Expectations@MBA

On 18^th September 2010, a Saturday, the third Corporate Wisdom session in the academic year 2010-2011 was organized. The speaker was Mr. P. Jeevan Jose, Head of HR, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance. We students thought that the topic would be ‘expectations of the corporate world’. When the session started however, we saw that the topic title on Mr. Jose’s presentation was ‘Expectations...’

Mr. Jose began by asking us a simple question-‘What is shelf-life?’  A fair number of people were aware of shelf-life in the general context, but the shelf-life he referred to was the shelf-life of an MBA. He defined the shelf-life of an MBA as ‘the average time spent in the first job’ and that the shelf-life was a disappointing one year and six to eight months. This figure is not at all surprising to most of us. But companies, he said, though not astonished, are trying very hard to unravel the mystery behind the number. So, we figured, that the ‘expectations’ being discussed were not only the expectations of companies of MBAs, but also the expectations of the MBAs of companies and of their B-school. Some of the common expectations of freshman MBAs are getting a good job with a high salary, social recognition etc. Ideally though, the expectations of MBA students should be to learn to add value, to question, to seek answers and the alternatives, to learn to analyze and channelize the efforts of not only themselves but also their colleagues.

The audience was absorbed. What we had just heard was a little out of the ordinary. None of us anticipated that a discussion on expectations would be so thought provoking. Most of us were waiting to know what the world wanted out of us, in terms of what services we were expected to provide. But nothing more crossed our minds.

Going beyond the classroom, when we had finally touched upon what the corporate expected of MBAs, Mr. Jose gave us a beautiful example to illustrate, that the companies hire MBAs not for their fancy degrees but for their ability to see problems with great attention to detail while not losing sight of their long term objectives. He went on to add that the corporate world seeks a professional- one who can work unsupervised and who can certify his own work as complete, a person with integrity, speed of execution, courage and immense patience.

As a final piece of advice, he said that an MBA student must plan not for a job, but for a career and happiness, must practice professionalism, seek counsel, learn from diversity, learn to influence people without power and most importantly, he must have the heart to admit that he doesn’t know.

Our minds were processing question after question once the session had ended. So much had been conveyed with so little that was said. The session had opened our minds to a new dimension, one which not many people stumble upon while still in college and fewer still would recognise when not guided by great people such as Mr. Jose.

Wealth Management: IndusInd style

We had Ms. Sushri Mishra, VP of Wealth Management in IndusInd Bank address us on Wealth Management on the evening of 3rd September, 2010.

Ms. Mishra started with the growth of Wealth Management through the years in India. UTI was the first to offer Mutual funds in India in 1964, after which PNB followed suit, but this happened only in 1991 – nearly 30 years later! And before 1993 (which was when the first private Mutual Fund came into existence in India), the size of the Wealth Management industry in India was roughly Rs. 64000 crores. Today the size is Rs.7 lakh crores. Even though it has grown, the growth has been extremely slow – it took a decade to cross the Rs.1 lakh crore mark!

The number of Mutual Fund houses today in India is about 36, but comparing the size of the Wealth Management with that of the banking industry’s, which boasts Rs.40 lakh crores, the percentage is pitiful compared to the size of the Wealth Management industry in the United States of America – over 80% the size of their banking industry! India therefore is relatively far behind America in this space, but how relevant is this ratio to us and what does it really mean? Our own classmates answered this question posed by Ms. Mishra. It is indicative of a stable system, where there is a lot of savings (which, coincidentally, was the reason why India was less affected by the recession than other country) but it also speaks about the potential for growth of this industry in the country.

She then spoke about the career growth in this industry and the scope of the industry itself. As with any entity, growth of the industry can be measured in terms of current standing, and future prospects. Already the banking industry has assets worth Rs. 40 lakh crores and it is set to grow in future because apart from the metros, the other parts of the country such as the rural, semi-urban and even the non-metros are seriously under-serviced.

She spoke about how FII’s seem very attractive because they bring in a lot of money inflow into the system but they also bring with them their own risks – volatility of the market! Whereas, the FDI’s which are pretty heavily regulated and controlled, could be freed and it is heartening to note that economists in the country, have recently been leaning in favour of this trend. Earlier, India’s GDP contribution in the world market was
about 2% but now it has nearly doubled and it growing at a rapid pace and the one of the industries that could reap the immediate benefits of a spurt in economic growth is (not surprisingly) the banking and wealth management industry!

At the end of the session, there were quite a few interesting questions thrown up by the students, which Ms. Mishra expertly fielded and she was pleasantly surprised and of course, pleased by the active participation of the class. It goes without saying that the students enjoyed the session and came out feeling at least a fraction more enlightened about Wealth Management as an industry and a career option for an MBA graduate.

Contributed by:

Lakshmi Kavya, MBA 1st Year

GIMME A BREAK: Freshers Party for the MBA Batch of 2010-12

The 1st orientation week was quite hectic with the faculty and seniors giving us some hard time with their ides of serious fun. Hardly slept!! Anyways the next week began and we found ourselves in the DAM class starring at the slide show and subsequently this became a way of life. That was quite monotonous and to add insult to injury were the attributes of quizzes, presentations, assignments and what not.

While passing by a group of seniors, we heard the five letter word “PARTY”. It gained weight when one of them prefixed it with the word “FRESHERS”. Just the mention of a party rejuvenated our souls and so it all began. Seniors enlightened us that there will be two parties. One was which the college hosted in form of a formal lunch. The best part of which was the “DYNAMITE SOUP” which made us doubt the credibility of rest of the food. Anyways, that part ended and we landed back to hostel safe and sound.

The second one was an informal party hosted by our seniors and this was something highly anticipated. Finally, the day dawned. In marketing terms “CONSUMER SATISFACTION IS WHEN DELIVERY MEETSEXPECTATIONS” and it was nothing less than that. I can vouch for it. The theme set up for the party was 'TWINS' - People had to come paired up like twins & there were cases of Siamese twins too wearing identical outfits and posing for shutterbugs!

When we reached VGP resort after a gala time in the buses, we were welcome with a drink after which the grand Bay of Bengal welcomed us. People who hadn't frequented beaches went berserk and had the time of their lives soaking in the waves at sunset time. This was followed by some beach football and volleyball where the experts mingled with novices making both playing and watching the games real fun.

High tea was served later and exhausted participants took their seats only to realize they couldn't rest for long as the DJ had already started preparing to arrange the music system - And thus it began! Rocking beats, rollicking songs and a rapturous crowd comprising both the batches set the beach ablaze as people rendezvoused and familiarized with others. Even a sumptuous dinner couldn’t stop people from getting back to the dais. What could only stop us stopped us - TIME. At around 10:30 PM, we reluctantly started back & the way back was pure fun too as chorus in Hindi songs rocked the East Coast Road – A rarity for ECR!

We reached back DoMS at around 11 PM and after striking a few group-poses in front of the department, we made our long walks back to our river banks. The memories of the party were saved intact in memory cards of digi-cams & more importantly, in our minds!

By,
Shrey Sharma & Sivaram L,
Mba Batch of 2010-12

‘Open Collaborative Innovation’ by Dipankar Ghosh, Caterpillar Inc

Corporate Wisdom Team DoMS IIT Madras hosted the first session for the academic year by Mr. Dipankar Ghosh, Operations Director-Engineering Division, Caterpillar Inc. The session was on ‘Open Collaborative Innovation’.
The concepts of collaboration and innovation are age-old and well known. But the phrase ‘open collaborative innovation’ was the theme of the session.

Very initially, innovation was attributed to individuals. But that notion was corrected over time. Innovation was the result of a collaborative effort on various ideas by various individuals. However, the collaboration was often done by people belonging to the same organization. This, as Mr. Ghosh said, was the ‘closed collaborative innovation’ system. At first, this model was successful and this concept fuelled ‘Research and Development’ departments world over. But people change, trends change and so do the success streaks of those who are loathe to sharing knowledge. The wheel of fortune had turned and the new formula for success was the ‘open collaborative innovation’ system, where anybody and everybody could contribute to the innovation taking place anywhere on the face of the earth. Organizations that had adopted the ‘open collaborative innovation’ model had superseded their counterparts adopting the older and vastly more myopic ‘closed collaborative innovation’ model. Products and services such as Lego Mindstorm, Apple iPod and Bharti Airtel were indulging in the benefits of the open collaborative model. More and more organizations were changing with time and adopting the open model. But like all other things in the world, this model too had its flaws. Mr. Ghosh was wise to warn us at this point (for most MBAs have a tendency to gravitate towards ostensible win-win situations and we at DoMS, per se, are no exceptions).

Just as the presentation ended, a storm of questions was hurled at Mr. Ghosh. But Mr. Ghosh, like that master that he was, answered every query and the storm had died down eventually.
Mr Ghosh then went on to explain the importance of team work. A team of a few people is largely the same as a team consisting of the entire world. The difference lies in the amount of knowledge the two possess. Even though Mr. Ghosh had come to tell us of innovation methods adopted by organizations he ultimately taught us a great deal more.
If the first session of corporate wisdom can invoke such realizations I imagine that with a couple sessions we would have insights far beyond the scope of our experience.

By,

Lakshmi Shrikanth,

MBA Batch of 2010-12

"Excuse Me Sir, I'm a student at DoMS"

While going to malls and public places I have always dreaded strangers who come to you for either surveys or sell some schemes. Just imagine, you hanging out with your friends and suddenly somebody comes by saying "Sir could you spare a moment please"; you are in a dilemma whether to turn him down or take off your attention from the conversation. The situation becomes worse when the person is a guy with imploring looks or girl with a beautiful smile. But today tables were turned when I had to conduct a small survey for my marketing management assignment. We assembled in front of Gurunath around 2 o' clock. For the next half an hour we kept on prying on people even when whole place was jam packed. Every one appeared too busy to be bothered, it felt very awkward to disturb them but something had to be done. After contemplating for a while I chose a bunch of students taking among themselves. With the lord’s name on my lips and couple of deep breaths, I mustered courage to walk to them and say "excuse me, I am student of DoMS and we are conducting a survey..... ". Thank God, the guys were good enough to answer our questions politely. Now that ice was broken; with the new found confidence we went around campus asking everyone we came across same set of questions till evening.

Overall, the survey part  of assignment was a good experience where a few interesting incidents happened. There was a couple sitting at Gurunath, I went straight to girl, and after finishing my questions when I asked her “are you a student here?” the guy gave me a dirty look and said "I study here and she is my friend";  some  students just shrug, their shoulders and said “we have already responded to a couple of surveys today”, few people made deep inquiry into nature of our survey, then one man gave detailed answers to our queries while we were looking for one word answers and then we also came across an elderly man gave us a "buzz off" look and said "ask all this to students here don't bother me ". But the best moment was when one of my classmate said “if this is what marketing is then I am up for the challenge”.

Contributed by 

Varun Joshi

MBA 1st Year