Radicalmind

2011-04-29T21:55:00.000+05:30

Warwick MBA term II

2010-03-13T13:13:00.006+05:30

Its now been close to six months at Warwick. The core courses done and this term is really galloping. What's surprising to me is that I always had the notion that the first term was the most awful and hectic however, at WBS, its the second, third and the final dissertation that is now threatening to give me sleepless nights.

I am not sure if all students feel the way I do in terms of the first term. It could also have something to do with my research background which gave me sort of some advantage in subjects such as Marketing analysis, Economics and Operations management to a certain extent. Term II exams start from the 22nd of March and its time now to head back to the grind.

- Adios till then...

Change

2009-11-21T21:03:00.005+05:30

Some things in life don't give any signals. They come suddenly from somewhere, catch your attention, take your breadth away and engulf you into its own world. Something similar happened to me.

To cut a long story short, I have begun my full time MBA program at Warwick Business School, UK. Seems like a dream as the UK was never a choice for me and I was always attracted to the US. Also with some rejections in the backyard, I was seriously contemplating of getting an advanced degree in management science or rather a technical/management sort of program to leverage my engineering background.

So what attracted me to Warwick of all the places? Quite, a few I must say

A one yr program which meant a fast paced study schedule and I could go back to working quickly.
Its ranking in FT and EIU (A respectable top of the line). WBS is also ranked the fourth best business school in the UK.
the Coventry factor, which meant that the cost of boarding/lodging would be at least 30% cheaper than London.
The brand!! While researching, I realised that the Warwick brand is extremely recognizable in the UK, US and many Asian countries. Warwick is one of the few universities which has not one but two representative offices in India (Mumbai and Delhi).
Warwick's MBA program costs GBP 21,400 as compared to at least GBP 30 - 35K for a MBA program at LBS, oxford or Cambridge.
Average experience of the class at WBS is close to 8 yrs meaning more matured candidates, more peer learning and also "mid-career profile" perception by employers.

My decision to finally apply was taken rather late (Mid may). While the deadline for applying was 31st July'09, I finally submitted my transcripts and essays on 23 July' 09 and then things started flying. Interviews, arranging funds, loans, visa applications, office wind-ups, shopping, good byes, parties and many things to be done within the extremely little time left. Since, this was my first visit to a foreign country, there were some anxiousness and vague information on the net made things all the more hazy. My two cents on people coming to study in the UK

Visa application needs to be dome by going to the India VFS office located at different cities. You need to fill a form and hand them the following documents (application form, bank statements, loan document, college admission letter, passport, photographs according to specified rules). Please use this as a guideline http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/
For students taking a student loan, please remember this is quite a lengthy process and can be a deciding factor. Indian banks take anything between 40 to 45 days to actually sanction the loan. If possible, get the paperwork done earlier. Things like getting the property valued by the bank (No one else) if you are using house/land as collateral can save valuable time. Also remember, the student has to come to the bank during the final sanction. Banks do not give the money to the students directly but send it to the college. If you happen to stay off-campus and need to use a part of the loan as living expenses, it takes some serious convincing to make the bank send some money to your personal account. Also remember, the banks charge anywhere like 10- 15% as margin money, meaning you will not get the total sum you ask for loan as part of the final disbursement.
FOR STUDENTS TAKING LOAN, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE PROVISIONAL LOAN APPLICATION RECEIPT BY THE BANK IS ACCEPTABLE TO VISA OFFICIALS AS PROOF OF FUNDS. I had a harrowing time, thinking about my funding documents, since my loan was sanctioned very late and I did not have nay sanction letter to show the authorities.
Winters in the UK are bad. Normally the temperature in Sept-oct typically when students come is about 10-12 degree celcius with high wind blowing throughout the day. Rains are erratic, but it really dosen't rain but, drissles. The problem with raining, is that due to the wind, an umbrella is pretty much useless, so its just better to be indoors. A good quality leather jacket, some mufflers, caps and gloves are enough. Jackets in the UK are normally available from 25 pounds to 60 pounds and it is advisable to not bring too many woolens and unnecessarily making your baggage heavy.
for Indians, please make sure to get a couple of universal adaptors as plug points here have rectangularish sockets.

Tech Mahindra acquires Satyam

2009-04-14T21:20:00.006+05:30

Finally, the ordeal of Satyam will see some interim light with TechMahindra deciding to acquire the beleaguered IT firm for close to Rs 2890 crore (USD ~750 m). For Satyam, this will definitely be a high-point as the company was faced with significant shortage of capital, declining investor confidence, high attrition and a falling brand image. TechMahindra will initially acquire 31% of Satyam at Rs 58 (~USD 1.1) per share. Tech has also announced its intention of acquiring an additional 20% of Satyam shares from the open market.

What does Tech gain by this deal?

Service diversification: From being a predominant telecom IT services player, tech can now boast of having capability across multiple new sectors like Aviation, Automotive, Energy and Utilities, Financial services to name a few.
Cheap Asset: Tech will acquire 51% of Satyam for close to Rs 2890 crore, which is a decent amount considering that asset prices are currently significantly lower than what they were during their peaks. Also considering softer factors like the Satyam brand, acquisition of ready-made talent, etc makes the deal a good buy.
Good brand image: Satyam was considered as an epitome symbolising the rise of the IT sector in India along with Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Due to the unfortunate deeds of Mr Ramalinga Raju, the company was almost at the brink of bankruptcy, if the government had not intervened at the right time. By acquiring Satyam, Tech has not only won laurals from the public but I am also sure the company has become a "good boy" in the eyes of SEBI, governments and the industry in general.

Satyam employees though overjoyed by this interim breadth of fresh air are cautious to sound their concerns about impending downsizing. Considering that some large accounts have withdrawn or abruptly ended their contracts with Satyam, some teams might face the axe sooner or later.

The Satyam incident has managed to bring out the swift action taken by the Indian government. As the saga unfolded and the world watched, I can only say that the government has done a commendable job.

Yet another MBA crazy guy

2009-04-05T23:59:00.005+05:30

When I look around in office, over 95% of my colleagues are MBA's. I have still to enrol for this so called "transformational" course. I dunno if I will or will destinity choose another/equivalent something or just keep me a plain engineer. People around me represent a significant randomand large sample of different MBA grads and thhis has given me some notional insights into some real life differentiators among these guys.

Most of my colllegues fall into the largest pool of Indian urban population who swear by the following

I need to do am MBA after graduation or I will not get a decent job
It is criminal to waste a year trying to look for a job or prepare for an entrance exam again so, let me take admission to which-ever college in get into

Then there is the next lot of guys who managed to get placed with Rs. 10,000-22,000 salaries and they suddenly get bold and speak the language of the Americans that "It is better to get some work experience before an MBA as a person can relate better to what is taught". Make no mistake almost 99.99% of this set have taken CAT (Common Admission Test) and would not even think twice before duming their job should an admit from the hallowed IIM's came calling. A major portion of this population are the IT techies. Many newly turned professionals from this category become tremendously depressed after two years of coding, testing or allied IT jobs and move to the first group of "Let me take what-ever I get" category. I have personnaly met 2 yr experienced techies who compromised on a systems specialization because a Finance specialization was not granted to him.

The last category of individuals are those who have either made steady career progressions in the first two years of their work life or are comfortable settled in their current job. Most of these guys/gals fall into the 25-28 yrs category and are constantly pushed by friends, family and wel-wishers to complete their studies and get married. These people mostly represent personnels from banking, KPO's, investment research houses, SAP consulting, and like. The focus for this group shifts from Indian B-schools to U.S or U.K schools. The invincibility of IIM's seems foolish to this group as they start finding faults with a system which admits over 60% freshers and almost negligeable foreign nationals. Also the aura of a Wharton, London Business School, INSEAD and like seem within some reach. In my opinion, this group is the most suited as well as the most likely benefitiary of the MBA program due to their experience of atleast 2-3 years.

Coming back to some particular traits of people from different business school, my observations are as follows.

Third and lower rung business schools in India do not really impart that much needed business education. Most of us would agree that a top notch engineering grad from India (IIT's, DCE, NSIT, VJTI, Jadavpur, Anna univ, PICT Pune, COEP Pune, SPCE Mumbai, etc) can match and even exceed the quality of the MBA grads
People from the second rung schools (India, US included) like SIBM, Thunderbird, IMT, IIT MBA's, etc turn out a good show but occasionally turn out disastrous output. Many individuals from this group, get bogged down by competition and office politics.
Top notch MBA grads (IIM's, Carnegie mellon, Wharton) show a rare combination of studiousness and "me know all the answer" attitude. I have observed these guys to get tremendously offended if any remarks regarding their capability is made. But, MBA or not MBA even these guys need atleat 6 months of warming up before showing their true potential.

Hot n Humid

2009-04-05T14:29:00.009+05:30

Hot days are mostly unwelcome at-least in India where like labor they are almost free and never-ending. its early April in Mumbai and the mercury has managed to consistently touch upwards 38 degrees Celcius. Days are hot, afternoons are unbearable and nights are terribly uncomfortable if you don't have an AC.

I am sure some things must have changed lately with peoples perception of luxury. I remember Air conditioners being one such equipments which only that upward middle-class or rich possessed in India. Some people managed to buy it but then used it extremely cautiously due to the AC's electricity guzzling nature. A sizable urban population these days spend more than ten grands for a flashy mobile phone and its seems logical that these are the same consumers who would want the luxury of a non-humid cool air when they come back home.

Students tend to get most affected as they are cash-low and dreams-high. I remeber the days when i used to be a student in Pune and faced periodic 3/4 hour load sheddings. Things were a bit different then as i did not need to recharge my cell-phone or my laptop and the most damage that the load shedding did was create a smudgy feeling of sweat and restlessness in my body. Current sudents will have to face more dillema as most of them owm cell-phones and laptops which need constant charging. My hunch is that long-lasting batteries will be the next big invention and the company whihc can come up with a sustainable and cost-effectivesolution could move light years ahead of competition. Just imaging taking your laptop in the mountains and not having to worry about it going into a "hibernation" mode due to low battery or going to a friends house and realising that you forgot your charger, no worries -dude!!, the cel wont conk. The advantages are limitless.

Couple of two penny tips for all those looking to brace this summer

Drink plenty of water, preferably nimbu panni (Not road side please!!)
Have moderate consumption of Red meat as they release a hot of heat into the body
Stay indoors during the day
Avoid fried roadside food like Wada Pav, Samosa, etc
Have fruits with lot of water content like cucumber, water-mello, grapes, oranges

IPL and its jalebi life

2009-03-26T13:23:00.003+05:30

IPL will finally be heading to South Africa after a much publicized show of dissatisfaction by the BCCI towards the Indian Governments attitude. What clinched SA over England was the sunny weather. Couple of interesting tidbits about the whole episode as it unfolded till today:

• For the first time the Indian govt has strongly opposed holding a national sporting event and the govt stuck to its stand (I am sure only an able person like PC can pull such a thing)

• Lalit Modi has again proved that he is the man calling the shots and that he will go to any extent to make IPL a success (Maybe this is the new breed of the foreign educated Indian professional)
• Saurabh Ganguly has again come in the middle of a controversy with KKR declaring that it might announce upto 3 captains for the teams
• IPL may have to do without tax sops if it is held abroad as according to the current rules, tournaments held outside Indian soil does not get tax waivers

Pune revelations

2009-03-24T16:51:00.003+05:30

Was in Pune for a much needed break from the chaotic Mumbai life.

Key takeaways from the trip that I plan to incorporate in some way or the other:

- Sleep early and get up early as well

- Drink simple honey tea rather than the milk tea that I usually have in the mornings

- Go for a walk, run in the morning

- Have lots of boiled vegetables

- Spend time with self

It will take some time before I get all of these into my routine but I guess, I try to start right away

PS: Pune still faces huge mismatch in electricity supply/demand and sitting with no power during the day reminded me of my good-old college days.

Recession and people morals

2009-03-17T15:54:00.001+05:30

With recession comes the overtly difficult task of weaning out not-so-good performers from the rest. Actually the task of filtering is not all that difficult but, to justify to oneself "does this person really not have it in him/her" is the difficult part. I recently met a couple of youngsters (mostly 22-28 yrs) who had been told to quit due to non performance. I knew some of these guys for the last couple of months and it did not really seem that they were all that awful. Then, what had gone so wrong that they were being told to leave the company without even serving proper notice period.

The real problem

I find numerous companies recruiting people from different background justifying their need to create a diverse human resource pool but spending paltry time and money to align these new recruits to the organizational culture and way of functioning. Even if a person comes with over five years relevant experience, he/she needs to be given at-least six months (with adequate hand-holding)to be able to judge properly. Organizations have become extremely complex and how-much-ever management tries, there will be teams which continue to have their own set of rules.

Obama's day

2009-01-22T01:49:00.001+05:30

I had almost forgotten that history was being made yesterday. I as callup up a friend in the US when she screamed told me exciedly that he was watching Obama swearing in as the 44th president. I wasnted to see him in all his confidence and pride taking the solemn oath but as luch would have it I could not find a television in sight. its kind's strange right!! No television in 21st century?? Well, the television is getting a well deserved rest and has been packed off in one corner of the house. Reason, you may ask, my little neice jelly. She has lately been too addicted to the television and we thought it right to give her eyes some rest.

While I could not watch the ceremony live, I tried other options. One was see it live on net. Unfortunately India still does not really have those kind of net speeds where one can watch streaming videos. So, I figured out another way, the speech transcript. Well written, simple and hard hitting, those were my first reactions after reading the speech.

Kudos Omaba!! Way to go. May god be with you

When the brain becomes the source

2009-01-15T02:11:00.008+05:30

Whats a blog? Is it me?, is it a way to make money?, is it to critise the world?, is it to advertise, sensationalise?. Perhaps afew years from now the true function of the blog and its categoric position in the world jungle will be identified. Till then let me flow and do all the more in this blog. Let me be me, let thought fly like never before, let me get creative, let me maybe try to answer some queries.