Take-aways from Entrepreneurship class:

Entrepreneurship Class:

Though the course's main objective is not to make everyone an entrepreneur, it can provide sufficient tools and pointers to think about Entrepreneurship. It says "What to do and what not to do?" but doesn't say "What to do?” Also, we are very fortunate to have Prof. S Venkataraman, who is an entrepreneur by heart.

The Lesson that touched my heart is - the Ruth M Owades case (Very famous HBS Case). The case is about Ruth, who is a well qualified, top rank employee, who wants to pursue her entrepreneurial life. She will be left with three options front.

The class discussion is to evaluate the best among the three. Most of us looked conservative and concluded that 'she should wait for one more year and do some more analysis', which I strongly differed for the reasons - waiting for one year doesn't add much qualitative data. The more analysis we do, the more information we need, which makes it as 'Analysis Spiral' and the bottom line is "no decision will be made". Prof. gave some important insights, which I feel are the major take-aways from the case.

(1)There should be proper balance between 'Bias for Analysis’ & ‘Bias for action’ and thereby minimizes the tendency to consider ‘opportunity’ from an objective point of view. It also makes sense to spend your imagination before you spend your money.

(2) Spend your imagination before you spend your money. Keep the investment as minimum as possible - always there is an option to exit.

(3) Decisions are not number based all the times. Sometimes we need to go with faith.

 

 

Kishore, Class of 2007

 

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What is Consulting?

The consulting club conducted its first major event today. It was a panel discussion on a Consultant’s work profile and culture across different consulting firms. The discussion was moderated by our Deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar.

 

Three Alums:  Bejoy Suri from Accenture, Anshuman Biyani from BCG and Rohit Kapoor from McKinsey took part in the discussion.

 

Most of the discussion was centered around the kind of work consultants do in general with focus on strategy firms. What is consulting? What kind of work the consulting firms do? How is a typical day in a consultant’s life? How do you grow and learn in a consulting firm?—All these and many more such questions in the minds of many students looking at consulting careers post ISB were effectively answered.

 

The alums discussed in detail the kind of projects they have been doing since they joined their respective firms. The spoke at length about their experiences and touched upon the various assignments they have been involved in to give the students present a deep insight into the life of a consultant. Ajit provided us with his valuable comments and narrated his own experiences as a consultant to add to the discussion and drive home the issues being discussed.

 

A consultant’s typical day was also discussed and it was emphasized, that though consulting careers give you a great opportunity to constantly learn, innovate and challenge yourself, it’s a tough job at the end of the day and you need to be one up always to succeed. Further, it was clearly mentioned that consultants had to travel a lot and keep away from their base offices for long periods adding to the challenges of the job.

 

Later an interactive session with alums was conducted to build upon the discussions and answer certain unanswered questions in detail.

 

The consulting club would like to thank Bejoy, Anshuman and Rohit for taking time out to be with us. We also thank Ajit for agreeing to moderate the discussion and provide us valuable insights on consulting careers.

 

 

 

Venkat

 

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FinalStrat (July 20th, 2006)

And here's what finally happened. We ended up 2nd. Hoorah! We kicked some serious ass in the final round! Doubled our contribution!!



Manukaran Karunakaran

Class of 2007

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BetterStrat! (July 4th, 2006)

HA! Bumper returns this decision in Markstrat! 6 decisions down. 1 more to go. We have managed a good turn around from our initial horrible performance. We are now 3rd out of the 18 contendors. My group and I are damn kicked about it! The topspot is still way out ahead. Let's see. Markstrat has been the most interesting I've done so far at B-School. Here's a small indicator of our performance so far.. the stock index of our company O. Now gotta hang tight and make one more good decision!

The pink line is the performance of my company!

Manukaran Karunakaran

Class of 2007

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BadStrat! (June 19th, 2006)

After 12 hours of slogging it out and turning in decisions, we returned home to sleep. 2 days later (after one brilliant Arabic Theme party at SV3), I wake up to the results of the markets reacting to all our decisions.

End results : WE GOT SCREWED.

Something we did is made us lose market share. We dropped from the largest market share before our decision, to the lowest market share. Now, we have to do some damage control.

EDIT :Some pictures taken at 4.00a.m. after my group's decision was done and we went to bug Chetan's group.This was them making their decisions peacefully before we went there.



This was them, after we landed.

p.s. For some reason, I think the umbrellas reminded Sam of a beach, and hence the "Beach Boy" pose in the last picture!!

Manukaran Karunakaran

Class of 2007

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Markstrat! (June 16th, 2006)

In term 2, we use one of the most exciting learning tools ever made in the history of B-Schools. Markstrat!

Markstrat is a simulation environment in which many firms will compete to maximize their profits. We will be using this software as part of our advanced Marketing course. The entire batch has been split into groups of 4 or 5 and 18 "parallel" play industries have been created. 5 firms A, E, I, O and U compete in each of these parallel worlds. Each firm holds a different market position like in a real world. One will be a market leader, one will be a close second, one might be a player catering to a niche requirement, etc. We compete over a period of 8 years. At the beginning of each year we are expected to make a marketing decision and we will see the result of our decisions (w.r.t. those made by our opponents) at the end of the year. Various factors are in our control. We can invest in R&D, we decide how much to produce, we control inventory levels, we control the distribution channel, etc.

I love these sort of games where you get to lock horns with other humans. It is always a challenge and an extremely dynamic environment. It definitely beats playing against a computer. I have been looking forward to play this game for quite some time now. Supposed to be one of the most exciting (and also hectic) periods during the MBA program. In our case, we have the first decision for all the groups has already been made by the professor. We now take over and make the next 7 decisions. This "game" accounts for 40% of the grade, which makes it even more interesting. Our first Markstrat decision is due tomorrow morning. I think tonight will be a looong night, considering we are still learning about the industry we're competing in, our own strenghts and weaknesses and we still have to learn about our opponents.

 

Manukaran Karunakaran

Class of 2007

 

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The GOAL

Operations... hmm... what is it all about? Wondering why am I talking about operations when I am doing an MBA??.. :) No I am still sane enough... this is related to the operations of a manufacturing firm that was being discussed in the book GOAL by Goldratt.. A nice book. Written like any other fiction novel but has a lot in it we could learn. Let me transfer a bit of this knowledge to you all.. ;) It mainly talks about 3 things: Increasing throughput, decreasing inventory and decreasing operating expense. Let me relate all this to me doing an MBA at ISB..

Increasing throughput:

Hmmm.. whats the output of doing an MBA? I would say a fat pay packet with a satisfactory job.. ;) How am I supposed to increase throughput in those terms then? I will just try and apply to those jobs meeting the above criteria... that solves my problem...

Next is decreasing inventory:

Oh come on!! I already have quite less when it comes to inventory. My brain's shelf space is almost zero.. it might have been that way since quite some time as it doesnt have the capacity to imbibe anymore. :) Inventory is already reduced to the minimum possible.. :) This goes out of the window!!

Now comes decreasing operating expense:

All expense that was supposed to come by has already gone by.. already paid my tution fees.. :( the only expense I can decrease now is my diet expense... I hope I dont have to decrease that.. Come on.. i dont think I will able to achieve my GOAL, if I decrease that operating expense.. ;)

So all in all, looks like the learnings dont apply to me at this moment.. :) Jokes apart, the book was really interesting with all the mix needed to keep you engrossed till the last page. A good buy for me!!

Mahesh Shenoy

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Term Break on Campus

As I promised, I am back with the details of the term break where in I didn’t even touch the books.. :) It’s different when you wake up at the time you want and go laze in the dining hall doing a late breakfast, suddenly get up thinking you had some assignment to catch up on and then again realizing that this is a term break... :)

Movies Movies Movies... Watched GolMaal.. The security guy at the theatre suggested us this movie and I was looking around for him after I got out of the hall.. wanted to strangle him as he not only made us waste some precious money but also made us go through a torture for two and a half hours.. Looks like he pulled up a fast one on us, just like the characters in the movie.. Then came Superman Returns.. he did return but from where why how?.. no one knows.. neither do I... It was a tough ask to sit in an AC theatre for two and half hours at a stretch.. :) Now its going to be the desi superman's turn tonight.. yeah its KKrish.. :) lets see how this one goes.. :)

So this term break has been full of outings to the city.. have come to know more about Hyderabad roads.. :) Soon all this would come to an end with the term starting day after tomorrow.. most people would have even started doing pre reads for the first day of the term and here I am sitting and writing this blog.. time to catch up on some readings myself..:)

Mahesh Shenoy

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The fun never ends..

Today is the day we, ISBians of Co2007, would be called 25% MBAs. Yes we have achieved it... we have crossed hurdles involving the optimization of our lives, economies of our fellow men sitting across the ocean. Looks like I was the one who set up the operations for all the big firms all over the world and I was the one who strategized each and every move for them. Even the biggest of all researchers would not have chalked out successful plans for so many companies in one and half hours which I did sitting in the examination hall.. :) Last but not the least... customers are GOD... marketing is a religion.. but I dont know if I should be worshiping it.. :) Can someone please enlighten me??.. :)

 

All said and done... it was another wonderful episode (2nd out of 8) coming to an end... as the story unfolds, I am getting more curious as to whats more in store... Also this would be my first term break spent on campus.. It would be a completely different experience to stay on campus and you have the option of not studying anything... am raring to experience that feeling... must be awesome... :) Come back in another couple of days and you will definitely find another post with details on how I felt.. ;) Ciao!!.. :)

 

Mahesh Shenoy

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Tennis at 2AM...

... Come US Open, we have at least 2 ISB folks ready to take on the stalwarts.. :) Off late we realized that just studying all the time everyday and indulging in so-called intellectually stimulated discussions wears us out mentally. So there is Srikant and me, who have taken this initiative (for ourselves) of being physically fit, which will helps us not to go brain dead whilst we are at ISB.. :) Now now.. don’t start thinking that we have started this just because we are not going anywhere with our studies. ;) Just kidding...

 

I love playing tennis and that’s the reason for this post. Fortunately we have folks around who are equally interested, no matter what the situation is with respect to the term. Srikant is just one of those and we played tennis at an unearthly hour of 2am... and boy.. did we enjoy it?... yes we did... sweating out on a tennis court from 2 - 4am in the morning was one of the weirdest thing I thought I would do here at ISB.. :) Moreover I don’t think I would have done this if I was not at ISB. Also with just 3 days to go for the end term exams, it added to the thrill of the game... :)

 

Having said that I am able to venture out on more of such opportunities to make my life more entertaining here at ISB than it already is with all the exciting courses we have.. next post will have one of the most sought after course mentioned with some details on it.. :) The wait is worth it..

 

Mahesh Shenoy

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Online Application Process started for 2007-08

The online application for 2007-08 has gone live and is available at www.isb.edu/isbapp or can be visited through the link www.isb.edu/pgp  - apply now. 

 

A few improvements have been incorporated, but most of the earlier processes remain unchanged.

    

1. Application Fee:  Application Fee is INR 2,000 or USD 50 and has to be remitted online using a VISA/MASTER Credit Card. The applicants also have an option of using the ICICI Net Banking option.

 

2. Application: All changes/editing have to be effected prior to final submission and once submitted, no changes are possible nor can they view the application. They can only save a copy of the print view on their system (currently in word format). Once the pdf format is developed, it could be saved in the system as a pdf doc. (we are still working in it). Once submitted, they will be able to see the status of the application from the same link.

 

3. Resume: Applicants need not fill in any resume template; the system will generate a resume on its own based on the details filled in by the applicant.

 

4. Recos/Evaluations:  The format is same as last year. A Soft copy of the Evaluation Form is available as a part of the application. The applicant has to fill in his details and forward a soft copy/hard copy to the evaluator. The evaluator in turn has to fill it, sign and seal it in an envelope and forward it back to the applicant who should forward these forms without opening the seal along with his/her application.  Effectively, it is the hard copy evaluation that we will be accepting.  A Minimum of two and maximum of three forms are acceptable.

 

5. Transcripts/Mark sheets: Photocopies of mark sheets and certificates or transcripts from class X (not from class XII) are required as part of the application.

 

6. Diploma – As usual diplomas will not be considered as equivalent of a Bachelor’s Degree (we have stopped using the term “Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent” in the admissions criteria). - Eg., Hotel Management - DHMCT or Master’s Licence Certificate for Marine Engineers. However, we will consider CA, ICWA, CS, AMIE etc.,

 

7. Scholarship Form: Essay, Pay-slip/s, Tax returns have to accompany the Scholarship form in order to process the same.

 

8. Application material has to reach in one single packet to avoid any confusion and the entire material should reach the Admissions Office by the specified deadlines. Applications without required attachments will be considered invalid and will not be processed.

 

9. Online application Status: Status of the application will be online and available at the same link www.isb.edu/isbapp .

 

10. Application Help: In case of trouble with the application, please write to apphelp@isb.edu .

  

 

Please write to admissionsresponse@isb.edu , if you need any further details or clarifications.

 

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Markstrat D-Day

Today was the day when the historical results of the Markstrat game was declared to the public..:)

 

Ok.. just so that you don’t feel out of place, let me explain as to what this game entails. Markstrat is a marketing game where in you are put up against different firms in the same industry targeting the same set of customers. Just like in real life scenario, you would find all sorts of market forces acting on your firm. You have to take decisions such that you have a competitive advantage over others and earn maximum profit. You have funds at the start and you have to allocate it judiciously towards advertising, employment of sales force, R & D, launching a new product etc. Your funds for the second decision would depend on the profit you make after the first decision… You are able to monitor your own progress and also your competitors’ progress based on the market study you do. We had 7 decisions to cater to over this last 4 weeks and every bit of it was FUN!!!

 

It was a nice thought to have the whole batch sit in the auditorium and have a look at their own performance at the end of the game.. with some groups rejoicing when they have done well and some trying to avoid giving answers to their neighbours for obvious reasons.. ;)

 

After such an experience, I wish we have more games to play during this course.. rather than crack some theoretical fundaes for some fundamentals that I don’t know when I will use.. ;) just kidding..:) Come on .. get back to work! There’s loads to study with end terms starting next Monday.. Ciao…

 

Mahesh Shenoy

Co2007

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Editors Round Table

On July 1, 2006 ISB was host to four eminent personalities from the world of journalism for a round table discussion on “Is the lack of political involvement amongst the youth a threat to economic growth?”

 

The panel also consisted of two speakers from the Class of 2007 – Disha Rustogi and Ali Potia. The discussion raised some thought provoking ideas and led to a series of very interesting debates on campus. The Media Club at ISB did a phenomenal job of executing the event! For more details, check out: http://www.isb.edu/campussbuzz1/RoundTable2006.html

 

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Welcome back

So folks, here we are .. the ISB cult back in action on the collaborative blog. Here you will find all the wonderful experiences of the ISB community. What does that exactly mean? It will be a bit of spice.. a bit of exam fever.. a bit of placement fever... and all the fun that comes along once you are a part of this BSchool!!

Watch out for this space which will cover a whole lot of action for the years to come.. when ISB climbs the rungs of leadership in this highly competitive world of IVY League BSchools!!

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