Who cast shadow on the festival of lights?

Three days since three blasts in the heart of Delhi, the images fail to vanish. Imagine two families fighting over the charred remains of what they think is their kid. This festival of lights is surely darker than the rest.

Things move on. Let’s salute the resilience of this great nation. (I may be wrong. It’s more resilience than thick skin). Happy Diwali.

This is not fair!

We had an Operations Management surprise quiz today. Remember that old spiritual Sahay? That prof’s quiz. People wrote ‘OM’ (a spiritual symbol) at the top of the answer sheet (some wrote it on all sheets!). I first thought it was the abbreviation of Operations Management!

This is a deliberate attempt to create a perception bias in the mind of the professor. This is a grossly unfair means to get a few more marks.

WHY DIDN’T I GET THIS IDEA? THIS IS NOT FAIR!!!!

Don’t mistake thick-skin with resilience

Another day, another blast. What if that happens to be three timed blasts, in the busiest areas of New Delhi, paharganj and Sarojini nagar, (thankfully one averted in chandni chowk). The government as usual condemns the incident, there are meetings and press conferences, office and institute chat, and it will all be forgotten in a few days. After all, aren’t we resilient?


The terrorists may be nabbed, put to trial, may not be convicted thanks to brilliant lawyers like Ram Jethmalani who are bent on satiating their ego by appearing in such high profile cases. Even if they are convicted, there are always the ubiquitous human rights groups who will plead for less punishment, and there is our President who is so considerate to pardon hardened terrorists.

The feeling of helplessness and apathy has penetrated our collective conscience that we have even ceased to react to such acts. I have doubts if we are resilient. It’s just that the random terror happens all the time that we have become indifferent to it. The Delhi-ites who saw their fellow residents torn into pieces would probably say, thank god it wasn’t me.

The human rights activists require special mention. After all, they were the ones who condemned the encounter killing of veerappan, the sandalwood smuggler who killed more than 100 constables in duty, destroyed sandalwood ecosystem, and killed hundreds of elephants for their tusks, all with the backing of political class of course; the activists who don’t see the human rights violations of terrorists and smugglers.

What should be done? Army is not supposed to go after terrorists. It’s the jurisdiction of police. Khalistan terror in Punjab in the 1980s was even worse than Kashmir one. All it took was one bold chief minister Beant singh, (who had the backing of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi), and one super cop KPS Gill who didn’t care about human rights of terrorists, to root out terrorism from the face of Punjab.

We don’t need condemnation, Mr. PM; unleash state-sponsored terrorism against terrorists.          

World 2150 - part II

First we will see how the India and China become the twin powerhouses.

Reason 1: Countries found lesser need to manage currency.
The manufacturing boom in china and service one in India started with the low end work in the early 90’s. To sustain the low cost advantage for their software and manufacturing exports (weaker the currency, cheaper the exports), the Governments in these two countries managed their respective currencies.

But as these industries grew bigger, they moved away from cost competition. China’s spending in their universities were starting to bear fruit, as the R&D boomed in the early 2010s, while Indian software firms moved away from back office operations to complex data mining and analytics. As this started to happen one curious phenomenon occurred- Bangalore got bangalored!

The software companies started outsourcing their low end back office operations to first tier-2 cities, then to smaller towns like Meruts and Gobichettipalayams, which had low cost advantage. This was the result of the massive investment in human capital in small towns a decade back. This resulted in growth permeating in every corner of the country.

Companies now competed on quality, not cost as they did earlier. Exports needn’t be cheaper, the forex reserves which previously had bloated on account of weak yuan/rupee, suddenly evaporated, and US was found wanting. Why?

The biggest blunder of Dubya wasn’t stem cell research or even Iraq war, but TAX CUTs!

A series of mistakes snowballs into a catastrophe. Bush tax cuts encouraged the US customers to buy like hell. This is how the US business cycle which would otherwise in the recession phase went into the biggest growth phase ever. But it was built on weak foundation, credit.

When lender lends a million, he is the boss. But if he lends a trillion, you know who the boss is. Asian countries amassed a huge forex reserves unleashed by the bush dollar tsunami, and the reserves ploughed their way through to US by way of T-bills. This was the source of consumer credit.

By 2005, there were already enough things to escalate oil prices, iraq war again, hurricanes Evan, Charlie, rita, and the biggie Katrina. These became a regular feature in the coming years, and the oil prices hit the roof. How did it bring the downfall?

Asian nations dependent on oil found the import bill too hot, their forex reserves declined. Less forex, less credit.

Even the tax increase couldn’t salvage the situation, as the economy fell into a debt trap. Company after company filed for bankruptcy or takeovers, which saw Tata motors, mount a successful takeover bid for Ford, CNOOC gobbling up Conaco Philips and a host of big ticket takeovers.

Note: Some of them are a bit exaggerated; but you can’t prove/disprove me, can you?
End of part 2

World 2150 – part I

Ladies and Gentlemen: Welcome to the Annual global conference on ‘How the businesses evolved in the last 150 years’. Let me present you a chronological order of how we have progressed.
2000:     The national boundaries were fast disappearing. To quote Nanadan Nilekani, the great Indian entrepreuneur, ‘The global field is being increasingly levelled’. How nostradamic that statement is!

Businessmen had increasingly moved away from competition to collaboration, the divide between the fat and small corporations were increasingly thinning. In fact the logic of economies of scale was increasingly being questioned. The fat corporations like Microsoft or GM weren’t revered anymore, with the exception of corporations like Toyota or Google which continued to innovate. They were instead seen as dinosaurs, whose might suddenly became its weakness. In its place were corporations like Tata motors, Acer or Hyndai or LG, those nimble footed Asian organizations who were suddenly growing bigger and started spreading their control. In fact the first signs were felt when Chinese hardware major Lennovo acquired IBM.

2020:     India and China had truly emerged by then. It had to be, considering how the once mighty US imperialism as now the historians call it, had fallen, just like the British imperialism of the 19th century! One empire succeeds other, now the Asian one. Let us see how.

For long, US dollar remained stable and was the backbone of world economy. Research and innovation sustained the US economy till 2000. But the fall can be attributed to one person- George W. Bush (Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq incarnate!).

He started one scheme after other- tax cuts which only made rich richer, flawed social security scheme that tried to wash the government’s hand off its responsibility, and the biggest mis-adventure of all time- Iraq war, and the then popular term bodybags.

But the US economy was resilient all through this, primarily because the Asians fed them with dollars by way of huge forex reserves. The interest rates remained benign, and the American consumers were borrowing like there is no tomorrow. But all through this US managed to grow at a great rate of 4-4.5% year after year. So when did this bubble burst?

We will see this in next issue.

Things I didn’t write in my summers form…

How do you interact with people whose backgrounds and value systems are different from your own?
As if their value systems were like my own.

How do you interact with people whose backgrounds and value systems are like your own?
As if their value systems were different.

How do you interact with people whose backgrounds and value systems are like your own and different from your own?
The same way.

Why do i feel an empty space?

Statutory warning: Don’t read it. It’s a sure depressant.

Most of the term I marks have come. I’ve done okay in some, not so okay in others, brilliant in none. What the hell, aren’t all IIMs get placed? Still makes me a bit sad.

Summers are round the corner. The more I hear the alumni talk, the more the PPTs I attend, the more humble I feel. (To quote Churchill, I’m a humble person who has a lot to feel humble about)

The summers forms are eating a lot of time, and I never seem to have any for the reading a thing, completing an assignment, or doing a host of things I get advice about, be it research companies or increase business awareness (it’s funny I crib when a lot of people do even more in their 24/7/365).

I’m cursed with an expressive face and a whimsical temper, so it’s clear to those close to me that I’m not my usual self (And it makes me sick every time they say that!).

I’m a laidback person, and I’m not used to this, damn it! (Whatever ‘it’ is). Give me a break. May be I’ll.

Things I didn’t write in the summers form...

Qn. Tell me an instance where you did a seemingly impossible task. What was the outcome?
Ans .Filling up your form. You have to tell the outcome
Qn. Have you ever be tried in a civil/criminal court? If yes why?
Ans. Yes. Once a poor chap asked me this question and got me a 10 year suspended jail sentence for attempt to murder
Qn. Please detail any achievement/experiences that is special to you?
Ans. Once my sister and I had a big fight over who will get the last special masala dosa. I suggested to my sister to let mom arbitrate it, and I’d successfully eaten it, while she was gone to complain, after overcoming all obstacles.

GD capsule 7

Theme: Textiles
To what extent will the end of quota regime really benefit India?
Background: The Multi fiber agreement came to an end this January 2005. Prior to that, west sourced more than half of their textile imports from Latin-American and Caribbean countries, though they didn’t offer cost advantages like Asian counterparts. (End of MFA had been one of the principal demands of Asian countries at the WTO for a long time)

According to a Goldman Sachs report, China is set to capture 50% of world textile market in 2015, while India’s share will triple to 16%. But the road is not without hiccups.

Though the decision to end MFA was taken at WTO as early as 2001, the Indian companies had woken up to reality and went for capacity expansion of their plants only when the deadline was nearing. This is in sharp contrast to the well oiled Chinese machine, which employs whole towns to produce just one product, to reap in economies of scale.

Also, it looks increasingly difficult to china in mass production, which not only has low cost of labor (prices of Chinese goods is less than the cost of producing them in India) but gives subsidized power (cost of power Indian equivalent of 2 paisa/unit!) and host of concessions to its industries. But India can compete in different turf- home textiles.

I reiterate this point once more- If China has cheap manpower, India has cheap brainpower (see outsourcing). Home textiles are one area which requires less manpower and more designs. This is why US textile industry has managed stay afloat in this segment. The government has provided the industry with cheap 3% loans for capacity expansion, so it’s possible to compete in this capital intensive segment.

Siva's dictionary

Pain: What you feel when you have to fill summers form
Scarce resource: synonym of CV point
Spin a yarn: What you do when you get incomprehensible questions
Pun: When you spin-a-yarn around man-made fiber project!
Blood Pressure: indicator of closeness to submission deadline
Ecstasy: What you get when deadline is extended at the very last minute

Just a thought….

I had a question in financial management quiz. Your grandpa is 60 years old. He is investing a sum in the bank at so and so rate compounded. What amount should you take every year such that there is no balance left after 10 years? If grandpa is 60 years old, would I be that old to solve this problem? Or, would the bank allow me to take his money?

GD capsule 6

Theme: Agriculture
News: This quarter, GDP grew at 8.1%-manufacturing-8.9%, services 11.3%, agriculture-2% making India the second fastest growing economy, next only to china. Agriculture once again proved a drag on GDP growth
Background:
Agriculture employs around 60% of the workforce but contributes only a fifth to the GDP (Indian GDP figure is around 600 billion dollars) whereas the corresponding contribution from services is more than 50%. The successive governments have largely ignored agriculture after the green revolution of 60s. More than investment, the country needs focus.

For example, we have one of the worst storage and transportation facilities in the world. We lose almost 40% of the produce in godowns. Plus lack of storage means farmers are forced to sell their produce at lower than market rates. Let commodity markets and e-choupal expand!

Also, the perverse government subsidies on wheat and rice have caused a glut in foodgrains. The policy dates back to 60s when there was a shortage, but it has outlived its usefulness. The government can continue subsidies, if it changes the crops to cash crops suitable for exports. Any one responds to incentives.

Agriculture needs a new focus because, not only a slow growth drags down GDP, but also a sufficient growth in agriculture means increased demand for other products as well. For example, FMCG and durables industry does well whenever there is a good monsoon.

How (not) to answer in an interview?

I had a mock interview (2 mentors) 12 at night today. We were told to mail our CV and a functional area along with two preferred companies so that they can do a focused interview. I wish I could be choosy about the functional area for now. I’d put marketing anyway (because most companies are marketing)

Mentor: Why is marketing important?
I: Organization exists for creating value for customer. So marketing is very important.

M: So you say finance is not important?
I: Do a volte-face. Finance is the backbone of any firm as firm exists to create value for shareholder!

I’d toned down my deep voice just to show (off) that I’m Mr.Humble.
M: Are you not meek for a marketing manager?’
I: No. The old management paradigm is that companies try to sell aggressively the products the firm produces but the new paradigm (I like that word. Makes me sound smarter than I actually am!) is whatever….

M: What’s the difference between customer and consumer?
I: Hmmm… I don’t know
M: Try
I: Okay. Consumer is the one who consumes one’s goods and services and customer is an all encompassing term that includes all the stakeholders of the company
M: Who is a stakeholder?
I: One who has a stake in the company.

The two mentors look at each other and think the time is up.

PS: I met a senior Jassi who was supposed to interview 10 people, but only three turned up. A couple of them even dared call him up and give him a silly excuse like preparing for P&G case. One fellow who had acknowledged Jassi’s mail at 8 pm called him up at 12 and said he didn’t see the mail.  It seems I’m living in a utopian world and in reality the legacy is not that rich after all.

Why the students here leave a rich legacy...

Summers are fast approaching. For us lesser mortals who don’t have either a good academic background or any work experience, filling two pages of resume is daunting, to say the least. Or for that matter, being interviewed by sharp eyed HRs.

This is where the seniors come. I’ve done my schooling and undergrad, but nowhere have I seen this level of mentor-protégé relationship. May be B-school is a different ball game, or that this happens everywhere, so why not here? Whatever it is, it’s great!

It’s not just the formal placement committee that’s taking up all the initiative, but seniors go out of the way, just to make sure that we don’t mess things at the D-day. Like my tam seniors who hold mock GD/PI sessions with ruthless feedback, or sigfi forums (must see it sometime). Some may feel that too much of such things may prove redundant, but I see the noble intention of these seniors who have nothing to get in return.

This is a rich legacy, which we will give to our juniors next year, and it’s something we can be proud of.

GD capsule 5

Theme: Stock market

Is this Bull Run sustainable?

Yes, because

• Strong earnings of the companies in the recent years will sustain the momentum


• The index heavyweights like ONGC, ITC and RIL still trading at modest valuations


• New FIIs from Japan have started investing only recently with a long term perspective

No, because

• Oil prices if remain high for a longer period, may slow down the global economy and affect Indian share market


• The risk of feds hiking the interest rates. Why? Interest rate hike may strengthen USD and investors may respond by pulling out money from emerging markets like India.


• The weakening rupee is not helping the sentiment either


• A lot of mid cap stocks are overvalued and the market should expect a correction


• Indian market is overvalued when compared to other markets like south Korea, Brazil and South Asian tigers

Conclusion: The only thing that’s certain about share market is that it’s uncertain. So both schools of thought are valid and good fodder for GD

My best friend’s (sister’s) wedding

Thank you, Vipin Prakash Aggrawal! I attended a preview of a North Indian wedding of vipin’s sister at Merut , a small town in western UP (remember 1857 war?). And it looks like the city has seen no development since1857 (technically called preserving the ancient roots!!).

We cancelled the train ticket and went to bus stand (to gain time), only to see that the bus had left. So we took the train ticket again and went to station only to find the train delayed by three hours. By the time the train had come, we had discussed past, present and future, classmates and profs, romances, courtships and failures and hmmm.. money. Thanks to some great planning and divine interventions, we managed to travel the maximum possible time and reached home at 11:00 AM of his sister’s wedding day.

The chief guest of Namrata Aggrawal’s wedding, our own buddy, went straight to hotel where Baraat took place stenched in sweat and scent, (no time to bath!!). I did a crow bath and followed suit. So there we were, two crumpled looking IIMs in new clothes.

Nitin Aggrawal (brother) was short of men, and yours truly had great time welcoming groom’s relatives. He didn’t know who were the ones and who weren’t, so ended up parading a few unsuspecting strangers to the hall.  

The next was some ceremony where the groom’s relative decorates the bride. But isn’t she is already decorated, I asked Vipin. Yeah, he said, decoration used to be done by them, but nowadays its token symbolism for the video. Ah, the perils of outsourcing!

Vipin was busy with meeting people, and as I was jobless, I eavesdropped a few conversations- Sumit’s (groom) friends saying something about Waitlists and RACs and whatelse, and sumit (as expected) blushing at regular intervals. Yawn, change the channel.

I learnt that there were a couple of army majors. So I went upto them, made them at ease (you guys are doing a great job in jammu evacuation!) and started implementing my only-the big-apple-gets-hit principle (Doesn’t episodes like manorama erode army credibility? What do you say about stats that show court martials have gone up in recent years? Or for that matter, hasn’t the soldier’s motivation reached its nadir in Kashmir, as shown by increasing suicides?) One fellow got a little nervous (so did I!) but other was measured and logical (manorama, an isolated incident blown up by media and politicians, court martials show transparency and decisiveness, motivation is personal and not easily measurable.) Well said, Captain Ravi.

Vipin introduced me to a gorgeous friend of his, Ruchi, and we spent the rest of the evening chatting like old buddies. Other ceremonies like reception, circling the fire (forgot the name) were text book like.

Namrata bade Al vidha to her family, Vipin cried loudly and made funny noises so I encouraged him to continue. All in all, it was wonderful time at Merut.

GD capsule 4

Theme: Corporate governance, oil prices
News: Essar and IBP, the oil marketing companies, are reducing their retail outlet timings to reduce losses
Background:
With spiraling crude prices, oil companies are losing money because they are not allowed to raise prices due to so called administered pricing mechanism. This results in companies selling petrol at huge losses. So much that they are better off not selling them. This is the reason why the aforementioned companies are cutting their outlet time to limit losses.

How it relates to CG (corporate governance):
CG in part means the companies act in the best interests of all shareholders, including minority ones. The government (majority shareholder) decision to maintain price even in the light of oil prices has seriously eroded the retail investors’ wealth. Sebi, which is so bent on preaching CG and the role of independent directors to protect small shareholders, has turned a blind eye to this large scale cheating by none other than the govt.

Why is freezing the domestic prices bad for the economy?

• The oil companies are the biggest tax payers in the country, and keeping them in red implies less money in the government corpus and less money for social schemes


• There is no motivation for the companies and the people to adopt efficient technologies. Brazil long suffered from oil shocks, adopted ethanol run engines and has reduced its dependence on oil

    

What do you say of a bank that has missed the bus (India)?

I thank placement committee for doing such wonderful work for the students. It’s a fine committee, pun intended!

As a part of summers PPTs (pre-placement talks), we had an Australian investment bank Macguarie Bank today. Like all i-banks, the talk focused a lot on compensation, profitability et. al. I’m not sure if all was that impressive. Why?

For all the size and presence all over the world (a 11 billion dollar company), the bank has no presence in India till recently. For all the explanations they offer, it shows a lack of judgement on their part. If sacrosanct IIMs haven’t heard of this name, it’s doesn’t reflect that good on the organization, does it?

They are an advisor-investor rolled into one. I raised the issue of conflict of interest there. If we put money to back up the investment advice we give, doesn’t that add credibility, they reply. Fine, but there are a few things to consider.

If it does add credibility, why doesn’t Goldman sachs or JP Morgan do that? The advice is sought not just for what you give them, but more importantly, how you got to that conclusion. That is why GS doesn’t need to back its claims with money.

Not all advice turns out correct. Investors know it. (Of course, if you keep giving them bad advice, you are unlikely to get business) But I’m not sure if investors care if you put money along with them or not. If they lose money, they wouldn’t appreciate that you are losing with them too.

But there are a few things I liked about the company. One of course, the fact that the company is making a lot of money. Two, there is no history of retrenchment. Considering the way things turn out in I-banks and consulting companies, this is impressive indeed.

All said and done, why do I care? They are going to take one or two people- bright IIT grads. Let me better make my CV good for other companies.      

GD capsule III

Theme: FDI

News 1:  US ambassador Mulford says "Failure to follow through in raising the cap (in insurance from 26 to 49%) is increasingly seen by investors as a breach of faith”, adding that "if India wishes to regain its credibility in the eyes of foreign investors this promise of 49 per cent FDI needs to be delivered sooner than later". Left reacts strongly to this comment (US dictating India policy). IRDA (insurance regulator) comes in support of insurance cap hike.

Reason: India promised hike ‘upto’ 49% in insurance in 2001. Technically, there is no breach of promise. But investors normally assume that countries follow up on these claims sooner or later. That is why so many companies like Aviva, AIG etc. set up shop here. That Left makes so much noise only shows its xenophobic character.

News 2: China attracts more FDI than India. Therefore India’s FDI policy should be more investor friendly. How do you counter it?

• China’s FDI figure is not because of foreign policy, but due to NRC (non resident Chinese) investment in china. Without taking that into account, MNC investment in china is not much higher than India.


• India doesn’t follow IMF norms when it comes to FDI. This one is a little complicated. But you can visit the link if you want to know why. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1016361.cms

Conclusion:
Though good investor climate and reforms are a must, don’t expect quantum leap in FDI into India if you do it.    

Siva’s dictionary II

Vomit:  Indicator of institute party success
Amusement: what you get when you see a person vomit all over a car
Frustration: what happens when that car is yours

Earthquake is an opportunity

The recent report says 18000 estimated dead in Pakistan and POK (Pak occupied Kashmir), and around 1000 in India. Our hearts go out to them.

There could be no better opportunity for the next level of thrust to the sagging CBMs (confidence building measures) and to build goodwill with our naughty neighbor.

Indians and Pakistanis are not just tired, but sick of militancy and political games played to get one up over each other. My friend just remarked, ‘Quite a number of the dead will be militants’. Perhaps, but the majority is innocent civilians, women and children who have nothing to do with the complexities of Indo-Pak hassles and who just want better jobs, education and basic amenities.

So there is some thaw in the relations in the last few years, but the pace of the peace process is frighteningly slow. I am not sure how tier-2 (experts, chief secretaries meet and army commanders’ flag meetings) and tier-3 (Shabana asmis and Asma Jehangirs hugging in full media glare, Bollywood films shown in Lahore) diplomacy will work because, to quote a Einstien cliché ‘The problems cannot be solved at the same level at which we created them’. And Indo-Pak is the baggage of the political leadership of two countries, not people. The will and the initiative should come from higher level, media gimmicks won’t work.

If you still harbor some hatred towards Pakistan, I have a question- whom do you want to be equated with – Pakistan or China? Lets get on.

GD capsule II

Theme: Energy security, reforms
News item: India imports coal (To put it other way, Kuwait imports oil!)
Background:
Our proven coal reserves are 92 billion tons and rising. One-third of this can easily be mined. Yet, our annual production at around 400 million tons is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of even existing power stations. In past decades, India used to export coal, mainly to Bangladesh and Nepal. Today, our power plants need to import over 10 million tons to utilize capacity fully.
How it relates to ….
Energy security

Discussions on energy tend to focus on the price of international crude. I have two points to make on this.

• There is precious little that India can do to affect prices, whether they stay at their current levels or even if they rise above the US $70 mark.


• Please remember that oil accounts for just about 30 per cent of India's energy needs, less than a third of the total. So what makes up the rest? In a word: coal. Well over half of India's energy requirement is met by coal.

Reforms
Privatizing mining would pump in resources and create jobs, but apparently everyone who objects to this sees nothing wrong in buying privately-mined coal from abroad. And of course lack of domestic coal also leads to greater dependence on imported petroleum, the costlier option.
And how do we import coal? Not through an open market system where everyone tries to get the sanest price, but through the Government of India deciding that a single nodal agency will do the job for everyone. (MMTC [Mineral & Metals Trading Corporation of India] is most likely to get the job.)

Courtesy:  ET, rediff.com

Siva’s dictionary

Showing off: what a person does when he asks a question to prof, waits for 30 secs for prof to babble, and then proceeds to give his answer

Emotional balm: What a person gets, after he gets kicked out by prof and then smses this author, ‘please write this in your blog’

Director: One who has no work. (I got this confirmed when the aforementioned person before getting kicked out, was told by prof  ‘go meet the director before coming to the next class!’)

Confidence: when told by your Group Discussion mentor, ‘good, you were visible’

Overconfidence: When told by the same mentor in the next GD, ‘bad, you try to dominate’

Siva’s dictionary series kicks off today.

GD capsule I

Theme: Corporate Governance

News Item:
Government tries to inject the DGH (director general of Hydrocarbons) into the board of ONGC. ONGC chairman Subir Raha threatens to quit citing conflict of interest. Law minister comes out in favor of Subir.

Decoding the matrix:
DGH is the proxy regulator for upstream oil companies i.e. companies in exploration and refining (there is no clear cut regulator appointed for them). The regulator who also is in the board is a clear cut case of conflict of interest because if DGH issues any directive to oil companies, Reliance may doubt its integrity.

How this relates to the theme:
Corporate governance, in part means the promoter (in this case the government) doesn’t interfere with the management in any way. Unfortunately, there is a lot of interference of ministers (favoritism and nepotism) and government itself is doing just this. Only this time, Subir Raha has dared to show some spine, a rare commodity in the anatomy of the Indian Bureaucracy. Fortunately, with law ministry and Sebi coming in his support, the government has deferred the decision.

Psycho Babble III

It’s been a month since we were down with food poisoning. Most of them who cared for their peers would have probably forgotten their faces by now (ours a big batch of 300). But the care shown by them is still fresh on my mind.

I have something to give back to you. As the summers are fast approaching, GD/PI process starts all over again. I will write on some general topics with this focus from today. Don’t expect a goldman sachs report. But I do promise something that is readable but more importantly USABLE. You can tell me how I can improve it. Or you may tell me something important that I have missed.

To genuinely care and make a difference may be high sounding, but yeah, everyone should try to do something like that. I hope you find this useful.           

Review of 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Freidman

 
Indians (I guess its universal) have a tendency. We are very interested to know what foreigners think of our country than what we do ourselves. I am no exception. So when I read that a NY Times columnist wrote a book on India, (with globalization thrown around it!) you bet I was interested to know more.  
 
So I did. Thomas Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer prize winner and one of the best American columnists(My top slot goes to Paul Krugman). And the first thing that strikes you is the amount of effort that went into his book. Authors worldwide have this tendency to use a lot of anecdotes and less of sound research into their columns/books (Yours truly sure has). Not Tom. He has traversed Bangalore in India to Dalian in china to Taiwan to what else. And the quality is manifest in the book.
 
This book is about history of globalization in the twenty first century (History? an awfully short period at that!). Tom identifies ten major happenings that leveled the playing field.
 
Some of them are damn interesting- Netscape IPO is one of them. He argues the free distribution of the first browser has flattened the information field. Organizations could no longer have a monopoly over them.
 
Blogging has a mention. He argues that people no longer have to yell at their televisions to get heard. They got a medium. Also the proliferation of online journalism means the reach of journalists is no longer the function of  the size of their daily, but purely the quality of research they put- sooner or later they get a big audience.
 
There are thousand other things I could write (some of them like outsourcing is too clichéd!), but reader, get yourself a copy today. You can have a tab on this world even if you have just woken up from a long slumber, as long as 5 years!

Recipe of a diversity curry

We had our first Designing Work Organization (that’s an awfully complex title) class. Professor Anjani Kumar is a former VP, HR dept of GM with 30 years industry experience. Bless his soul. We need more mangers and less academics as professors.

The first assignment is to cook a diversity curry i.e. a diverse team of ten members each that simulates a work place, come up with a viable project proposal and present it. As the author is a rare commodity, a south Indian in this northern city of India, he’s in a happy situation where three teams want to sign him up. At last he succumbs to the charm of Nitika-tikki-Nagpal.

What happens when there is an incentive for coming up with maximum diversity? I think we will all cook up a diversity curry in the coming days. Guys who have stayed put in Delhi, calcutta for a few months may become the ‘residents’ of those cities, guys who have done mechanical or comp science engineering may become manufacturing or IT buffs, guys who are aged 21 years,11 months may become 21 and those with 22 years 1 months, 23. Plus a host of innovations I couldn’t think of. Ah, how humans respond to incentives! (I read a book, Freakonomics recently. It talks of this theme)

I sometimes try to put a proactive face, but I am a lazy chap; too lazy to even apply for institute committees when it called for applications then. Now, I have responded to a couple of Expression of interest emails (industry interaction committee and media relations). It’s better late than never. And it’s better to get rejected than not try. I’ll bore you to death with more such clichés in the coming days.

Only the big apple gets hit

It gives me a pleasure that some of my friends take my blog seriously and pull me up for writing not-so-good-things about IIM. Thank you. But why do I write only those and neglect a thousand good things about this institute?

Americans, I would say is the most self effacing race on earth. For the thousand good things they have done to this world, they only pick up the occasional bad things and laugh at their own follies. What does this do with my question?

My point is, mature institutes, like mature nations and individuals, know their strengths and weaknesses. We don’t have to cringe about our shortcomings, but neither have we strut on our good things. If IIMs and Americans gloat on their successes, the typical response would be ‘Why not? After all they are…’

My mom is a BSNL engineer, complains about the unethical practices of reliance telecom all the time, but that doesn’t stop dad or me from buying Reliance shares. Why? For all the bad things reliance does, the bottom-line is profits.

What is the bottom-line of IIM? It is not the infrastructure, faculty or location; a lot of Indian B-schools have them, thank you. The bottom-line is the talent it attracts. Students pass out of IIMs, make a name for themselves and build goodwill for the institute, companies get attracted like bees, and so does talent, year after year. It is a virtuous cycle.

As long as this happens, not a thousand bad things I write (are they that bad?) would make any difference to this institute. That I write what I do is only natural. After all, only the big apple gets hit. And IIM is one.

Note: I will try to make my future posts less pungent, but please, let me take names. After 10 years, if I see my posts, I want to see sahay. Mr.X won’t ring a bell!

What is the similarity between operations Mgmt. and Cow?

Once upon a time lived a teacher, lets call him Mr.X, who was very good talking about cow. He used to teach children ‘Cow is a sacred animal. Cow gives milk and dung and host of others….’ An inspector who visited the school at that time was suitably impressed and recommended promotion for Mr.X.

When the same inspector visited the school next year, he found Mr.X teaching the same cow to the same children. An annoyed inspector asked Mr.X to talk on coconut tree instead. Mr.X thought for a moment, started ‘Coconut tree is a tall tree. Tethered to it is a cow. And Cow is a sacred animal….’

I thought this was a witty prank till today when I met Mr.X himself, Professor Sahay. A learned man in his sixties, Sahay loves to talk spirituality, culture and you-guessed-it-right, cow.

So he did, started the class with a Sanskrit slok and then it was cow all the way. Psycho Babble: ‘Like a cow that masticates the food it eats, one should reminisce knowledge to retain it’. Operation problem: If 6 cows graze a land in 3 days and 3 cows in 6, how many days will one cow take? He promised more cow problems tomorrow.

I have met a lot of interesting Profs, and this one tops them all.