IIM Ahmedabad not leveraging its entreprenuership potential

While speaking on angel investing, Anil Joshi of Mumbai Angels mentioned the view point. First, it seemed heresy to opine that on campus, but he elaborated his view, which my anecdotal evidence validates.  We have the CIIE(Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) on campus, but it has a very low profile among students. The center reportedly(as per informed sources) adopts the pull approach(interested students approach it) rather than the push principle of publicity and creating awareness.                                                      

• CIIE-one of earliest incubation centres:It is of some use, as the few students who have used the service tell me.
• Brand:- IIMA broadband connection can be used for many things(albeit restricted by firewells) but can really help for mining data and downloading reports.
  
• Infrastructure on campus
• Knowledge:-Great library and electronic knowledge resources.
• IT:-An unlimited broadband connection. IIMA broadband connection can be used for many things(albeit restricted by firewells) but can really help for mining data and downloading reports. It would cost a lot outside.
• Student ideas:-Student projects/brainstorming could help reality check.
• Visiting faculty:-many would be happy to spend 2-3hrs over a cup of coffee. 
• Marketing research fairs:-This is held annually(Insight) and is a great chance for people to validate their hypothesis/ideas.
• Other institutes
• LD:-Also helpful
• MICA:-Could help for marketing/PR, via C2C connections and projects

All great points and valid. If all the above resources are pooled in and used, then there could be a sea change. But I think that the pull approach is helpful. Where there is a will, there is a way. If someone really wants to pursue his idea, then all the above ways could conspire together and help him

Talk by Mr.Anil Joshi of Mumbai Angels

As part of the Ideafest organized by two IIM Ahmedabad Student Clubs(Entre and Public Policy), Mr Anil Joshi came to campus today. He have a PPT based talk for 30min followed by 30min Q&A session. Some main highlights of his talk which I gathered are below

·        Pitfalls in new Ventures

o   Objective evaluation-see with rose tinted glasses!

o   No real insight-not knowing their target customers well.

o   Inadequate understanding of technical requirements-shop floor experience not well.  

o   Poor financial understanding-cash management/working capital management

o   Legal issues ignorance-especially IPR when people go global.

·        Why Product failure

o   Poor timing-someone opening SMS based venture when market dying due to data growth

o   Design-product poor design(Android phones for example-my observation)

o   Distribution-especially for

o   Unclear business-if your strategy B2C and you target B2B, it’s a mismatch

o   One customer dependence-my observation-Infosys/GE episode.

·        Financial Failure recipe

o   Undercapitalize-have cash for time before you can figure out your first customer

o   Debt too early-Inmobile($500K investment, concept of search through SMS mode-changed concept in 6months-but 3^rd idea by that time co down to last 20% and no money to execute that idea of smart phone advertising-so the guy used his personal credit card)-success story but  risky.

o   VC relations-each get 10 bplans/day and limited bandwidth-LP relations, investee companies etc. hence his advice is referrals and networking

·        Typical problems

o   Cash flow most often/crucial.

o   Leverage your own network for sales

o   Social Media solution for PR issues?

o   His view that never go for half cooked(my view is that most can go like Google) and ensure back end(customer service etc)

o   Never hesitate to seek help from others for functions(making financial projections etc). Especially must for quarterly returns under tax laws.

·        Making your business plan standout in the clutter

o   Team

o   Define your market

o   Demystify your market in non technical market

o   Market Size

o   IP involved

o   Execution Ability/Past record

o   BE realistic(example 1Cr-100Cr in2yrs is ambitious)

·      Its not banks/VCs who fund your business, it is customers. So never ignore them.

·       Opening doors not only for customers, but also vendors/marketing help..hence angel money termed as smart money can help for B2C also.

·      Business plans don’t get funded people get funded. Don't ever forget that.

·      New trends of ventures-specific verticals like education, optical, health, finance etc, gaming, e-learning, healthcare

Pizzas, coke, audience prizes, star speakers etc-the perks of being an IIM Ahmedabad student

The caste system of Indian Bschools is starkly evident during pre placement talks, company organized events and competitions. While at Tier I schools like IIM Ahmedabad/Bangalore/Calcutta/XLRI, people come to campus and offer free food(company pre placement talks), giveaways(TAS, HUL LIME), cash prizes and exclusive campus level competitions(M&M, Pepsi, TAS etc) and competitions, that is not seen at other Bschools where students often attend interviews off campus, must plead for getting companies down, and are often excluded from certain events. Now, before comments lambast me for the 'elitism', let me clarify that I don't consider myself(or even most of my classmates) as a vastly superior breed. Rather, we all benefit from the brand that has been built over the ages, and that is why we have it somewhat easy. Every speaker is invariably awed by the honour of coming down, and most even pay their own way to speak on campus(let alone an appearance fee). And the profile of many of our guest speakers trumps that of many convocation key speakers at other Bschool convocations.

It does feel good to be chased by those companies/other speakers(albeit for their selfish interests), but at times it does lead to fatigue or indifference. For example, today, one of India's largest conglomerates is bringing its branding experts for a talk with the students. Most other students would jump at this but because of the forced group allocations by our Placement Committee, it is seen as an imposition. And surprisingly, not many students are really interested.  in this. And during the speaker sessions on campus, the attendance leaves much to be sought for. So when the pendulum is too much tilted towards students who do not perceive the value of those sesssions. 

Lessons from Mr Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease and ICAP

One of the benefits of studying at IIM Ahmedabad, is the sheer quality/number/variety of guest speakers who make a beeline to address students, often at their own costs. Be it business school conferences, student club organized events, faculty organized guest speaker sessions or institute organized seminars, one gets to hear firsthand from extremely busy people. Yesterday was another such case in point, where the guest speakers for an elective Securities Regulation(taught by visiting faculty and eminent legal eagle Prof Sandeep Parekh) were the PwC national tax practice head, and Mr Manish Sabharwal. At first, having just heard of Manish's achievements at Teamlease(for which he was listed among the most innovative leaders in India by Forbes in Dec11), I wondered what he would have to say on securities law. But like most successful people, he dons multiple hats. For the past 12 years, he has run a interbank broker ICAP in the bonds/currency/derivatives(BCD) market. Due to the exigent regulatory framework, that broker has remained small. But his venture Teamlease has grown to Rs 6000 crore turnover and 80,000 employees within just 6 years, despite the archaic contract labour laws. He very interestingly contrasted the two ventures, trying to analyze why one grew from a baby to an adult, and the other remained a dwarf. His 1hr session held the audience rapt bound, helped also by his pithy one liners.
DISCLAIMER:-Please DO NOT quote before checking with Manish himself, since this being based on notes/memory, verbatim accuracy is NOT guaranteed.

1. When  you set up a checklist, you set yourself up for being gamed:-This was in the context of explaining why Indian regulators like RBI prefer a principles based regulation to the rules based regulation prevalent in USA and elsewhere
2. Regulatory cholesterol:-While explaining why a certain Indian financial sector regulator(can't take the name since it may be politically incorrect!) was resistent to change, he compared it to regulatory cholesterol, stating that since its talent selection was incestuous with very little new blood, such lack of innovation would be the result. 
3. The Satyagraha argument:-If you find a law irrational(like Gandhi found salt laws), you break it and fight for changing it. Manish contrasts his efforts at Teamlease on reforming India's contract labour laws, to this
4. In India, if you wait for all the lights to turn green, you will never leave home:-He mentioned this in the context of navigating the bureaucratic red tape and inertia in India. It is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. 
5. Entrepreneurship is the art of staying alive long enough to be lucky: He paraphrases the Calvin and Hobbles comic, where Calvin says that he's in the right place but does not know the right time, and so will sleep at that right place till the right time comes! He also compares it to the story about the prisoner who, when sentenced by Mughal Emperor Akbar to death, promised to make Akbar's horse fly within 6 months. Intrigued, Akbar delays the sentence for 6 months. When asked by a fellow prisoner about this seemingly mad promise, the prisoner explains that he brought time in the hope that within these 6 months-Akbar could die/change his mind, horse could die or maybe be made to fly!! These stories show the importance of handling risk, and staying solvent/buying time when you know you are right. 
6. When you get THERE there is no there:-He mentioned this in the context of how chasing happiness is elusive, since that moment of success itself is very transient. 
7. Life is NOT a fixed income security, it is a call option whose value is maximized with volatility:- While encouraging us to take risks/leap of entrepreneurship, he used the metaphor as life as not a safe risk free security,but an exciting call option! We would repent the risks we did NOT take, rather than the ones we took.
8. Who you define as your competition often defines how big you become:-This was in the context of strategy/dreaming big. This phrase explains itself, as broadening the scope of competition avoids tunnel vision.
9. When in Rome, don't do as the Romans do:-This was in the context of business ethics, not bribing and not employing the Nuremburg defence that you were 'just following orders!'. As Murthy says, the softest pillow is a smooth conscience. 
10. Playing to win is NOT playing dirty, 100-0 are BAD odds:-This was again in the context of fair play in business/avoiding practices like insider trading. One may rig the playing field/squeeze partners but that is not sustainable in the long run.

There is plenty more from that session, which I'll share in future posts. 

The unfairness of forced pledges and undertakings for the 'good' of IIM

My first day at IIM-A(the orientation) started with the entire batch affirming their compliance to a 'voluntary' pledge, and returning a signed copy of it! Thought the pledge wording claimed itself as voluntary, it was certainly not so!  The pledge content was quite idealistic and proper, but begs the question that if we expect mature adults to practice it, then why not give them the freedom to sign it? Unlike a code of conduct in professions like accountancy/medicine/law, no disciplinary action can be taken against those who violate that pledge. That is why each year sees fewer students sign these pledges at schools like Harvard, where they see no point in signing something not applicable for all.

Another example is the recent requirement for students to affirm paying the penalty, if they do not honour their job offers accepted during campus placements. Again a noble goal, but not something which was even informed before the student enrolled. Now, one may argue that not all things can be informed(viz incomplete contracts) and that such adjustments take place, also that students have a choice not to sit for the placement process under those conditions, but in the Indian context, such arguments may not hold water because participation in the placement process is a major reason why students join bschools like IIMA.

And today during registration for the 6th term, we had to sign an undertaking accepting any disciplinary action the college would take against students who enrolled in courses with clashes. Again, a noble idea to preserve the academic integrity, but not the semblance of free will. If academic regulations will be imposed, why go through the facade of claiming the students have assented to this?

The common ingredient in the above 3 examples, is that regulations/guidelines imposed by the faculty, are being given the cloak of student accepted by these measures, where the student has no realistic option but to sign. If that was mentioned in the prospectus/admission letter, then that is a different thing but changing the rules of the game midway does not seem fair to me.

PS:-I do support the intent/content behind all the 3 rules above, but merely object to the rationale for taking student signatures on them, which is a poor replica of a contract!

Sattvik Food Festival at IIM-A-organic and value for money

I've blogged earlier about Prof Anil Gupta's efforts at conserving Indian tradition/food/farming practices for the right reasons(food security, biodiversity, inclusive growth). Annually, his organization SRISTHI conducts a food festival on the IIM-A grounds, which is an experience in itself. This year, women groups from 15 districts of Gujarat are here apart from several states like Arunachal pradesh, Assam, Bihar, jharkhand, Manipur, Rajasthan, Maharashtra etc. The sheer variety is to be experienced with natural ice cream, juices, processed forest produce, jail produced snacks etc. I went to the festival on the first day itself braving a hot afternoon, and was not disappointed. My observations

1. Despite the healthy food options, people were snacking on the usual junk food like chips, icecream, bhujiya, bajjis, sev etc. I guess one needs such items to pull the crowd towards the stalls for making them look at other items. Maybe I saw a skewed sample but I saw very few people willing to experiment unconventional items. 
2. I purchased 1kg shing bujiya for Rs 90, and 3 packets of kaju biscuit. I ran out of time before I could consider purchasing something else. 
3. What I saw convinced me that if alternative food(in terms of variety and sourcing-even jail!) is priced reasonably(even slightly over the normal), then there are ready takers for it as I noticed in the Sabarmati Jail stall, which was seeing stockouts and high demand! 
4. Overall, it did open my eyes to the wide range of tasty food(though having visited the festival after a heavy lunch, I was in the mood for snack shopping rather than tasting/eating)

Lessons from Mr Amit Kumar of YES Bank

Mr. Amit Kumar is a PGP ’91 alumnus,  and currently the Senior President and Country Head, Corporate and Institutional Banking, YES Bank Ltd. As a professional entrepreneur manager, he is part of the founding team at YES Bank and manages the wholesale banking business. In Sep-11, He spoke about"Building Professional Entrepreneurship: The YES Bank Story",which covered a snapshot of Indian Banking and the story of Indian entrepreneurs so far. He also spoke about Institution Building at YES Bank from the perspective of a Professional Entrepreneur. This post tries to capture the key points from that interesting talk. I'm posting this after months, so some parts may be vague. Do not quote! 

• He had worked in SBI Capital Markets, ANZ Grindlays, Standard Chartered Bank and finally moved to YES Bank in 2004 as a co-founder
• Entrepreneurship is not a 2nd option, it is a leap of faith. 
• One must strike that balance between entrepreneurial growth, and institution building(setting the processes, systems, controls in place) to allow for profitable and scalable growth. 
• A smart banker is ahead of the curve and can shift loans to promoter/vendor financing at the slightest whiff of trouble, that differentiates him from a stuffy banker! 
•  Industry knowledge/expertise is essential for that extra finesse and understanding to make that customer feel that you are a partner/friend and not a fair whether friend! And that expertise helps during a downturn when one must rejig exposures and take hard decisions
• Timing, luck and hardwork was what helped, as was a SWOT analysis based partnership
• They made some(ok many!) strategic decisions like
• Making lemonade from the 'lemon' of the priority sector. They now specialize in food, agri, microfinance and other priority sector lending, quite profitably. 
• Crowdsourcing ideas via contests, from partners etc
• Partnering with Wipro and others for ensuring 60days ATM rollout including master switch. That 'pay as you use' model also helped quick scaling./cost structure optimize.
• Sustainable banking is beyond ROE, and includes triple bottomline, responsible selling and maintaining one's reputation
• Commenting on the wealth creation, he said that if he had stuck with foreign banks, he would never have been that wealthy.
• On the attributes of an entreprenuer
• Tech Savvy
• Well Exposed
• Knowledgable
• Confident
• Well Networked
• Willing to take risks(key!)
• CRM helps one to bring a diagnostic proactive approach to clients

Devdutt Patank at IIM Ahmedabad-notes from guest lecture

Having read his books/articles and listened to his Youtube videos, there was no chance that I was going to miss out listening to him when he visited IIM-A on Sep22,2011(the long hiatus between then and this blog post is that I found my notes not during some spring cleaning!). I thanked my stars for coming 10min early, because 5min later, there was just standing space left! That is not common at IIM-A, and shows the stature of the person, to attract such an audience without any compulsion. For those who have read his stuff/listened to him before, it was not that new but I post the takeways/my impressions from that session of 75min.

• He seemed honoured to be at IIM-A-whether it is that just politeness or not I won 't know but it did seem to come from the heart. Familiarity breeds contempt-for us at IIM-A, such an invite would not hold the same sentimental value..
• He was earlier a consultant with E&Y before he chose to work with Future Group
• Nature is the ultimate meritocracy-you survive if you run fast enough! 
• Advertising is modern myth making
• Vision Statement is the modern equivalent of the Promised Land, so leaders use narratives well..
• Animals have no imagination(this is questioned but take it true for now!)  so they live in the moment, but since we humans have imagination, we need coping skills to deal with it!
• He pithily said that we transact with 3 types of currencies
• Saraswati(head)
• Durga(heart)
• Door opening(credentials/schools..like using his title Dr gets him places!)
• Speaking about motivation, he said that nature never gives you validation, it is social structure that does so!
• On a more serious note, he said that the world loves India, but not Indians(pushy, taking their jobs, dirty etc etc!!). Even I forgot the context in which he said this. 
• On a lighter note, he concluded with a Sanskit phrase, stating that people take you more seriously when you use Sanskrit phrases!  

I left the session feeling warmer from inside than at the start, maybe it was its own reward. About the parallels with myth making and triple currency method, those are interesting points to reflect and apply. 

Non elite colleges winning bschool competions-top bschools losing their mojo?

Recently, while thinking about the results of various Bschool competitions held this year(and where IIMA teams also participated), it struck me that teams from lesser known colleges(other than IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Lucknow) are increasingly winning more events, For instance,

1. ISB and IIM Indore were the only 2 Indian teams(out of 6 global teams) to qualify for the NUS Global case study competition
2. Teams from these 2 colleges,also won the IIM-A organized finance competition covering 4 domains of corporate banking, derivatives, private equity.  MDI Gurgaon came third, competing against IIMA/C/L/S and JBIMS.
3. IIFT won the CFA Investment Research Challenge(National round and North round). Even the other zonal finalists were IFMR, IIM Shillong and SJSOM(IIT Bombay).
4. Winners of events at business festivals at the IIMs, are typically from the lesser known colleges like NMIMS, SP Jain, FMS, IBS
5. Team from MDI(Gurgaon) won the Airtel Challenge(a marketing case study competition open to select bschools)

The saving grace was that true to their name, IIM Ahmedabad teams won a Spanish bschool marketing case,  Cognizant Challenge and M&M War Room, all premier national/international level strategy case study competitions. An IIM-Calcutta team won the BNP Paribas global level finance simulation game at the Paris Finals earlier this year. And I'm sure IIM Bangalore/Lucknow would also have some accolades to their names.So maybe we can conclude that the big ticket awards would go to the IIMSs?

But these exceptions are fewer each year. A classmate who participates in these events more actively than I do, tells me that this trend is pretty much live and kicking-that the lesser known bschools emerge from nowhere to take away the prizes. Now, the reasons for this could be

1. Self Selection:-Those who value CV points/money will enter these events, while those who have earned enough from summer internships(like many IIM students) won't.
2. Need to prove themselves-Because they are 2nd they try harder:-I would say this is a major point.
3. Not busy/overworked unlike IIMABC/(some extent L):-This is true for participation by first year students, not so for second year students so much, but the fact remains that atleast at IIM-A, one does not get academic leave for taking part in competitions elsewhere.
4. Biased Judging by organizers/prejudice against IIMs-a leading Bschool(some say the least expensive in India) selected 1/3rd of the 50 finalists from an online simulation game from its college, and the winner was also from that college(based on subjective criteria). Need I say more?
5. Career Choice of students-these events are biased towards those with a marketing/general management orientation, of which there are fewer in the top 4 bschools-many opt for Consult/Finance roles.

Whatever the reasons be, one should factor that in before concluding that the top bschools are losing their mojo. At the same time, it is also an object lesson not to underrate those from other bschools.

So who qualify as IIM Ahmedabad alumni anyway?

Till I came to IIMA, the only people I used to associate with the IIMA brand were those from the flagship two year residential program. I was not even aware of the existence of other programs. But once I was here, I learnt about the existence of a much broader program list(with all participants being eligible for that tag of alumni except maybe the students here on exchange)

• General 2yr program in management(PGP)-which racks all the headlines
• PGP for Executives(PGPX)-one year fulltime program for those with 8yrs+ experience. 
  
• Agribusiness management(PGP-ABM)-they share the first year with PGP and have a good curriculum but due to the lower admission criteria are viewed as poor second cousins
• Management Development Programs(MDPs)
  
• Faculty Development Programs(FDPs) for faculty of bschools.

I have listed the programs in order of the estimated benefit to participants, and the corresponding presumed bonding with the institute. While one may argue that all those who have resided on campus for any duration should be deemed alumni(even MDP/FDP), others may argue for only the 1yr/2yr program participants to be deemed alumni.


Any club(and alumni association IS a club) would like to keep its membership selective yet target the people most likely to succeed. By that yardship, extending the IIM Ahmedabad alumni association benefit to MDP participants who pay hefty fees, can be justified due to the halo effect they bring on the others. And for FDPs, while their participants have less headline potential, they would probably be more grateful to the institute for trying to rub off its effect on them. So per se, I don't see anything wrong with that. 


Notwithstanding the above, alumni are often defined by their batch. And this is where FDP/MDP program participants are left out/relatively isolated. Can the relationship with them be stoked and maintained through any better ways? If yes, that would benefit both IIMA and them.

Why the faculty are equally to blame for institutional decline?

A business leader blames the poor student quality for producing ineffective graduates, while a minister attributes it to the faculty not being world-class. Whatever the reasons may be, I noticed that  at times, faculty are equally to blame for the decline of teaching standards and of institutions. Lest anyone consider this a rant based on personal experience at IIM-A, let me hasten to add that this represents a collage of experiences from different IIMs, as shared by various friends during the past 2 years

1. Overuse of TAs:-While increasing class sizes lead to difficulties in evaluating of test scripts, surely these can be solved by designing objective tests which test what they are supposed to, and to have electronic tests as far as possible, or even simulation games. Instead, professors increasingly outsource answer scrip correction to the teaching associates, whose quality is the student's luck of the draw. While many TAs are good, the bad ones are enough to disillusion students and have them game the system with irrelevant CP etc.
2. Inflexible grading-standardization focus:-As TAs(as opposed to professors) correct the answer scrips, they naturally tend to respect the answer key. While students can appeal the marks, that takes time and the process is not always transparent, thus it may create a tendency to study as per the suggested class notes/guidelines only
3. Poor organization and delays of speaker sessions:-If events start very late often, then students may not like to attend administration efforts like speaker sessions etc.
4. Disrespect of student efforts:-Even when students toil to organize events/faculty-industry meets etc, and faculty turn a cold ear to that, that does not send out a good signal to those involved.
5. Not supporting student activities adequately:-Support does not need to be just monetary. It could be helping to open doors, suggest themes, act as judges etc, and is not at all easy.
6. Staying cossetted in irrelevant research to the expense of 
1. Guiding Student research:-While I agree that many students express interest in research merely for CV pts, there is many genuinely interested, but not able to attract the interest/attention of the respective faculty, who then crib about student disinterest.
2. Keeping office hours:-This is rarely followed by faculty unlike in the West.
3. Industry Interface:-If the faculty do not take interest in industry outreach via MDPs, meeting with visiting professionals etc, then industry funding and interface falls. 

  In passing, let me add that while it takes two hands to clap, one should have the courage to blame the hand permanently fixed at the place, than to blame transient hands like students who  don't really influence the place. And lest this sound as a rant against IIM-A, it is not meant as that, but to provoke thought and discussion.

Why the social sector loses attention at hello

The title is a pun on I had you at hello, where the film showcases a salesman who hooks the attention of listeners at hello. Unfortunately, I had the occassion to sit through some talks/presentations of people from the non profit sector(more precisely social sector), who lost the interest of the audience from the word hello. Let me explain how the speakers achieve this

• Using too much jargon without translating it to Plain English
• Blaming the 'evil' corporate sector without offering solutions
• Using too many weird frameworks
• Preferring some vivid stories to citing hard empirical data
• Taking a clearly one sided view without being fair/realistic
• Cannot stop talking/too verbose
• Belabouring a point once made, this losing audience goodwill
• Not connecting their topic to business situations/

Maybe I'm expecting too much. But when someone addresses an audience comprising mostly Bschool students, then they are asking for trouble if they ignore the basics of effective communication by doing the cardinal sins mentioned above. I appreciate that people from all sectors may commit the above cardinal sins, but I've noticed this in abundance during my recent experience, and so the comments.

Macroeconomics-difficult to understand for MBAs yet important

This post may seem more fitting in my finance blog, but the reason I chose to place it here, will be evident in some time. Unlike microeconomics which can be explained by words/examples/logical theories, macroeconomics tries explaining and predicting human behaviour when they economically behave/interact in aggregates. As a student of Chaos theory/network flow would know(I've never studied these subjects but been told by students of them that they help to understand macroeconomics), understanding and modelling complex interactions is never easy.

More so in macroeconomics where two economists can spin the same data in 3 ways to tell 4 stories(ok i made up that quote but I am surprised on a daily basis how people can argue different points of view with the same data! And if one back enough in history, there is data to support or refute any view. Hence, without a grasp of economic history or connection with real world recent data, macroeconomics becomes just another abstract pseudoscience and a mess of equations and contradicting theories, based on fundamentally weird edifice of assumptions.

And yet, macroeconomics is important. In the business world, one needs macroeconomics for

• Mean reversion happens often in the stock markets, and the reason it happens is usually that someone looks at the macro data and decides that we are at the start/end of another cycle
• People wake up to the reality(Greece, PIIGS etc) only when they connect the dots with demographics, trade and macroeconomic data
• Demand Forecasts of any value(the base of conventional business plans!) need sound macro data
• Deciding on career choice especially location! one cannot combat poor economics though like India sometimes one can make a hash out of good circumstances. 

And so on. Yet, the present way the subject is taught in many bschools exposes one to the same field of thought the concerned professor is teaching(there have been instances where the professors within the same department could not agree on the curiculum, so they used separate textbooks/quizzes/exams!).This is nothing short of indoctrination, and leaves the student open to tunnel vision by not appreciating the whole field.

So what I would suggest is to read introductory primers first that cover the basics like the NCFM module(http://www.nseindia.com/content/ncfm/ncfm_mfme.pdf) and a 'For Dummies'/'Demystified' version as well. That should broaden your mind enough to critically question what goes on in class. I do wish I had done this before I learnt the subject in bschool.

What the student mess can teach about management

All residential institutes have a mess, with the contract usually a monopoly of a single caterer for the whole college. In come colleges(especially IITs/NITs/IIMs), the student body via an elected Mess Committee alnt mess can teach about so has oversight into aspects like menu, enforcing contracts, terms and conditions, renewal decisions etc. It struck me the other day, that the mess can be a great management teaching tool in the following ways, for the students involved in the process. WHILE I'm not in the Mess Committee, below is my understanding/analysis of the process

• Explaining monopoly:-Student Mess is usually a limited monopoly for breakfast, while outside tiffen suppliers may supply other meals. So the contract may/may not reflect that
• Learning to play the regulation game-Regulation IS a game with parties concerned trying to optimize their pie. So structuring the conditions to minimize gaming is essential, for both parties, and the negotiations would reflect that.
• Food forecasting/estimation-While usually the mess contractor's headache, the students also would try to minimize wastage by limiting portion servings, awareness messages and cooking vessels management.
• Optimizing waiting times:-That is a classical Operations Issue of balancing capacity and waiting time, which only a SLA can ensure!
• Evaluating bids:-Reputation, Track Record and flexibility among other things need to be evaluated, and that is a training for future bid evaluation
• Dealing with incomplete contracts:-Since not all eventualities can be anticipated in the contract, this is a necessary eventuality. Instances like new menu items, flexible timings, bulk coupon purchases etc need to be negotiated.
• Customer Service:-Since the mess committee members are the first point of contact for any complaints, they better learn to take it with a smile and politely!And to their credit, this year's committee under Mohit Garg has done a stellar job

What surprises me however, is the lack of faculty involvement in the Mess. They usually do NOT eat in the mess, and so are usually indifferent to it. And to my knowledge, no professor in the above areas is ever approached with advice in that regard. Which makes me wonder whether Professors practice what they preach in that regard.

So what makes IIM-A different?

Earlier, I touched upon this point in a post on IIM-A's criteria for sending students on exchange(http://iimaexperiences.blogspot.com/2011/07/iim-ahmedabads-2010-exchange-criteria.html), and thought I'll update it after reading Prof TT Rammohan's book 'Brick by Brick', which was about Ravi Mathai, and his legacy on IIM-A. Though a few rankings may disparage IIM-A to get that elusive media byte, the fact remains that both the student community(perception poll, aspirations) and recruiters(quality and offers) still view IIM-A as India's No1 Bschool. But beyond that, the mystique still remains. And while one may attribute it to the unique architecture, alumni network, academic autonomy etc, those factors would not be enough in themselves. So, the student governance is a critical aspect of it, and the factors below

• Integrity in everything:-Be it placements, academics or other activities, it is NOT ok to cheat/pad CV/engage in plagiarism etc. That rubs off on the person in general even during internship, where IIM-A students do not badmouth others despite being victims of it themselves.
• Transparent and fair event organizing:- Anecdotal evidence shows that IIM-A students win very few inter-college events at their own college. Contrast this to other colleges, where there is an undisputed host advantage. But here, IIM-A organizers go to the extent of atleast 50% external judges, random team names, limiting entries to 1/college for some events etc
• Fair selection process in clubs:-There is very little nepotism in club selections, with multiple interactions and a fair process. The clique culture of regionalism/college/community is not prevalent here,in general
• Wide latitude to clubs and associations:-The student body and clubs have a wide discretion to carry out their activities, with minimal faculty supervision.
• Cooperative administration:-Whether it comes to booking classrooms, Audio-Visual staff remaining late to ensure events go off flawlessly etc, the administration is usually quite cooperative for student run events.

There could be many other such factors, but these were the ones that caught my attention. 

Why a moneyball/inclusive approach to MBA recruiting is impractical in India

Recently, I read an article which propounded professionally run placement services teams on Indian MBA campuses(http://insideiim.com/5-reasons-why-student-run-placements-should-give-way-to-cdc-at-iim/). For the uninitiated, most top Indian Bschools placement processes are run by students and not by 'professionals'. While that debate is still open, some of the comments below caught my attention because they expoused the commonly held view that MBA job openings are still the property of a small clique. While that may be true(why else would alumni network be so heavily valued?),  one must also examine the logic behind the same before tarring that with the brush of nepotism. In an ideal world, all candidates should be given the same level of consideration irrespective of their background. But that is not practical for the following reasons.

• Lies, more Lies and resumes:-As any experienced head hunter would know, CVs are filled with quite a few lies. And that is more true at the student level, where 'padding' is not that easy to detect. While campuses like IIM-A have a rigorous CV checking process where each line on the CV is scrutinized for evidence and wording, that is not true for many other campuses. So instead of trying to sort the chaff from the wheat, recruiters would prefer a campus where the integrity of the process is beyond dispute. And by being the first campus to release an audited detailed placement report, IIM-A again showed why it is considered as the numero-uno. This is true for some other good colleges as well, which do not permit padding
• Quality of class interaction/group work:-What distinguishes a fulltime MBA from a distance education one is the quality of classroom participation, group work, industry interface and faculty-student interaction. On all these, the higher ranked institutes do perform better, and that shows in the quality of students. 
• Information overload:-The younger generation simply do not know how to use the internet effectively, let alone net etiquette. The unfortunate recruiter who posts a job opening on a site with a CLEAR instruction to email the resume, is inundated with plenty of comments below the post in barely passable English, asking to be considered for the same! And like how there are many applicants for CAT who do not do their homework, the same is true for many job applicants as well. While sites like naukri.com now offer automated screening and resume matching, the understaffed HR would prefer prequalified applicants and relevant ones.
• Difficult metrics:-Whatever metric one can think of beyond the CAT score, chances are that it can be gamed. Whether it be B-school competition wins(inconsistent quality of participation and judging), intra campus academic achievement(again does not reflect the person's ability to work well) etc, few metrics are fair, reliable and relevant. Some companies like PurpleLeap are designing post MBA tests, but even those are doubtful. At the end of the day, the decision is largely non measurable.
• Assessment centre culture also like a lottery:-Abroad, especially in Europe, companies invite their top ranked candidates to a day long assessment centre and administer them tests, give them group tasks and have them make individual presentations. While that is a form of work samping and testing their potential work skills, that approach may fail in India because it would fall prey to coaching, and give the extroverts an undue advantage. Indeed, that is why some IIMs scrapped the Group Discussion stage, because that is not just how things happen in real life. And then, as the NDA/SSB assessment centre testing experience shows, this will lead to mushrooming of academies, and the potential scope to game the system.

So where would this work? ICICI-NIIT MBA program is a 2yr partime MBA for professionals with 3yrs+ workexp, which assures them a 15lakh+ CTC at the end of that program. of course, the selection process is rigourous and the program is selective with the goal to build a middle management cadre to fill the expansion driven need. Unless companies do an Infosys with large scale quality testing and validation, they would probably fail in the effort to expand the applicant pool. But a key difference between a technical role(Infosys, TCS.>) and a managerial role is that the latter skills are not readily testable. And that leaves room for subjectivity. 

Diversification-the best advice from a career perspective also?

Scott Adams(the creator of Dilbert) has some awesome career advice(really!) out there. One of his posts really struck home(http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-advice.html) that
you can either choose to hyper-specialize and become the best in the world (top 1%) at doing one very specific thing, or you can try to become very good (top 25%) in as many different areas as possible, which you then can use in combination. 


In short, prefer the generalist over specialist approach. Now, from the MBA perspective, management is a skill which can be taught to any graduate-therefore the generalist approach works. For the headline making jobs(consulting, investment banking etc), prior specialist experience is rarely counted, atleast on an Indian campus. Still, let me try to state the pros and cons of each as objectively as possible. Pros are

• Uncertainty:-One never knows whether the chosen career will go boom or kaput. Think of a person who studied till 2009 to become a prop trader. What would s(he) do once the desks are shut down post Basel III? Hence, the importance of multiple areas.
• Unlearn and relearn:-The pace of change(local, regional, national, global) is so much that often the very basic mental models need to be reexamined periodically. And some old skill sets/requirements may just become obsolete/destroyed. For example, real estate agents/human travel agents are going that way due to the internet. So those with realistic other career options can unlearn and relearn with a more secure feeling.
• Multi task & network:-Combining multiple skills gives a good synergy(hopefully!) and also allows getting the best from various fields. For example, Indian finance professionals in the corporate world often have multiple credentials(MBA+CFA), (CA+CS/CWA) to signal their knowledge/mastery of multiple fields. And it does help in terms of membership and reach

However, the disadvantage of that approach would be

• Contrary to the increasingly specific Googlized world:-Customization, specific search results etc have spoilt the generation brought up on a diet of getting exactly what they wanted. And a specialist credential fits in that culture.
• Being perceived as less competent:-It is often joked that a Phd teaches the person everything about nothing. However, the significance of a Phd is the social signalling credential in the academic community that the person can withstand the gruelling grind for 4yrs(or more) and have that academic discipline. Even the best teachers(in style/ability) encounter that glass ceiling without a Phd. Similarly, a very competent generalist may not command that same respect from his specialist peers.
• Not being the 'best' in any field:-Being the best needs 10,000 hours or more, as Gladwell puts it. Those who prefer to be good at many things, may not be the best in that. And for those used to being at the top of their game, that would hurt. Also, generalists may not be needed if the organizational culture is to find a near perfect match rather than to bet on someone.

 To conclude therefore, having a second skill set/career option is always great. That not only gives greater career security, but also helps to ward of midlife crisis/empty nest syndrome.