections and bring them back to power. And then they have been taken over by this NaMo effect.

It is known to everyone including the Congress party that they have very difficult chance of coming back to power and BJP thought they had great chance to grab top post. But what they were missing was a charismatic leader - one who can keep the flock together and who can decrease the dissidence prevalent in the party. It is surprising to note that after initial cribbing, most of the voices within BJP against the elevation of NaMo has gone silent. The elevation has had an exponential effect on the morale of RSS cadres who does all the ground work. It seems that someone has infused fresh leash of life into them.

The point to ponder is whether Congress has enough ammunition to ward off this threat and gift 'yuvraj' coveted post in the country. Is it only a veil on secularism which will be sufficient and even if it makes a difference, is Congress overdoing it? The way comments are coming in from senior Congress leaders indicates that everyone who is a Hindu is communal and everyone else is secular. Within no time, BJP has been branded a communal party and a threat to country's secularism culture. In my opinion, the elevation of NaMo has come at an opportune time as this mud-slinging campaign against communism would live its life much before the elections.

I must appreciate the meticulous and articulate work his team is putting in to make this person larger than life and ensuring that NaMo has very high visibility in all sections of society. The recent 'puppy' remark has generated a lot of controversy. Was it a slip of tongue or deliberate act on his part? To brand himself as a 'Hindu' nationalist has been condemned by various other parties. Only a fool would believe that NaMo had accidentally generated such controversies. He plans his acts very carefully and never have seen him making any controversial statements. One thing is for sure that this guy is garnering huge chunk of publicity at Congress' expense and expanding his reach.

Many will agree that NaMo likes to focus his campaign on development agenda and probably he is just ensuring that Congress and all the 'secular' parties run out of any ammunition they have and then he can start propagating his agenda. Since he would have reach to larger parts of society thanks to Congress, people would actually like to evaluate him and I doubt he will then create any furore with any such controversial comments.

It looks quite obvious to me that controversies are being created with larger cause in mind. Instead of focusing on the remark, it will do political parties more good to look behind the scenes and probably unearth a bigger picture. The comments are not directed to any section of society but they are being made to appear like that.

Doing our bit for the community - the EPGP way

“Do you see those Twinkling eyes? PRAYAAS is all about keeping that hope alive & help build the future!!! A Small Nutrition related initiative by PRAYAAS in Magadi..."
 
Prayaas, as the name explains, is the small initiative by IIMB EPGP students to do their bit for the society and contribute towards making this world a little better. One of the key drives started in 2012 by Prayaas team was 'Project Nutrition' at Rajeev Gandhi Colony in Magadi in district Ramanagara. This project nutrition was started with the aim of creating a sustained activity and was very close to EPGP 2012. As part of this, children from the age group of 1-5 years are provided milk enriched with nutritional malt. This provides children with necessary supplements and aids in normal growth. 

Prayaas Team with NGO workers

Eleven of us (Chithra, Hari, Kiran, Partha, Krishna, Rahul, Nilesh, Vishal, Sampath, Ravi and myself) went to Magadi Village after our classes last Friday immediately after lunch. Enroute we saw the hills where blockbuster movie Sholay was shot. However, Chithra was not convinced despite sufficient evidence. We reached Magadi at 3:30 PM and were fortunate to reach at the same time when the nutritional milk was being served to the children. The children seemed to be quite happy with the enriched milk being provided to them. We met Saroja who is helping us in making this project successful and overseeing all the activities related with this. Saroja works with a Chiguru, a NGO, and is actively involved in the activities at Magadi. She mentioned that Rajeev Gandhi Colony is a designated slum and the inhabitants are the migrants from a small village in Tamil Nadu.
 
Government has done their part by opening a primary school and providing mid-day meals as part of Anganwadi project for children less than 5 years of age. During the talks it came out that parents of these kids are spending their earnings in alcohol and do not provide milk or any other additional nutritional food to their children. We felt that children are being deprived of necessary nutrients because of this ignorance by their parents. This was key reason for need of such a project and where we are making a difference. The malt is being prepared in house by NGO as it is very costly to purchase readymade nutritional supplements. The project runs throughout the year except for 15 days in June when the school is also closed and most of the families go to their native places.


Project Nutrition bringing smiles

 
We had some questions on how the success of the project is evaluated and the logistics involved. Normally statistics like weight and height are evaluated every couple of months which gives an indication of health of children. This project is helping in improving the health of around 50 children where 15 are in age group 1-3 and 35 are in age group 3-5. The total cost involved is ~Rs 10k to 12k pm including cost of milk, malt, the salary of person coordinating it. The total cost of project comes to ~Rs 1.3 lakh that is totally funded by Prayaas.
 
After going around the colony, we felt that there is still lot which can be done here. The Anganwadi teacher rightly pointed that lack of family planning is the basic reason behind most of the troubles. The parents do not give sufficient gap between births leading to malnutrition in these kids. We felt that these parents need to be educated probably taking the help of an NGO. It seems that they need easy access to medical facilities. Though there is a government hospital but the situation is not good. We are planning to collect toys and clothes which can be distributed to these kids and will help in bringing more smiles. We are also planning to organize some fund raising activities which will help in sustaining these activities and in doing more.
 
Every single smile brings more happiness in this world.


P.S. While returning back, we did made a stop to buy some vegetables to carry forward another legacy initiated by previous batch.

Much Needed Breather and Happy Time With Family

 

Finally the 1st term exams concluded and it was such a huge relief. It felt like we have been released from prison. I must admit that this was even tougher than mid-term as it required quite a bit of commitment and dedication to remain connected for 1 whole week at a stretch coping with vastly diverse subjects. The end term party came as a good breather. Kudos to all the organizers Dinkar, Hitesh, Puneet, Tamanna, Archi, Jaya, Sarita, Poornima etal for organizing such a wonderful event during a period when each one of us was struggling to find time for studies. The retro theme was synonymous with what we all have been experiencing so far at EPGP and reminiscent of earlier college life.

It was a double exciting moment for me to meet my family after 2 whole months. Anshu and Arnav landed in Bangalore at the same moment I came out of examination hall after last exam. There were few more whose family arrived around the same day and I must say that it has not been easy for our families to stay away. It is their support and wishes which is keeping us going and helping us to cope with this rigorous program. Such is the rigor of this program that exams finish on Saturday and new term starts from Monday. It was apt that my family was here for a week.

The workload was very light during the start of term and I was able to have some good time with Anshu and Arnav. The weather has become much more pleasant during this 1 week. Besides, I tried to have some time off from my impending project assignments. We made a trip to Bannerghatta National Park along with Kiran and his family. Had heard a lot about the safari and both the kids enjoyed a lot there. For Arnav, it was the first time he saw all those wild animals so closely and a memorable trip for him. Both Arnav and Loukya were very excited when we visited the zoo later. Alas while coming back it rained very heavily and it was good exercise for me and Kiran to run towards the parking area.

Anshu was particularly impressed by the weather here and she is now tempted to stay at Bangalore. I might be shooting in my foot but I might be inclined to start another innings in this lovely city. The last week has been quite satisfying for my potbelly too with likes of paranthas in breakfast and dal makhani or shahi paneer in lunch/dinner.  I have been telling my wife so much about the delicious Italian food at 'Little Italy', and she really wanted to have a go at it. I was fortunate that restaurant did not disappointed and it is still up to the mark. Needless to say, after all this full week of good dining, the paunch only made its way back :).

Overall, it had been a one week full of happy family time and even though I wished that they should have stayed more, flight for Delhi was waiting for them at the airport and my assignments and submissions were shouting at me for some attention.

Individualistic Behaviour During Term I Exams

With the status being 'back to college', how can examination be far behind. It is a demon which we all thought has been exorcised, but it is now part of life for next 1 year. It brings back some-fond-some-bitter memories. Some interesting experiences from term I exam season -


1. Suddenly, all the nerds with whom you never have gone beyond regular 'hi' become your close pals

2. The weather becomes all the more pleasant to tease you.

3. The atmosphere becomes all gloomy. Point 2 has a ripple effect.

4.  Having got used to QWERTY, its now back to basics. Pens, pencils, eraser, ruler etc are the tools being used to put our thoughts on sheets of papers. The only hope is that a chemist is helping the Prof to decipher.

5. Not matter how much you decide to not talk about exams,  its the same old story as soon as you are out of the hall. If there was ever a happy face, the reaction is 'oh sh*%' or 'f*^&'. A sadist delight indeed.

6. Open book exam has its own benefits. You learn lot more during the 3 hours in exam hall than what you prepared or what you learnt during whole term

7. You have a realization of the total course content just a day before the exam. It adds up to the point 3 above.

8. You take loads of print-outs but never understand what exactly it contains



9. What once used to be a party place turns into group study area, with scribblings all over the place.

10. Tastes and preferences change, a cup of tea is welcomed by even those who do not savor it

11. People keep on moving from one place to other in search of 'gyaan' or to find shortcuts

12. Last but not the least, you always make resolution to study from day 1 of next term. Amen!!!

Reflections... The Term It Was

Essence of Strategy

The first chapter of my journey at IIMB EPGP is just about to get over. It is probably some tiny monsters called exams which we will be fighting off next week, barring those the term is as good as over. Today was pretty hectic(?) day with most of us in race against time to submit projects before the deadline. In the end we made it and 'Nothing else matters'. We have finally got a two-day weekend with Saturday a holiday, but it is a far fetched dream to enjoy over the weekend when we have our first terms EXAMS starting from Monday. 



e-chaupal

I was wondering what exactly this term was and what has been my takeaway from this. Consider this, for a person who is used to sleep at least 8-9 hours a day, a 5 hour sleep is now a luxury, discounting the thoughtful process thinking during lectures. The good part is that I have learnt the nuance of power naps. I was used to eating 5-course meal at Amdocs with dollies being dished out during the day and  here I am paying Rs 300 for rasam. I felt gratified with the sight of so many books in my shelf considering that last time I read any sort of book was 8 years back and I left even that halfway. 


Anusmaran 2013

I guess these are just few steps which I took towards attaining 'nirvana' during this term. But the real enlightenment was something else. Before this, I never realized that it is an art to understand the structure of an organization and it has to be carefully designed considering lot of factors. Earlier I used to invest in equities just by sixth sense, which explains the losses I have incurred over the years. I hope to use grey cells efficiently after the understanding I have gained to interpret financial report. Probability of my understanding has always been zero and regression interpretation have always been at lower end of the curve. Hopefully it should not be the same. Besides these, the case discussions made me ponder on how some companies have been successful while others have failed. I still have my doubts open but it is immaterial. Of course learned lot of facets of business law and hoping to cash on it. I would add that Eco had been an uncertain identity.


entrepreneurs in making

Apart from these sometime-interesting-sometime-exciting(?) courses, there have been number of seminars and leadership sessions happening around. Getting a chance to sit with likes of CEO of Himalaya, Mr Philip, or with Bally's Gaming Czar, Mr Srinivasan has made this EPGP journey even more exciting. In addition, the tips from speakers with as diversified profile as a Hindi literature professor or from IIMB alumni entrepreneurs, will be helpful in some point of time. Nonetheless I am enjoying the time here. On a regular day the time I get outside this course is inexplicable, but I have managed to squeak in some of the things. Be it swimming or swinging the baddy racket or burning the accumulated layers of fat at gym, I am giving shot to everything. One does not get another opportunity to be back at the college and the time here should count. The only regret so far, I have not been able to take out time to enjoy this lovely city of Bangalore, but I hope I can try something out in next term.

It was a deliberate act on my part to omit any references to the socializing activities over the weekend, but that's what MBA is all about. Some things are better explained unanswered.

Infosys - Dilema still exist

Having worked at Infosys for a considerable portion of my career, I have always felt attached to the the "family" even after 5 years or so. During my tenure, Infosys restructured itself into verticals and at that time it was difficult for me to understand the reasoning behind it. Besides it did not mattered much as it seemed insignificant other than some changes at top level. Today when I look at it, it was one of the many strategic decision Infosys has taken to adapt to exponential growth it was experiencing and to remain competitive. During discussions with clients and managers, I got to understand that Infosys is a premium player and charges well above the competitors. It was something which used to make me feel proud.

It is now a known fact that Infosys is lagging behind its competitors and rivals like Cognizant are catching up. Four years back, the gap between TCS and Infosys revenue was around 7000 crores. Come 2013 and the gap has more than trebled. So what exactly is going wrong at Infosys? Why it is not able to grow at a pace which its competitors have managed? Of course I am not a gyaan guru who will go ahead and provide any quick fix solution. There must be already many of consulting firms spending huge amount of money to come at a solution. Infosys itself is searching for a direction and for sure there are many brains at work there.

But one thing is certain that Infosys need to find a quick solution. Having moved back to Bangalore, I have met some of my old friends and have many fellow ex-infosions in my batch. The biggest strength of IT company is its people. They should remain committed and motivated. One of the biggest fallback of lack of leadership and direction is that the employees are not seeing themselves growing. I feel the employees are missing direction towards a common vision. Earlier there were differentiating factors at Infosys which kept me going. In a process to streamline itself with the industry, it has moved away from the position of leader it once held (despite lagging behind TCS in terms of revenues). Indian IT industry has to move up the value chain to fight competition from Eastern Asia and visa restrictions. For this to be done, there has to be more than 100% engagement by employees which seems to be on decline.

Another important cog in the wheel is its customers. Since the house is not in order, what can happen is that customer might not feel connected to it in longer run. I have seen customers feeling delighted in associating with Infosys. It worked like a partnership helping them in growing their business. With Infosys loosing the way forward, client will not have any hesitation in moving to any other IT service provider. Beside there seems to be no differentiating factor as competition has caught up on those. And once customer base starts to wean, Infosys will not have much time to recover.

In a nutshell, it is imperative that Infosys has to buckle up and find a strong leadership. If not within the company, it has to look outside. It has to let loose its tightly coupled decision making to allow an open view. Even after close to 4 years since Nandan left, they still seem to be searching for an answer and they better find it soon. Otherwise, this fast moving IT industry does not give much time to recover and Infosys will relegate itself to case studies in business schools. It does not bode well for Indian IT industry and economy as a whole.

C&S Discussion

Many a times I have wondered how does experience matter in a classroom. What difference does it makes to the discussion. Today this experience dynamics was in full force in C-21. As more and more cases are being disposed off in competition and strategy class, e-yumbiez are becoming more and more intellectuals. The best part is that each one of us have started to question established theories. What it means is that we are analyzing deep into any aspect we are being taught and would not accept anything easily.

Had Mr Porter would have been in our classroom today, he would have had a really tough time. e-yumbiez are challenging his panchtatva theory and contesting that it does not have any weight in today's world. During the case discussions too, the claims are being contested and disputed amongst peers. At times these do turn into heated arguments (thank god we are not allowed to carry guns or missiles in the class), but it is expected. All of this is part of steep learning curve of our course.

On a side note, couple of results are out from mid-term and class dynamics is taking a turn. While we are still waiting for QAM and ME results hoping for Gods to smile on us, there is added weight to dispose off pile of projects and assignments we have in our basket. And by the time we submit these, we will be right at the doorstep of first term exams. May we be able to survive this. Amen!!!

Essence of Mid-term exams

It was not even a month into the course and we found ourselves in a midst of a storm called 'Examination'. This is something which have frightened even Einsteins and Newtons since the start of civilization on this planet. Some of us have been in fact giving 'gyan' to their children to tackle this, but to give motivational talks is one thing while to tread on that path is other. None of us would have ever sat for exams in last few years except probably for the GMAT.

First and foremost of the task was to find out from where to start. Then with tons of material at our disposal, we had to figure out what to study and what not to. For many years, late nights has been synonymous with parties or booze and studying till late nights was a abnormal deviation from this mean. The clan culture which has developed at Ajmera was not able to save us as from this expected uncertainty. We essentially tried hard to devise strategies to grapple with wave of countless yawns and power naps during the lectures in the morning. But it seemed that all fundamental rights were violated during this past one week.

Fortunately, we had managed to scrape through this unhurt and in the end everyone was happy go lucky. Though some will be anxiously waiting for results, though it is trivial those who have attained absolute enlightenment. During the exams, couple of folks had a debit of one year to their age account and we innovated a new way of celebration to save costs.

Immediately after the exams, we had a alumni meet 'Anusmaran 2013' at IIMB and it added a new dimension to learning curve. Motivational talk by keynote speaker and former Microsoft India head - Ravi Venkatesan - on leadership was great and then there were series of interesting experiences shared by successful entrepreneurs from our institute. These expereiences makes one rethink about the career choice which he/she should make. Of course it goes without saying that we had a long night as well, but it is nobody's guess on what would have transpired.

journey is getting interesting

Contrary to what I mentioned
in my earlier post, the time is now flying at EPGP program. It looked like that we joined the program just the other day and we are staring at the mid-terms next week. This little mind of mine is being challenged to maximum by the grinding schedule. They say that Rome was not build in one day, but it seems this is true only for lesser mortals. We are actually being trained to challenge this perception. So much has been covered in wide range of topics. Beside there is so much load of project work and assignments to be completed. Either we will adapt to it or I will become insulated or immune (whatever you call it). It will be fun either ways.

In addition to study or work, wide range of activities are happening on and off campus. CR election has been very interesting. It was a conscious decision by me to withdraw from election process despite protests by my numerous fans ;). There have been few photo shoots in last couple of weeks in preparation for the D-day November onwards. It was also required to be in formals with strict dress code. It has been ages I have been in 'formal' wear. Except for
probably couple of interviews or to solicit my presence at marriage ceremonies, there was never any need. But it also gave us chance to capture the beauty of the campus. Luckily I got a breather from formals for the next shoot with some strategic planning.

Then there have been quite a few celebrations already at Ajmera. This Saturday was my anniversary and first time I was away from my 'biwi' on this day. Just so that I do not miss her, she sent a cake directly at my residence. A small celebration followed it at my place. Then there have been birthday celebrations of Prem and Poornima with belated B'day of Chirag on both occasions. Few new members added to the EPGP already -  birth of twins at Sampath's and lil' one at Martand's.

Inside EPGP - The plot is unfolding

So most of the intellectuals already know what goes inside management programs. Especially with these one year program where a 2-year schedule and material is cramped inside a single year, there is no breathing space. We have got lectures starting at 8:00 in the morning which means I have to wake up at 6:00 because of our accommodation a little away from college campus. I am still struggling to cope with this adverse change in my daily schedule. It is not deniable that accommodation at Ajmera is eating up some of my sweet sleep time. And the lectures are slowly moving towards interesting.

In fact, the first week looked like eternity and in eon years I had a busy schedule on Saturday. During the week got to learn about the nuances of different managerial aspects and it is not even tip of iceberg. The professors are highly rated and amongst the best in the country and there is huge learning curve available to be picked. Slowly coming to terms of it, and comparatively 2nd week is coming to an end faster. Yes, it has not been even 2 weeks into the course yet. The irony is that we have been assigned seats by the EPGP office and because my name starts with 'A', I am seated in front row. A far cry from my last row seat which could have made life much easier for me :(.

I think the regular group study sessions at Au Bu Pain is making it easier to learn. My fellow batch mates and 'partners-in-crime' Rahul and Martand have helped a big deal in picking up the basics in Financials and Data Modelling. Besides these sessions, there is hell lot of project work to be completed. Be it analysis of financial reports or looking at strategies which corporates employ these days, the plate is already full. But as it is said ' Hum honge kamyaab'.

Though it would have been a added advantage if we would have been staying at IIMB campus, but Ajmera is not bad. The gym is good which allows me to devote some time towards shedding excess fab accumulated over years. The icing on cake is swimming pool inside the complex and I can relax and freshen up after a hard day. I still have to utilize the other club facilities and hopefully I will be successful in coming few days.

Is this the society our future generations will inherit?

Just the other day, I have mentioned that when awakening starts, the common man can change the world. But it seems that we are still helpless when it comes to stopping crime against the opposite gender. There have been widespread protests against the brutality of crime happened on 16 Dec and it seemed that finally there will be fear in the minds of people and they will think twice before committing such crime. But the way the case has progressed in the fast track court, it seemed the perpetrators of such crime feel more secured.

I really do not have any words to describe the heinousness of the crime which happened couple of days back in Delhi. How sick the person is to commit such dastardly act with a 5-yr old girl? There is no place for such a person in this world. On top of it, the response by our police is unpardonable. Why is it that any action is being taken by our law enforcement agencies only when people are coming on to streets? It is the responsibility of our Delhi Police to protect the people and make people feel safe in their own city. Why do we have to run down the streets every time a crime takes place?

And it is surprising that such crimes are not being committed by high profile individuals but by folks who are even having difficulties in meeting their daily needs. One can imagine what would have happened if their was a big personality involved. Or rather it is also possible that those incidents are not even making it to headlines. It is high time that these criminals are brought to justice at a very fast pace. It is imperative that judgement in 16 Dec case is delivered soon.

Currently the only hope lies in the action taken by society. Like disowning the individuals or their families by their community or isolation of criminals by even the fellow inmates in jail. May the social stigma which such crimes are bringing becomes enough deterrent otherwise we will be ashamed to look into the eyes of our next generations for the world they would be inheriting. The crime might not stop immediately but only if we try, we could make this world better day by day.

Time to tighten belt

So the honeymoon period ended after Pegasus camp and its time to get down to do some serious business. Its been only three days the classes has actually started, and looking at the way it is going, this is going to be a really long one year. I wonder how is the notion that you blink and miss, and that time flies in this one year course. After being away from regular lectures for more than 10 years and to think of it that I had dozed off in almost every  training sessions at office, it is going to be an uphill task to sit for classes from morning to evening.

Nonetheless, the professors are highly qualified and have full faith in the batch's quality. That is why everything is moving like a Chinese bullet train where the train is not in direct contact with the tracks. Hopefully, soon there will be a transitional phase where we will converge with this bullet train.

There have been three different subjects which have been started in these three days and from tomorrow, will have to make some space in this highly congested brain for 3 more subjects. The added incentive of heavy study material is that we will be physically fit by the time this first term ends, with all the pot bellies crushed as part of collateral damage.

Dozing off now to catch some sleep to get recharged for another long day tomorrow.


 

EPGP - The journey commences

So finally here I was at IIMB campus on the afternoon of 9th April 2013. A dream come true for me to become part of this prestigious program at one of the best institutes in India. To be honest, there were more reasons for me to not join the program rather than for joining the program. EPGP is still in nascent stage of establishing itself and yet to reach a stage where it can challenge the world's best programs. But if the intent is to work in India after one year, this program is amongst the best.

As I started interacting with my fellow batch mates, the fears started to disperse.  A chance to challenge existing theories and principles with brilliant minds from this country is unparalleled. People from across the length and breadth of this country and lot of different experiences. It is an interesting experience to learn from people from backgrounds as diverse as Defense to Entrepreneurs to Marketing and sales.

First day went in registration for the program and second and third were for orientation. An orientation for settling in at Ajmera (the residential apartments) would have been better but hopefully everything at Ajmera would fall in place in couple of weeks. This reminded me of my earlier days in Bangalore.

IIMB has come up with a very innovative concept to ensure that all the students of this program are comfortable within few days of joining this program. We went to a 2-nights stay at Pegasus for some ice-breaking sessions. Pegasus is not a resort but functions more like a camp where we were involved in team activities (and activities were physically tiring :)). I have been a regular at office project events but this was totally different. There was no inhibitions and no restrictions as everyone was equal at this camp.

Initially it felt like these physical activities will take toll on each of us as I am sure, pretty much most of the batch would have indulged in such activities in long long time. It was physically tiring but was completely fun-filled. And then the urge to try things which we would have done long back. This camp brought back the memories of college life and the feel that we are joining the college back. Unfortunately, there was an injury too. I hope Pegasus takes measures to avoid such incident in future.

We all grouped together in the night and cracked jokes. Most of those were meaningless but brought much cheer. It was like everyone seemed to have come out of shell of monotonous work they have been doing. I am sure everyone had a time of lifetime at this camp.

On the last day of camp, we went for a trek to a nearby hill at 5 in the morning. It was the coolest thing to do. The trek was treacherous, but we managed to reach the top. It was just at stroke of that moment, that sun was rising and it came up from behind the mountains just as we reached to the top - a lifetime moment indeed.

The camp has ended but for each of us a different college life has started. Each one has huge aspirations and expectations from this program and surely no one has extra bucks to burn. Pretty sure, there will be good leaders who will come out of this program and make difference to this country's economy.
 

Joined IIMB as a EPGP Student

I was probably satisfied with whatever I had achieved in my life. Good salary, international trips, air conditioned office, staying with my family etc, I was having a totally laid back and relaxed life. It was after few 'patialas', I was enlightened by the discussion my colleagues were having about benefits of MBA. Prepared for GMAT and with luck on my side, got a decent score to apply to good universities around the world.

Came up with a list of 4-5 colleges who would have been proud to have me as a student. Applied to INSEAD, IIM A, B, C, and ISB was in pipeline. The application to SP Jain was just match practice.  A great saint once said, learn from your mistakes, and after INSEAD did not deemed fit at application stage, IIM A, B, C got lucky to have my interview scheduled. But it was destined that I become a student of IIMB.

Bangalore has called me back albeit in a different role as a student of 1 year full time residential programe (titled EPGP). I knew that life has now taken a different course and there will be some fresh breath and new chapters in my lifebook. Interesting but full of hurdles. The biggest one to go back to college life and develop the habit of learning reading books and attending long lectures.

Lets find out what is in store in this MBA programe in coming days :).

The Power Of People

Normally we underestimate the power which each of us possess. The context is always that what change a single person can bring to a system. We have a habit of downplaying the impact which we can cause by our actions. But I think this is changing now. We are slowly being made aware of the power we have and how we can influence the decisions in a society. Recently a shameful incident happened on the streets of Delhi and it has lead to huge public outcry.

It was not that rapes have never happened in India or it has stopped after this incident. Even the brutality is not something new to Indian society. But the widespread protests have made the democratic institution realized that people are fed up of the way it is functioning. The 'by the people' system is now answerable 'to the people'. The awakening of the people had also reached foreign shores. Never before any Indian crime was mentioned even as a footnote, but this incident is part of headlines. The trial is being followed by people across the world.

Last month I went to Canada and the first thing the immigration official asked me was about this incident. When I was in taxi, or anywhere else, people were enquiring on the trial of this case. This was not something for which I can feel proud. Everyone around the world is looking at the way Indian judiciary system. It is time for the Indian judiciary system to deliver fast track judgement on this case. As the crime has been proved, the only pending matter before the court is to decide on the judgement where most of the Indian public is demanding death penalty.

But I am afraid that because of the opposition to death penalty by judiciary and since every accused has a right to fair trial, the system will take long to deliver justice.There are widely diverse opinions on whether the crime is rarest of rare or not. And the way our system works, it can be years as we have shown that we will not settle for anything less than death penalty for accused. Till that happens, 'Amanat''s family will not be able to rest in peace and will be harassed with this ongoing court proceedings.

If justice is not delivered, it means that the system is of no use and it can be taken for granted. It will result in further downgrading of our reputation on global scene. I think the first step by fast track court should be to decide on the minimum punishment and ask the accused to serve the sentences till the final judgement is pronounced. With the crime being proved, this is the least we expect. If such a judgement is announced, that will act as a deterrent and will prevent many crimes from happening. That will also mean that the power of people is not being ignored and we help in restoring some confidence on our system and the government.

I just got lucky

My career has been quite stable with high paying job but the growth had slowed down. The attempt to switch jobs failed as the rise in compensation was not worthy for a change. So it appeared that I am glued to my job and there is no way out unless I see a light out out of the blue or I attempt something silly. That was when i decided to have a go at management education and took the first attempt at giving GMAT. That was the target with which I entered the year of 2012.

Bought the Official GMAT study guide and started preparation. It seemed silly to brush up my elementary mathematics and English skills at this age. Having prepared for CAT, the standard of questions seemed quiet easy and had me pondering on why it is difficult to score 700 in this test.

Grammar was an area where I was weak and I think Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide played an important role. I think other than these two books, I also tried to increase the speed to answer questions by working on math problems from CAT preparation guides. I tried to improve reading comprehension skills by attempting much bigger paragraphs than the ones we face in GMAT.

I got the date of test on 13 March, though I wanted an earlier date. I devised a very important strategy and i think it played the most important part in the final score. I broke down the each of verbal and quant in 3 small sub-exams and allocated time to it. Gave few minutes extra to question in the end to ensure that I have sufficient time in the end to counter difficult questions. Starting with score of 640 in first mock, I scored 740 in my last mock and I was pretty confident of achieving my target score of 700-720.

On the day of exam, I was slightly nervous and that played a part in my AWA score of 5.0. But AWA section helped me in coming up to speed. Still I was not sure if I was answering the questions correctly, as the questions seemed quite simple except for a couple. But when I saw my score my score of 750 (Q51, V40), I knew that I got lucky and I will be on a plane to one of the best business school soon.