Spandan - SPJIMR Alumni Meet 15th December

SPJIMR annual alumni meet 'Spandan '07' is just round the corner :)

Details:
Date: 15th December 2007, Saturday
Time: 6 pm
Venue: SPJIMR auditorium, Bhavan's campus

Looking forward to meeting all PGDSM MIT seniors there!!

Cheers,
Manisha
(On behalf of PRCom)

Tum chalo...to Hindustan chale!

Making a mark at IIM I

Aasmaan ke Paar !!!

Team ‘Aasmaan’ comprising of Aparna Krishnamurthy and Ayush Kumar qualified for the finals of ‘Papyrus Marketing Paper Presentation’ contest conducted by IIM Indore in their annual fest Iris 2007 this year. The topic of the paper was – “How does shopper marketing complement consumer marketing”?

The team looked at the topic from all 3 perspectives – manufacturing, retail and the consumer. A short video highlighting the different shopper marketing practices captured the audience attention.

Finals: 30^th November, 2007

Venue: IIMI Indore

Other teams in the fray: IIMA, MICA, IIMK, IMI

For more info on the same, check

http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2007/index.asp

Team Urja does it again!

Ayush Kumar, Abhishek, Avdhut, Harsha and Manish of ‘Team Urja’ qualified for the second round of the B-plan competition Sanjeevani of Iris 07, conducted by IIM Indore.

Finals: 30^th November, 2007

Venue: IIMI Indore

For more info on the same, check

http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2007/index.asp

Cheers!!
Manisha

Team Saksham rocks at IMT Nagpur!

Yet another field conquered by the juggernauts of PGDSM-MIT04! The Team- Saksham (Aditya Kumar Singh and Shubham Arora) won the 'Battle of Naxos 2' at IMT, Nagpur. Aditya and Shubham competed with teams from IMT Nagpur, IMT Ghaziabad and IMI Delhi and stood 2^nd.

All students were asked to come up with an E-business model for Delphi. Team Saksham came up with a business model to capture a larger market share for Delphi. Aditya and Shubham stood through tough competition and stringent questioning and emerged victorious!

For further details, please refer to the following link: - http://www.milestone35-imtn.com/Event.html

Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr. Donald E. Hatfield

We take great pleasure in welcoming Dr. Donald E. Hatfield.

Dr. Hatfield is an associate professor of Strategic Management in Pamplin School of Business, Virginia Tech. He will be here along with us from December 3rd to December 7th, 2007. He would be teaching "Strategic Leadership in Technology based Organizations" to the participants of PGDSM-MIT04.

His presence will indeed be a great opportunity for all participants of SPJIMR to interact and gain insight into his areas of expertise.

Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr. Osman Balci

We take great pleasure in welcoming Dr. Osman Balci.

Dr. Balci is a professor of Computer Science, Virginia Tech and President of Orca Computer Inc. He will be here along with us from November 26th to November 30 th, 2007. He would be teaching "Software Engineering" to the participants of PGDSM-MIT04.

His presence will indeed be a great opportunity for all participants of SPJIMR to interact and gain insight into his areas of expertise.

CNBC Awaaz – Pehla Kadam, a talk show

“ Stock markets are like women- mysterious, ever demanding, unpredictable and volatile!”

An endeavour to explore the ever-promising and alluring world of meandering unpredictability; an attempt to guide budding investors Pehla Kadam is a show conducted across different B-schools in India and a venture to effectively streamline the efforts of first time investors. And this time it was SPJIMR!

With a topic as profound as Investing in equity and a panel as eminent as Sudeep Bandyopadhyay, Director and CEO, Reliance Money and Gagan Rai, Executive Director, NSDL it was more than an itinerary of the investment journey.

The show was hosted by Mr Vivek Law, Consumer Affairs, CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz who lent effusive content, structure and unbound charisma to the event with his presence. It was an information intensive hour with the guests delving into various perspectives on first time equity investors to answer the questions put forth by the student fraternity.

The discussion was carried forward in the following lines:

Vivek: Good Morning one and all……. (formal introduction)….. With the Indian stock market index rising like never before is the right stage to enter and invest or is it the time for a tactful exit?

Gagan: Yes of course. What I often say is ‘an investor should not time the market, But should he be in the market for sometime’. With the country’s GDP growing at around 9% and inflation hovering at around 5% there will be an YOY growth of about 15%. So, the investor should invest and remain invested.

Sudeep: A good investor should not indulge in trading but should rather invest and stay put. It is as simple as how we buy a car or dress or an electronic good, we don’t buy them with a motive of selling them the next day.

Siddharth: Sir, as a young investor how should I take my first step? How much percentage of my bank balance should I utilise in investing in equities or Mutual funds?

Sudeep: As a beginner one should start with investing in MFs. There are about 1000 schemes but I would recommend equity diversified funds. As all of you are young and will be starting your careers I would say this is the right time to take risks. High returns come with risks. One should not invest in companies expecting short term returns. Neither should one follow blind recommendations seeking immediate returns. Rather as Gagan already mentioned it is better to invest and remain invested and look for long term returns.

Gagan: It is necessary to open a DEMAT account for your transactions. There are a lot of brokerage firms. One could refer to their research reports, consider their recommendations and invest intelligently.

Sukanya: I agree that a good investor should remain in market for a good time to Reap benefits. But how does one decide the right amount of time? How long Should one stay in the market to start expecting good returns?Sudeep: In our organization we have conducted a study which shows that if one stays invested in the correct shares for a period of about 15 years, one gets about 20% YOY ROI. Around May 2004 the market was down at 4000 and now in just 3.5 years it is at 20,000 and still going strong. Further the Indian financial market is very strong, is growing very fast and will continue to do so. Well, With respect to your question, it would be difficult to prescribe a specific period as the right time, but 3 years would be a sizeable minimum in my opinion.

Vivek: Equity market is a wealth creating tool. I remember I was anchoring a show in 2004 and asked a very well-informed person if it was the right time to invest. Ah well, he thought I was being ridiculous. But then had one invested then, for the kind of boom the market has depicted one would have earned a crore by investing merely a thousand a month.

Vikas: When a person invests for the first time he needs a sense of security. Are there any regulations in place to ensure protection to the investors?Gagan: For the past 12 years, the system has been pretty regulated and we have A system known as ‘screen based trading’. There was a time when there were lots of fake and forged shares that were delivered in the market. But now SEBI has come out with lots of rules including the 3+3 rule, wherein a cycle of 3 days are allotted for Trading, 2 for the settlement period and then the stock is allotted within the next 24 hrs.

Gaurav: When an IPO is made what should one look for before investing?Sudeep: There are a lot of ways to get to know about an IPO. The company’s offer Document is available at the SEBI’s website. If the company is an established Company and listing it’s shares for the first time, it’s past performance statistics are mentioned in the offer document which stands a testimony to it’s reputation. Else any brokerage firm or an analyst would have an IPO report that enlists the advantages and disadvantages of investing in the same. Navneet: Many a times people lodge an application for investment in an IPO but shares are not allotted. How does the allotment happen?

Sudeep: In any IPO certain amount is allotted to the retail investors, some for the QIBs and so on. In case it does create an issue, it would be oversubscribed. The shares are allocated proportionally to the applicants of different categories and further it is allotted by lots amongst them.

Shubham: Off-late there have been a plenty of investments by the FIIs. Does the market rise Pertain to them or has the market fundamentally become strong?

Sudeep: The market has fundamentally become strong. One would have read in economics about the laws of demand and supply. FIIs are investing because India is the best place to invest in. We are a fast growing economy and fundamentally strong too. The US and the Europe market is not growing strong. Moreover the FIIs do not have an option. In fact last year, the FIIs inflow was around 7.5 billion dollars but the retail remittances accounted for 25 billion dollars. Today the market might rise by 500 points today and decline by 700 points tomorrow, but the binding factor to be considered is that we stand at an index of 20,000 and not 4000. Volatility is a way of life and one must learn to live with it.

Abhay: You have mentioned regarding investing in a equity diversified MFs. How does one Chose the right MF?

Sudeep: Moneycontrol.com provides us with an excellent analysis on MFs. One can also do same all by his own. All you need to consider are a few indicators such as sharp ratio, genesis alpha and training ratios which enable one to make decisions.Vivek: For that matter we have CRISIL investor ratings for most companies which would be an effective tool to make individual choices. These are the CPR rankings that grade the MFs.

Pallavi: One is only too aware of the story of India shining and the market boom. However,The current market cap to GDP ratio is 150% compared to 90-100% of the developed countries. Also the PE ratio is high. Is it an indication of a bubble?

Sudeep: I do not subscribe to your view ma’am. The way the companies and the economy are Growing 20% YOY growth is immensely achievable.I don’t see any reason to worry about. In fact recently a company named Ali Baba got listed in the Chinese Exchange and had a market cap greater than most Indian companies barring the top 10. NY does not subscribe to electronic trading till date. In spite of being late starters in trading we have we providebetter facilities. And we do have a strong fundamental base for our financialmarket.

Rampal: It is a known fact that the US is our major importer. In case of a recession in there do you envision a repercussion over here?

Sudeep: It is important to realize that the Indian economy is insulated from the world market. It is not really dependent on exports like some others countries are. A acse in example would be Thailand, Vietnam or may be even China. We have a thriving robust domestic economy and a large domestic market.

Gagan: For quite sometime now what we have been facing is an unprecedented Growth and that’s the reason why we have an inexplicable apprehension and unfounded fear. It is totally unnecessary.Nishant: What would be an ideal ratio of investment in FDs, SB a/c and MFs?

Sudeep: As discussed, all of you are starting your careers and it is the right time to Take risks. You should invest upto 75% in equities, MFs, even ULIPs and stay Invested. Ideally you should keep the remaining 25% for recurring expenses.

Gagan: There are no hard and fast ratios in life. Do not run after them. Nothing is Black or white in life, most of them, rather all of them are gray. So investing Is an art one must experiment with and master it.

Aparna: As a young investor, should one look at the past performance of a company or its future prospects?

Sudeep: As a principle look at the future but one should not discount the past too.Avdut: With the advent of DMAT account and the electronic mode of share trading Many have been incited to invest in the market. But how can the people of rural India be made a part of the development and growth India is experienicng?

Gagan: In about 750 cities and 6,600 centres we have provisions for opening a DEMAT a/c. It spans the entire geographical location of the country, though it might not include some very remote areas.

Sudeep: Only 15% of the transactions take place on the internet, the rest happen over the phone. Telephone facilities have reached almost everywhere. Mobile phones have penetrated 3,00,000 villages. Lack of knowledge may be a problem, but investing as such is definitely possible. But if one invests in MFs, there these MF managers who would carry out the primary research and invest your funds, so that is a very good option.

Abhishek: India is growing, there is a strong financial market, it does generate feel good factor.It is in these times when one gets apprehensive about another Harshad Mehta lurking out there waiting to take things to such huge proportions?

Sudeep: Hopefully not, definitely not. Considering any scam, it is not the case where someone has run with your money. This definitely cannot happen in the Indian market. It is only that someone buys unrealistic proportions of money. From an investors’ perspective, you ought to pick good companies and good sectors, invest and stay invested for a long time. You will reap the benefits. Also today you will not lose your money even if such a scam occurs because of the investor protection schemes.

Vivek: That brings us to the end of the show. It has been a great show and must have been a great experience learning for all of you.

All is well that ends well, but well its not the end yet! The show is yet to be telecast on CNBC Awaaz. So get your affairs done, finish your errands, complete the homework, don’t get office work home, get dinner from outside and make yourself all ready for Saturday, the 1st of December, 2007 at 12:30 PM and 7 Pm and for Sunday on the 2nd of December, 2007 at 6:30 PM.

Designing an Information System..!

The contact session of Dr. Tarun Sen for "Information Systems Design and Data Modelling" ended at a spirited note with participants of PGDSM-MIT conducting an interview and informal discussion. Dr. Sen in his lively discussion talked about myriad of topics ranging from ‘Role of an MBA in today’s world’ to ‘Globalization’ and ‘Education systems across the World’.

Dr. Sen defined MBA as a way to structure complexity. He urged the participants to make the most of this period in time by focusing on value addition. He also advised us to go for satisfying rather than high paying roles after the completion of the program. The students were very inquisitive and were keen on knowing more about the idea of pursuing entrepreneurship and starting their own ventures.

He also discussed the growing importance of globalisation and the need to understand its aspects for any business. According to him, Globalization has resulted in an even-playing field for different countries and economies around the world.

Cherished moments during his visit were the moments spent after classes in discussions, gifting an ethnic wall painting as a souvenir, sharing jokes and wisecracks over chai and a whole gamut of others.

- Abhishek

Daandiya Raas @ SP!

Dandiya being the traditional Gujarati Folk dance, Dandiya Night, organized by CoLosSeuM and Cultcom was the most eagerly awaited event of the term. The event was a grand success with party-holic people, rocking music and prizes in different categories. Above all it was the 'dance' or rather 'daandiya raas' which had participation from one and all.

Not to forget the fashion meter at this do was quite high. Girls were spotted in Ghaghra Choli and Chanya Choli. The guys on the other hand were wearing Kurta Pyjamas and some in Pathani style.

The live band kept the pace of the evening high! It renderied popular Dandiya numbers which kept people glued to the dance floor till the end. Shilpa Kendre and Niloy Chandra of PGDM won the Mr and Ms Dandiya Night respectively. Ravindra Goel and Taru Gupta won the Mr and Ms Well- Dressed prizes. The best Dandiya group prize went to Aparna and group from PGDSM-MIT. Aditi Ma’am, Vanita Ma’am, Shailaja Ma’am and Lata Ma’am won the prizes for the best faculty group.

All in all, the event was a welcome break from regular classes and would linger on for a very long time to come :)

Cheers!

Vikas

Rock on....!

Team ‘High Spirits’ in high spirits!! :)

Ayush Kumar and Arunav Roy of team ‘High Spirits’ from qualified for the finals for Jantar Mantar, The Systems Game conducted by IIT B. Their paper was on Prospects of IT product start-ups in India.

Finals: 27th October 2007

Venue: IIT Mumbai

Other teams in the fray: Alpha, IIM A; Synergy13, DoMS IIT Madras; Team Perception, SPJIMR; The Bulls, IMT Ghaziabad

Pragati path pe ‘Team Pragati!’ !!

Lakshmi and Maneesha qualified for the ‘Markshastra’ event, which was part of Kurukshetra, Gurukul conducted by XIMB.

For the preliminary round, the team had presented Paper on ‘Marketing for the Bottom of the Pyramid’.

Finals: 2nd November 2007-10-27

Venue: XIMB

For more info on the same, check http://www.ximbxpressions.com/

Cheers!!

Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr. Tarun K Sen

It is indeed a great pleasure for us to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Tarun K Sen.

Dr. Sen is the Associate Dean of "Graduate and International Programs" Program at Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech and he will be here along with us from October 22 nd to October 26th 2007. He would be teaching "Information Systems Design and Data Modelling" to the participants of PGDSM-MIT04.

His presence will indeed be a great opportunity for all participants of SPJIMR to interact and gain insight into his areas of expertise.

Vista at IIMB Conquered! Congrats Team Pratham :)

Team ‘Pratham’ consisting of Nishant Pradhan, Rajat Chowdhary and Ganesh Sheshadri won the third place at Milestones, Vista ’07 at IIMB!

About Milestones

Milestones was a case-based test that sought answers to a detailed practical and real-time problem provided by John Deere. Participants were expected to identify the requirements and analyze the needs of rural Indians for a rural automobile.

http://www.iimb-vista.com/milestones.html

About John Deere

John Deere is a world-class producer of North America's broadest line of lawn and garden tractors, mowers, and other outdoor power products.

About the Event

John Deere, now in India, invited Indian B-school students to find a key to exploring the rural four-wheeler market based on the special needs of Indian villages and towns.

The teams were supposed to recommend top 3 vehicle segments or products that Deere should introduce or develop. For the product suggested, an entry strategy was to be devised (consumer special needs, infrastructure issues, competitor analysis, need gap and detailed entry strategy), in line with Deere’s expertise areas and the challenges/practical considerations faced by automobile players in rural India.

In all 57 teams participated in the competition and 9 best teams were selected to make a presentation to the judges. The 9 teams that made it were the ones from IIM B, SPJIMR (PGDSM-MIT), IIM I, IIM K, MDI, XIMB, 2 teams from SPJIMR (PGDM) and IMT Ghaziabad.

IIM-B won the case study competition. The team from IMT Ghaziabad stood second. Team Pratham was adjudged third and walked away with a cash prize of Rs 15,000.

About Team Pratham's Strategy

Team Pratham had suggested an innovative way of marketing and a unique entry strategy (as guided by Prof Atish Chattopadhyay). The judges were quite impressed with not only the marketing strategy but also the unique combination of products suggested to be launched in the Indian rural market.

Cheers,

Aparna and Manisha

PGDSM-MIghTians Rock!

PGDSM-MIghTy participants find their place in the league of Extraordinary Titans, in B-School events held across the country. With the best brains at work it sure must be quite a kick to be right at the top!!

Team Titans in the finals of Annual Paper Presentation Contest, IIT Delhi

Vikash Choudhary and Sumit Gandhi of Team 'Titans' have qualified for the finals of the ‘Annual Paper Presentation Contest’ of IIT, Delhi.

The topic for the paper was ‘Building Organisational Resilience’. The paper required participants to analyze individual and organizational resilience, an issue that has gained special urgency in today’s unstable world environment.

Vikash and Sumit’s paper described an effective way of mitigating and monitoring risks by using 5X5 Matrix approach. The paper goes ahead to explore the avenues that may help Wipro Technologies to improvise rapid responses to unforeseen crisis.

Finals: 27th October

Time: 10 AM

Venue: IIT, Delhi

Other teams in the fray: IIMC, FMS, NITIE, MDI, IMI, SBI Capital, Knowledge Management Centre

Event Details: http://www.iitdmba.com/giftresult.php

Team ChakDe in the finals of Abhyutthan, AVENUES.07 conducted by SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

Team 'ChakDe' comprising Manish Mrinal, Harsha Rao, Somit Basak and Karthick Raghavan has qualified for the finals of ‘Abhyutthan’ - the championship games at AVENUES.07 conducted by SJMSOM, IIT Bombay.

In the prelims, participants were tested across 7 verticals of management namely: Leadership, Strategy, Marketing, Systems, Finance, Operations and Negotiation.

After the preliminary round, 12 teams were selected to fight it out in the mega finals.

In the mega finals, the teams will be tested across all the management disciplines through a mix of online and case-based competitions.

Finals: 27^th and 28^th October

Venue: SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

Other teams in the fray: NITIE, IIM A, ISB, XIMB, MDI, XLRI, DMS IITD, IIMC, NUS Business School, Singapore

Event Details: http://www.sjmsom-avenues.org/

Team Kiran in the finals of Elevator Pitch, Empresario conducted by NITIE, Mumbai

Arjun S and Arun CR of team ‘Kiran’ qualified for the finals of ‘Elevator Pitch’ conducted by NITIE, Mumbai as a part of their annual fest Empresario, wherein one had to sell an idea in just two minutes to Venture Capitalists. It was a compressed version of a regular B-Plan competition. A Q&A session followed the 2 minute presentation.

Other teams in the fray: ISB, FMS, IIT Kharagpur and NITIE

Event Details: http://www.nitie.in/empresario/elevator_pitch.htm

Team Saksham in the finals of Battle of second Naxos, Milestone 35 conducted by IMT Nagpur

Shubham Arora and Aditya Singh of team ‘Saksham’ have qualified for the finals of ‘The Battle of Second Naxos - E-Business Model’ at Milestone 35, conducted by IMT Nagpur. The event revolves around the Information Technology domain and requires planning and a well-crafted strategy to prepare an army for all contingencies.

Finals: 20th October 2007

Venue: IMT, Nagpur

Other teams in the fray: VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur, IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Nagpur,K.G Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and IMI Delhi

Event Details: http://www.milestone35-imtn.com/Event.html

Cheers,

Manisha and Aparna

Shailesh, the quizzing champ!

This time its’ quizzing!!

The students of PGDSM-MIT04 are back again with a winning spree. Shailesh bagged the first prize in Chanakya – Day 6 ( A theme Quiz) organized by IIMK as a part of Event – Horizons 2007.

Horizons 2007 is an event organized by IIM-K every year. This year the theme of event is Bharat Ek Khoj. Chanakya is a daily quiz revolving around this theme. The quiz on day 6 was based on Brand India.

Other B-schools in the league were IIM-K, IIM-C, IIM-B and NMIMS. Further details can be found on http://horizons.iimk.ac.in/event_the_bharat_ek.htm

Congratulations to Shailesh! We’re waiting for you to sweep away all the quizzing events!

- Prathibha

Saurabh wins grand finale at IMI, Delhi!!

Saurabh Shukla, participant of PGDSM MIT 04 has won the grand finale at Spandan’ 07 organised by the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi. Spandan is a foundation for Human Values for Management and Society at IMI. The topic for the presentation was ‘If I were to teach Human Values. The aim of the contest was to sensitize aspirant professionals about balancing their professional goals with organizational needs.

After a gruelling preliminary round, 6 finalists across India were chosen to battle it out at the finals held at IMI, Delhi. The other finalists were from TISS, IMI Delhi and Delhi School of Economics. The distinguished jury panel comprised of Prof. G.P. Rao, Founder of Spandan, Prof. C.S Venkata Ratnam, Director IMI and Prof. K Sankaran, Dean, Student welfare.

The presentation round was followed by an exacting Q&A session where the finalists were grilled on their views on the topic. Questions ranging from ‘Role of management in encouraging value system in an organisation’, ‘The learning cycle of values’ and ‘Relationship between value dimension and power dimension’ ensured that the best was brought out in the finalists. They were also asked to cite real life examples from corporate where these principles hold good.



Saurabh says he is thankful to Prof. Lata Dhir, Prof. Mona Nanavati and Prof. Prem Chandrani whose guidance helped him during his preparatory phase. He walked away with a certificate, memento and a cash prize of INR 5000.

Congrats Saurabh :)

- Manisha

Gandhian principles are about choices we make...

Here is the essay by Prathibh Ryali from PGDSM-MIT which won the first prize in the Essay competition conducted on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi by CoLosSeuM.

Non-violence. Is it a term in itself or a truth of the higher magnitude which when pondered over would bolster the very shards of our perceived laws of existence? Is it the compassion and empathy which distinguishes our race from the wilder species or is it a mute passivity of an acceptance of imminent fate harboured by the inability to fight back? Worse still, is it another one of those be-laboured ideals which stand unperturbed, confined to the sheets of moral science textbooks and goes down as a farcical ridicule obsolete in present scenario and thus, just another one of those numerous holidays?

And this very same term was momentous enough to have generated undercurrents in one of the strongest colonial empires of the world. The same principle which the world genuflects to; a principal which has been reduced to cliché of a national holiday for us and has been adopted as an international peace campaign by others.

A sweeping glance at the situation around the world would be a more relevant questioning exercise. Men have lost all sense of honour and discretion of when to go for war. The decisions of whether or not to strike is direct function of an individual’s greed; an individual man, an individual state, an individual vengeance. If one government can dispense away all its security systems for just one hour and not be scared I would say we are not at war. We are a war and we have been in that condition for past one century. Bloodshed to retaliate, bloodshed to protect, bloodshed for revenge, bloodshed for weapons, bloodshed to civilize, bloodshed as an ally, bloodshed for survival; there isn’t one higher end goal which one would achieve by just not retaliating which resounding brutality or so we have come to believe.

It is here that I bring to your notice the recurrent debate of what exactly then, would a non-violent approach. More importantly the agitation with respect to India’s going nuclear for the first time in the aftermath of disarmament campaigns world-wide. We, as a country were the strongest proponents of non-violence historically. India has known to never have invaded a country at its own accord in the 5000 years. The famous non-violence movement launched in our freedom struggle was but a comprehension of an age old principle. Then what was it that inspired us to go against the supposed theories and support nuclear weapons? The necessity to reaffirm the fact that non-violence doesn’t mean non-competence!

This one example speaks volumes for all the questions we have been addressing in this passage.
Let us now understand the rationale behind this strife if at all there is one. The need for an overt attack is a sign of insecurity within oneself. It is but a natural instinct to react in such fashion when a being is being threatened. However, there is another kind of insecurity and fear that we people have been building up within our own accord. It is not nature driven but mankind perpetrated. Man was inherently not created to destroy. We have the ability to think along with the ability to love. More importantly we have the ability to protect. Thus, we ought not to strike unless either of these is challenged love or protection. Unfortunately, we have savagely inverted the laws of creation and turned ourselves into brutal war creatures who strike for love but love of material things. Now that we understand that the basic cause of violence stems from the fear and insecurity clouded in the minds. It is but a battle which starts and ends in the mind. Weapons are a means to prove that mental prowess. If the war has to be stopped, it is but in the minds of the perpetrators. Striking back would help in the short term but it is the change in psyche which would bear results in the long run.

Now that we understand the significance of combating the destructive forces prevalent in the world, we would be able to appreciate the relevance on non-violence in the present scenario. It is not text-book ideology. Nor is it a salvation sought after wherein one denounces all weapons. It simply means we choose not to strike outside the dimensions of necessity. We are smarter and tougher warriors. We choose to influence the mind of the opponent. And our actions speak for themselves. Non-violence thus, is not just a combative force; it is a way of life. It is slow and effective struggle for a long drawn cause, a cause to change the way men behave with each other, a cause to address and eliminate the roots of artificially induced insecurity outside our natural habitat so that man may once again love and live.

And this kind of non-violence is not a historic or a Gandhian principle. It si something you and I practise everyday in the lesser dimensions of life. A little child strikes you after he or she thinks that you broke his toy. Wouldn’t you laugh away his moves to harm you? Better still, a teacher handling the outburst of a student who fails to score well in an examination is expected to be wise and mature towards one who knows lesser than he does. In effect in the situations, it is incumbent upon the more learned to endure and teach with love. Then what is it stops us and blinds us from reacting in a similar fashion when it gets to higher-end situations in which societies on a whole are involved? A pure mental block. No, non-violence is something that we are born with, have nurtured and lived with. Nothing should stop us from practising it. And then does one holiday really matter? Let us remind ourselves of this innate ability we posses to combat and heal on this international non-violence day; no more a holiday!

Unlimited Managerial Learning!

One of the wonderful prospects of coming to a business school is the inundating plethora of the biggies one gets to meet and interact with. CEOs, Directors, Deans and industry stalwarts! It was one of those special days for PGDSM-MIT 04 when the director of the MIT program in Virginia Tech flew down for his scheduled contact sessions. It was a wonderful fun-filled interaction for five days during which Dr. Tom Sheehan shared his experience on Unified Modelling Language using Rational Rose. It was but an innovative learning exercise wherein business analysis, estimation techniques, design principles were explored amidst heated debates and budding classroom discussions.

The last day saw the ritual interview session with the whole class and faculty members. Dr. Tom shared with us his views on the eminence of exchange programs and how different the students of MIT India were from those of the students on US. He appreciated the class diversity and profound knowledge of the students in the nitty-gritty of technological implementation which according to him would be the cutting edge we would have as business analysts and business development managers. When questioned about the present PGDSM-MIT04 batch, he remarked that, it gets more and more inquisitive a batch every year and more and more challenging for us to handle all the doubts! The session was followed by sumptuous tea.

Dr. Tom spoke to us about the relevance of the techno-managerial perspective in the US industry and its bent for such qualified professionals to take up the positions of business mangers in the challenging scenario. It was particularly endearing when he invited everyone of us to attend our convocation in the Virginia Tech. Alas, budgets are never concordantly generous! :) What followed was a brief discussion on the activities of the Virginia Tech alumni association and our responsibilities as HOKIEs (the students of Virginia Tech are known as Hokies) followed by an insight into his Indian experience. Five full days of enriching cross-cultural interface! You bet!

- Prathibha

Of Gandhi, Non-violence and Gen Y

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.”

The decision of the United Nations General Assembly to declare the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as ‘International Day of Non-Violence’, almost six decades after the legend breathed his last, is testimony to the aptness of the beautiful lines quoted above from Thomas Gray’s “Elegy written in a country churchyard”. The lines bring out the irony of the fact that the life of Gandhi and his noble ideals have faded into oblivion with passing years, and it takes a ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ (whose male protagonist himself has been convicted for his involvement in the Mumbai serial blasts), to reinforce the ideology of ‘non-violence’ that Gandhi gave up his life for.

The euphoria in the Indian politics following this inconsequential declaration by the UN can be termed at best, illogical, and at worst, hypocritical. In a country where politics has been reduced to just another dirty word for intolerance and religious fundamentalism, I find it ridiculously funny that morally corrupt netas are celebrating the UN declaration on one hand and thwarting Gandhi’s ideals on the other. For those who believe this declaration would massage the ego of the nationalist, I can only say that any carnival would be as naïve as celebrating the rise of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, without understanding the repercussions of the same.

There seems to be much ado about nothing. What seems to have been unfortunately forgotten amongst all the hype is the very idea of non-violence that Gandhi stood for.

The sad truth about Gen Y is that it is so emotionally vulnerable that it can neither practice non-violence nor appreciate it. To the youth, Gandhi is an epitome of passive resistance. No more, no less. The fact that 2^nd October is a dry day is of more concern to them than it being declared as ‘International Day of Non-Violence’ by the UN. The fact that it is a national holiday is more pertinent to them than practising non-violence even for a day. Somewhere down the line, the very same youth and politicians who are lauding UN’s declaration on the eve of something as sacrosanct as Gandhi Jayanti have relegated Gandhi to an inanimate picture in shabby court rooms and government offices.

The fact that someone has to write an article to instil a sense of national pride and reinforce Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence, is testimony to the aptness of the famous line from The Fountainhead-“A quest for self respect is proof of it’s lack.”, in the Indian context. But Ayn Rand’s philosophy and objectivism be damned, on the eve of the ‘International Day of Non-Violence’, let us not just celebrate Gandhi’s recognition for his role in promoting peace, but also the concept of non-violence itself. Let us sing ‘Sabarmati ke sant’ one last time in the memory of the great man who has made us proud and will always make us feel proud of being an Indian. Let us watch ‘Lage Raho..’ once again not for the antics of Cirkit or the shenanigans of Munna but for the indomitable spirit of non-violence and active Gandhigiri beautifully portrayed in the movie.

To sum it up, let me evoke all the readers with something that conveys the essence of ‘Gandhigiri’, which has unfortunately been misunderstood as something passive and weak by Gen Y:-

“Once to every man or nation,
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side,

It is then that the brave man chooses,
While the coward steps aside
Doubting in his abject spirit,
Till his lord is crucified!”

Rather than naming posh, rickety and sundry roads as the Mahatma Gandhi Road, let us walk, at least for a day, on the road shown by the selfless Bapu, so that our posterity does not have to see another ‘Babri Masjid’, another ‘Godhra’, another ‘Kashmir’…. That, I believe, will ensure that Gandhi does not become merely the Atticus Finch of modern times. That, I believe, will ensure that we don’t wait for Lage Raho’s and the United Nation’s declarations to practice Gandhi’s school of thought. That, I believe, will be the true tribute to our beloved Bapu!

Cheers,
Tushar Kumar
PGDSM MIT 04

And the Saga continues… Team Gyaana in the finals of Bzzwings at Vista ’07, IIMB

Saurabh Shukla, Souma Kanti Paul and Sidharth Shyamshukha of team ‘Gyaana’ have been short listed for the ‘B-Plan Contest-Bzzwings’ at Vista’07, IIMB. Bzzwings is an open theme business plan contest; an event where wannabe entrepreneurs can make their future. The team Gyaana has proposed a Media and Entertainment plan with a flavour of Social responsibility.

In addition to the prize money, Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIMB would be offering incubation for the winner and direct entry to the second round of the II-tier incubation selection process to the runners-up.

Go and Get it guys..!! We would be waiting eagerly for the first entrepreneurship venture from the class of PGDSM-MIT (07-09).

Finals: 13th October 2007
Time: 9.30 AM – 2.30 PM
Venue: IIM Bangalore
Other teams in the fray: ISB, IIMB, IIMI, IIMC, Early Stage Entrepreneurs, VGSOM IIT Kgp
Event details: http://www.iimb-vista.com/bzzwings.html

Saurabh Shukla in the finals of Spandan'07 at IMI Delhi:

Spandan is a foundation for Human Values for Management and Society at International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi. Saurabh would be presenting a paper on- “If I were to teach Human Values”.

The aim of this contest is to sensitize the prospective professionals on the role of human values in work situations as part of work ethic and culture, and as an instrument for enhancing organizational excellence so that they are able to contribute in evolving value-based organizations and professions.

Way to go dude..!!

Finals: 3rd Oct. 2007
Time: 2:30 PM onwards
Venue: IMI, Delhi
Event details: http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/060911/imi_spandan_1.php

FMS Delhi conquered: Roopak and Varsha win grand finale !!

Another feather in the crown, Roopak Nair (PGDSM-MIT) and Varsha Krishnan (PGDM) of team “Achievers” have won the paper presentation contest “eRetailing: Is India ready for it?" held at FMS, Delhi. The event was a part of the ClickIT conclave conducted by the SYNOPSYS Society of FMS. There were over 130 entries received from B-schools all over India out of which only 5 teams made it though to the finals. The finalists were from IIM A, IIM K, IIT Chennai, IIT Delhi and SPJIMR setting the stage for a tough competition.

e-Retailing is one of the fastest growing segments of the global economy and the second-largest in the US both in terms of establishments and employees with estimates that e-Retail will grow at 10-20 % CAGR over the next few years. The sector has seen a huge surge in demand in e-ticketing, books, music, etc. But still a lot remains to be done in various sectors like Education, Legal Services, etc. which offer good opportunities for e-Retailing of services. The paper needed to address the best suitable e-Retailing model tuned to Indian environment.



The entire event was very enticing with the team from IIM A and IIM B focussing on supply chain models and the future of e-Retailing in India. The team from IIT Delhi spoke about how post offices could be used as web-kiosks to enable e-retailing. IIT Chennai focussed on the different aspects of e-retailing. Team Achievers, Roopak and Varsha covered the holistic perspective of e-retailing in India from all aspects like organisation, environment, technology, kirana stores and customers.

It did not take the esteemed panel of judge much ado to notice team “Achievers” brilliant delivery and superior quality of content. The victory announcement was so exciting that when the judges asked the audience who the winners would be, the only voice that came out from the crowd was “SP Jain…SP Jain…SP Jain”. Team “Achievers” received a whooping twelve thousand INR in cash prize.

To add to the win one of the judges, Mr.Manish Agarwal, VP marketing, Rediff was so impressed with what team “Achievers” had to present that he asked the team for their presentation and was interested in going for further research projects and internships in this area.

Kudos Roopak and Varsha :)

Cognitive Networking indeed..!

All good things have to come to an end someday and so was the case with our very first spree with the Doctor, research scientist, professor and world-renowned expert in Wireless communication and Cognitive networks, Dr. Luiz DaSilva. Technically speaking the sessions have come to an end but the learning has just started. The wonderful man from Brazil-the land of culture and football, not only taught us wireless communications but gave us sneak peeks into football culture. I bet he would have loved the FIFA tournament organized the day before yesterday! Legacy speaks for itself…

We had the wonderful opportunity to share his opinions about the much debated topics in the Indian educational front. In a 45 minutes interview, he spoke of the similarity between Indian and Brazilian culture. He loved the warmth and hospitality with which Indians accept a foreigner into their system. On the contrary, he said that Americans have a professional in their demeanor and approach.

He believes that Indian market is in a much coveted dimension and is a sure shot destination for many around the globe. He loved the fact that Virginia Tech, as always, was one of the few to identify this activity and associated itself with SPJIMR four years ago. He visualizes the job market in America to be in bleak position, hard-hit by off-shoring. However, he is extremely optimistic about the job market in US for Indians who are professionally qualified. He is particularly positive about the prospects for people specializing in areas of business development and systems management.

His love for teaching and passion to share knowledge was what propelled him to quit a senior level management position with IBM and pursue research.

It was a wonderful session wherein the professor shared his opinions with us on a plethora of topics including Buffalo networks (a sensors project he is working on), Cognitive networks and economic game theory (we believe we got a sneak peek into his next paper to be presented in the IEEE conference J ), his love for Zico, his tete-a-tete with potato pancakes (masala dosa), his dislike for Britney Spears and finally his experience with us over the 5 days!!

Prof. Luiz left for Canada loaded with pictures, heated discussions on football and a pending game as well, souvenirs in the form of an ethnic wall painting and eager students ready to shoot off mails with numerous doubts!!

Cheers,
Avdhut & Prathibha

Un Dos Tres…

With a hugely soccer crazy junta at SP Jain, the ‘FIFA 2007 Online Gaming Contest’ organised by the Sports Committee generated a great deal of excitement. Spread over a week with a gruelling preliminary round, the finalists Aishi Dipta Lahiri and Rajninath fought it out at Dome 3 in the ‘Clash of the Titans’! Doing PGDSM-MIT proud, Aishi walked away with the top honours in a keenly contested game.

In the prelims, contestants were divided into 4 groups each of 4 people. The top 2 from each group made it to the next round. It was then up to the 8 quarter finalists to prove their mettle in order to enter the semis. On the way to the finals, Aishi met Dhruv in the quarters (8-4)and got a walk over in the semis from Shailesh who had an equally great run till the semis.

Large screen, incredible sound, two competent players, and an equally enthu audience set the stage for an electrifying finals. The scores at the end of the game read ‘5-1’ at home and ‘5-4’ away in Aishi’s favour.

Way to go Aishi!! :)
And Kudos to Sports com for coming out with an innovative game and holding it in the true SP Jain isshtyle.. :)

Cheers,
Manisha & Aparna

Gurgaon Post

1780 kms...covered in 2 hours 40 minutes…jet lite helped me in the endeavor :-) Reached delhi at 4.45 pm. Delhi gave a warm welcome. At 35 deg Celsius, it couldn’t be warmer! Took a pre-paid taxi for DLF phase 3..300 bucks. A black thing that used to be a maruti 800 in its hey days comes to a screeching halt in front of me. The kid driver (donno whether he was above 18) came out, got busy n hurled my luggage into the backseat. He had a ‘navigator’ cum his Man Friday in the front seat. Off we go. In under 30 minutes, we are in the midst of a caravan of beautiful, well built buildings. A caravan..except that they don’t move. Neither does the traffic in front of them.. in peak time, that is. Got treated to dust therapy. Fished out pg acco contacts that Saurabh had sent. Started calling up..The voice of the land lady says that the acco is in phase 2. Took the taxi till there and then bid adieu to him. The caretaker of the acco took me around the building. I thought I could do with a better option.

Quite an adventure to have 4 pieces of luggage on your shoulders and hoping to find some shelter. Took a cycle rickshaw (‘risk’shaw, actually). Next stop – Sahara mall. Sahara, City Centre, Metropolitan malls are all in a huddle..Kamall hain yaar! Itz almost as if the city police want to get all the traffic to same place and then catch some 'wanted' criminals..Good good. Got a call from Tarun..he gave me the address of his acco where there was a vacancy. Saviour! Took an auto rick…played merry-go-round in sectors 23,22,21..and finally reached the house. Nice place plus apna Tarun in the same building. Settled down. Had great dinner. Slept like a log.

Good morning Gurgaon! 2 paranthas + 1 katori curd + butter + chai for breakfast. From zero breakfast in Mumbai to this + that + one more that in gurgaon..its a good life. The cycle riskshaw will now balance better as I gain weight. Sector 21 to Shankar chowk. I give 100 bucks. No change. None of the road side hawkers gives any change. Plan b..bought a banana. Now comes a khool sales model. He does not have change for most denominations…and there is ‘something’ to give away for every denomination instead of cash. If he does not have 50 paisa..1 mentos. Does not have 1 rupee..2 mentos. 2 rupees…4 mentos. Some learning here! In coupla months I would have collected enough mentos to set up a shop in Manesar or Kancheepuram. Perfetti! Btw, check out mentoshelpline.com

Shankar chowk to Sahara mall. Auto? He says he will take me to IFFCO chowk which is ‘near’ the mall. This..for 5 bucks only! Bulk breaking anyone? Zillions of companies line up the sides of the highway. Indiabulls to multinational bulls..they are all here! Met up a chap in the rick…who is working with Denisco. Started talking about 3PL.. Now, this auto rick is no laila from rgv’s aag. It is a more-space (wid due respect..Logan kinda more space) auto rick. 4 passengers outside..facing outside, that is. 8 in the middle and 4 on the driver’s seat! It is difficult to figure out who among the 4 is actually driving the rick. After 10 minutes..I kinda figured it out. Yes! It is the guy who turns back every 10 seconds! The other 3 are too scared to move and keep their eyes on the road :-)

Saw a hotel board that offered ‘Madhu’ Vada at 5 bucks..hehe.. Soft data, u know. I guess this place has great potential for goggles and sun screen lotion. It is still underserved. Very sunny! A hoarding here is heralding the onset of India’s first jus-for-women radio station. And hold your breath…itz called Meow 104.8 FM!! Thppbt!

Cheers,
Ganga

First Impressions! :)

What happens when two creative minds set out to make a mark in an ad workshop with the country’s best competing for the crown?? Adrenaline rushes.. Tons of ideas spring out.. Sparks fly.. Many a whacky fundas are explored and designs created!

MARKSFETE’07, NITIE Ad workshop case: Colgate Maxfresh has a 10% market share in the freshness segment of toothpastes. The market leader in freshness segment is Close-up (70%). Colgate Maxfresh wants to enhance the market segment to 20% and reposition the brand from the freshness segment into a different segment. The participants were also asked to make ads to market the same.

This being the problem statement, Team ‘Pratham’ from PGDSM-MIT comprising of the ever calm and never faltering Nishant and suave and creative beyond bounds Rajat was indeed the perfect marketing mix!

With a primary research of asking different questions related the brands which focussed on stain-free and freshness segment brands to 54 people which revealed that in the freshness segment, Close-up was the popular brand and Colgate was more popular in the Stain-free teeth segment. With this as background, team ‘Pratham’ proposed a marketing strategy for Colgate with ‘stain-free freshness’ as the tagline.

The distinguished judges for the event were Executive Director, Rediffusion; Vice President of HR, Rediffusion; Vice President of Creativity, Rediffusion; Head of the department of Marketing, NITIE and two Asst. Professors, Marketing, NITIE.

Fundoo financials from the team from ISB, MICA exploring marketing concepts left, right and centre, NITIE coming up with a creative two tube concept coupled with complex numerical analysis, JBIMS pitching in with mother-kid concept for marketing, VGSOM with its naughty freshness – none of it could do the trick that PGDSM-MIghTians could do! :)


The team from SCMHRD which stood second had ‘loose control’ as its punch-line and a smashing ppt. Their concept was interesting in many ways and revolved around rural youth.

While the remaining 6 teams had come out with graphic and print ads, ‘Pratham’, with a terrific billboard ad and a short video ad rocked the show! The judges were so impressed not just by the uniqueness of the campaign but also by the brilliant strategy that ‘Pratham’ proposed, that they recommended the ad to be sent to Cannes festival. The team faced a gruelling Q and A session and came out with flying colours.

Needless to say, ‘Pratham’ stood first (PRATHAM, in fact!) in the competition and proved that creativity can create fresh ripples in any segment of people… :)

The team came back home with cash prize of Rs.6000, only to realise that their party to the rest of the class would by far be heavier on their pockets! :D

Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr. Thomas T. Sheehan

It is indeed a great pleasure for us to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Thomas T. Sheehan.

Dr. Sheehan, the Director of “Master of Information Technology” Program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia will be here along with us from September 10th to September 14th 2007. He would be teaching “Systems Approach to Business Modelling” to the participants of PGDSM-MIT04.

His presence will indeed be a great opportunity for all participants of SPJIMR to interact and gain insight into his areas of expertise.

To sir, with love

September 5th, yet another day in yet another year, but the zeal and enthusiasm to thank the teachers comes up with a renewed vigour and straight from the heart. So it did at SPJIMR. It was 4 ‘o’ clock in the evening and all the participants were ready to give the teachers their greatest gift – show them their gratitude. The students of all the programmes were united in their efforts to come up with a plethora of programmes for the momentous evening.

The evening kicked off with a surprise quiz for the teachers, which was modelled in the same way as done while facilitating the learning of the participants. The results of the same were announced at the end of the programme. Of course this was to start the occasion on a lighter note.

The celebration started with the invocation of a prayer – “Tumhe ho matha, pitha tumhe ho….” by one of the student participants. The teachers were immediately presented with an innovative song – “Munna sikhaye, tumhe teacher ka funda…” by two other students, imitating Munna and Circuit of Munnabhai fame, the content of which included various managerial terms like Porter’s strategy in a hilarious fashion. It was followed by gazals and instrumentals performed by a few students, who kept the audience in rapt attention.

The innovations of the student participants knew no bounds. They came up with myriad entertaining shaayaris, the best ones being those made with the names of SPJIMR’s teachers. May be for the first time many people noticed that the names of the teachers really had wonderful meanings. One another student came up with a beautiful English poem exhibiting the importance of teachers in one’ life and the reverence the student community shared with them.

What’s teachers’ day if there is no place to showcase their talents? A small game was organised for the teachers that offered the student participants to witness the innovative and the lighter side of their gurus. It rained brilliant performances by the teachers – a few sang, a few came up with some activities as they were requested to do so and several others. With each performance they reiterated the fact that teaching keeps one young and all their performances matched the best of those hard practised performances given by the student participants.

All that begins well ends well. But the student- teacher occasion is here to stay forever. The programme ended on a touching note with a video made by participants of PGDSM-MIT. The message was stark - “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”. Clearly, the video stole the show with the hall resounding with a standing ovation.

The programme ended with a fitting prayer, dedicated to the teachers, delivered by all the student participants in the auditorium.

Guru Bramha Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara
Guru Sakshaat Param Bramha Tasmai Shri Guruve Namah!

Cheers!
Ashwin

Invisible angels - a poem dedicated to teachers

INVISIBLE ANGELS
- Prathibha Ryali( PGDSM-MIT04), SPJIMR

Warmth to qualms
Canopy to cliff
Life is never easy
When you make a necessary shift
So said my mom
To my tear-singed eyes
Why was school necessary,
Wasn’t home nice?
For all the tottering alphabets learnt
Unbound plethora of
Questions churned
For every drop of hesitation,
Every hint of fear,
The assuring touch
So warm and dear
But now unleashed into the jungle called school
Eyes would pry,
Sarcasm would drool
No guiding hand when I falter
Oh god why this transition from mom to teacher?
And that night I did dream
Of a wonderful lady
and her teacher’s glory
Said she
"I had a little girl too"
"Was she you daughter?" I whispered
"Does it make a difference?
I was her teacher!”
Bated breath and eyes wide
I stared her in surprise
"I taught her not history nor mathematics
And not any ambitious career plans
Nor a peek into textbooks
But held her hand
To take her through the fantasies of the never never land
Help unleash the great potential hidden within you
Patiently guide the endless experiments new
Every stumble every failure pains
Unbound joys are every single student’s gains
Teaching you to live together
Teaching you strive for better
It is only then
That you grow to become mature men and women
And then we see you smile from those once questioning eyes
Nurtured to be smart, astute and wise
You may go far and wide
But between us there is never a divide
You will always keep coming back to me
For sharing, happiness, advice and grief
And then one day you bring your little one and place her in my hands
I once again mould her with the magic wand
And bubble up with the immense pride
For the success of every one of the thousands of kids
who in my heart reside
A mother to numerous little angels in disguise
Incomparable is the teacher’s paradise”
No more were qualms and worries
But only pelting glee
I got to up to go to school
a world of faith beckoning me.