Consulting in cross cultural environments by ATK

 

A.T Kearney visited the ISB on 22nd September to share some perspectives about Consulting in cross cultural environments. The session was conducted by Raman Mangalokar (Principal), Supratim Banerjee (Manager, ISB Class of 2002) and Ankur Warikoo (Senior Business Analyst, ISB Class of 2006).

The team shared their experiences about consulting with various business over the course of their career and how working with culturally diverse teams added to their experience. Raman recalled and shared his experiences of working out of ATK’s Chicago office and the different experiences he had working with cross cultural teams.

The team also spoke about ATK, the kind of work done by the firm and how an ATK consultant is passionate about not just making recommendations for the problem they are trying to solve but also, to see through the implementation of the solution.

Supratim also shared his perspectives and spoke about his experience with ATK for last 4 years.

On 23rd Sept, Ankur conducted a resume analysis session for the benefit of the students interested in consulting and ran us through a case study of his own resume and how he worked on it to shape it up for applying to Consulting firms. Use of effective verbs, and efficient presentation tactics to bring out all the positive aspects of one’s profile was stressed upon.

Both the sessions were attended by a large number of students and the consulting club would like to thank the ATK team for visiting the campus and interacting with the students.

Venkat

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TiE-ISB Connect 2006 - Peter Mukherjea Speech Summary

Peter Mukherjea, CEO, STAR group, was at ISB for the TiE – ISB Connect event to share his views on “Discovery of New Media Opportunities, blending technologies and leveraging India”.

He started off saying that “convergence” is the key to opportunities in the Media industry. Customers these days have all means available to them to check on the media of today. Be it mobiles or internet or television or radio or wired cars or wired planes, each customer has it at his disposal to make use of it. Thus, it is up to the every media company to find answer to the questions like “Who? What? When? How much?”. It is the answer to these questions which will help strategize moves to capture the market.

He claimed that the new media industry is moving towards a tipping point and we can safely assume to have hit it when even the lower class of the society will be having a means to watch TV shows on their mobiles. After all this said and done, it’s a fact that television still holds its current place with increased choice and complete control.

Mr. Mukherjea supported interactive marketing to be the jargon of the day with more and more people preferring to choose what they want rather than taking what is given to them. Interactive television includes shopping of related products (like DVDs) while you are watching a show and also gives you the power to control it in different ways.

He threw some light on the market size of the media industry and also showed some figures predicted for 2010. As per the analysis, the current media industry (including Television, Print, Internet and Others) has a market size of USD 1000 billion and its going to touch USD 1450 billion in 2010. In the segregation of the pie, Television will continue to have the same share but the Print media might loose some of its share to Internet.

Coming to the next point in the agenda of where India stands today in the Media industry, Mr Mukherjea educated the audience by telling that it has the third largest TV industry with 112 million viewer households after USA and China. He also pointed out one of the pain areas for broadcasters that they get just 14% of the revenue generated, which was because of under reporting on behalf of the Local Cable Operators.

He also shared some more facts on the advertising revenue of the Television Media industry. Total advertising expense in 2005 was USD 2.79 billion of which Television advertising expense contributed to about USD 1.15 billion. This revenue is growing steadily at the rate of 14% year on year. Having said this, India still lags behind its counterparts (other Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand etc.) in this stream of revenue. He also pointed out the fact that the number of television channels are increasing at an alarming rate and we might end up having 1000 channels by 2010.

With all this about the television industry in India, our presence on the Internet has not been lagging far behind and has lot of potential which will become obvious in coming years.

Mr. Mukherjea also brought out other pain areas for the broadcasters as he cited examples of mandatory sharing of sports broadcasts along with content regulation and reduced advertising time being enforced on them. Also level playing field is not available, with regulation on different levels of investment allowed for FDIs in different sectors with in the Media industry.

As the TiE-ISB Connect was an event designed especially for bringing budding entrepreneurs and VCs together, Mr. Mukherjea did not leave out on telling the audience about the opportunities available in the Media Industry. Analog transmissions are giving way to Digital equipments with more investments coming in. Also there is a steady increase in the market for original specialized content creation for TV shows on niche fields like golf, gardening, weather etc. Apart from these, there is an emerging market for new media like mobile etc.

To conclude the plenary speech, Mr. Mukherjea let the audience know about the forthcoming targets for the STAR group as a part of their growth plans. STAR group, amongst other plans, would continue to concentrate on the Television media along with Broadband Wireless, Movies on a pay per view basis, DTH (Direct to Home), Network (distribution of new channels) and also tapping the regional channel market to provide a complete bouquet of services to its customers.

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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TiE-ISB Connect 2006 - New Media and Entertainment Track Summary

Track Chair – Sadhna Seelam

Key Note Speaker – Prem Akkaraju (Sanctuary Artist Management)

Panellists – Rajesh Jog (Waygate Capital)

Rana Daggubati (Suresh Productions)

Alok Kejriwal (Contests2win.com)

Raj Atluri (DFJ)

Rahul Khanna (Clearstone)

Sekhar Kammula (Film Director)

Introduced as “The Classic blonde who dyes her hair black”, Ms. Sadhana Seelam, started the track with a short brief on an accomplished panel from the industry.

The talk actually centred along the line of new opportunities in media as an emerging industry, and also the technologies that would be replaced because of the evolution of the same. The point of debate therefore was would earlier modes of entertainment and media go extinct as a result of the evolution or would be sustain itself by complimenting the emerging trends.

There was one school of thought amongst the panellists which was a strong proponent of newer means of media like Internet, Mobile and Gaming. This was met with staunch views on the fact that there yet exists an elderly demographic that are still impacted by the traditional means of media like Television and Radio.

Prem Akkaraju, the key note speaker for the track, brought out the importance of evolving media tools like interactive marketing and music in a statistically rich presentation. He was ably supported by Alok Kejriwal, who attributed the success of his projects at Contests2win.com to interactive and consumer participative marketing.

One of the most candid speakers for the day was Mr. Sekhar Kammula, who stressed on the importance of relevant and consumer focused content in the media industry as opposed to the drive for monetary success. He highlighted the need to maintain the “Indianess” factor in the media and entertainment industry.

Rahul Khanna shed some light on the potential of the gaming industry and ably supported his stance with facts and figures.

Rajesh Jog brought a different perspective in a discussion which was interspersed with views conflicting with those held by others on the panel, conviction and a good sense of humor. He believes that the thought that the forms of new media displace the old is baseless and not true. Also while the concept of short content seems to be gaining importance, he feels that it is important for it to be revisited for relevance of content.

Raj Atluri reiterated the gaining importance of the media and entertainment industry from the perspective of a venture capitalist. He mentioned how despite being discounted as an area of investment, new media has now gone against the traditional views to actually sky rocket towards to an unexpected level. Justifying this statement was the fact that 15% of the investments across the world happen in the new media and entertainment industry.

We also had on the panel, Rana Dagubatti, who has seen his production house evolve from a traditional film content provider in to a enterprise also involved in the gaming and animation industry.

One topic of concurrence between all speakers for the day was the identification of a tipping point in any industry from an Indian context. Given the threshold at which the Indian media industry stands right now, this thought is best summarized by an excerpt from Prem Akkaraju’s the key note statement:

“There is no better time than NOW in India to capitalize and the future looks even better.”

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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Types of Class Participation.

Class Participation(CP) is a big deal in B-School. There are special points (which count for the final grade) usually alloted for "Relevant, direction changing" (insightful) CPs. Sometimes these points can account for about 40% of one's grade in a course! It is hillarious to see how different people understand those three words in giving their class participation. Every one of those CP filled classes is sheer unbridled fun. However, in some sections at ISB this has caused a lot of pain too because of too many "Arbit" CPs. Having said that, Section A has been good to its students in this issue. We have our share of fun during CPs but never to the point of paining everyone. The 4 terms with Section A so far have been awesome fun, and I do feel a little sad that our time together ends in another 15 days (at the end of the core courses).
Here are some types CP’s I’ve observed over the 4 terms we’ve studied together. I have thoroughly enjoyed every class involving CP much much more than those which have not had CP. And I have to say that this is ONLY because of the sheer variety! This post is not meant to pick on any individuals, and I can assure you that MULTIPLE people (including me in some cases) have indulged in each one of these types :-)! I just wanted to write this so that a couple of years down the line when we look back, we can have some good memories! Maybe we can initiate some section awards for the winners & runners-up in each category??

Global CP – The point made will fit in any class, any case-study, any discussion topic. Doesn’t matter when/where. eg. 1. The world is a very complicated place. eg. 2. Two plus two equals four!

Round-tripping/Circular CP – Keep going over the same point over and over again without knowing where to stop.

Politician’s CP – No matter what the question is, I will speak out what I want to say (even if it’s a directed question)

Scientific CP – Throw in jargon, confuse the heck out of everyone. eg. I applied Monte-Carlo simulation to come up with this answer!

“I support” CP – I don’t really have a point to make, but I definitely want the marks. So, I’ll ride on someone else’s tail coat!

“I don’t agree” CP – I don’t really know the case, but I sure as hell don’t like the person who gave the last CP. So I don’t agree!

Butt-in CP – I don’t care who has their hands up. I want to talk when I want to talk!

Just-woke-up CP – I dozed off, let my head drop and banged it against the table and woke myself up! Fish.. I hope no one noticed. Now, I need to make a CP point just to show that I"ve been awake. I put up my hands, get chosen to make my point, and make it. Uh-oh, they’ve already gone over this point ages ago!

Passionate CP – I get all emotional about the CP topic, and start fighting with other views/opinions. eg. When the economics professor talks about how certain segments of the mass love certain products (widgets in this case). Bang comes CP "But, love is not rational!!". The baffled professor gives up!

Multi-lingual CP – I will slip in a few words from other languages, just to confuse the non-Indian Prof.

Unrelated CP – This kind of CP is usually preceded by a disclaimer like “I don’t know if this is related, but what I want to say is ….”. OFCOURSE it’s not related. I know it as well as everyone else. But I need my airtime

Selfish CP – I will make all the points myself (even though only one point was required), ‘cause I don’t want anyone else to get anytime, or ‘cause I want to get max-airtime

Class-take-over CP – Ha! No one else in the class has been in this industry. I am the only one who knows about this topic.. Muwahahahaha, I shall do ALL the answering for the day!

Quota CP – I have decided to make 4 points today ‘cause according to my calculations, that’s the quota I have to satisfy to get a good score on my final grades. Once I give my share of CP for the day, I don’t really care what goes on in class beyond that, I shall go to sleep, or check my e-mail.

Factual CP – I know only the case and have read it for sure, I can’t be bothered about flexing my grey-cells to actually analyze it. So, I shall state the obvious mentioned in the case to obtain my points.

Basic-Instinct CP – I will use “Basically” once every 5 words of my CP

Insightful CP - The type that every one of the above CP is aspiring to be!

Posted by Manu

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Myopic Views!

I sat looking out of my window a couple of days back. I was fiddling around with my camera, and I was trying out different kind of foci on it. I shot a couple of pictures just sitting on my chair here. I uploaded the photos onto my computer today, and as I sit looking at them now, I'm startled by how these two pictures have sharp correlation with my observation on people here at ISB.









I attended an LDP (Leadership Development Program) session for Influencing Skills. At the end of every LDP session so far, I always feel frustrated with the attitude of my batch mates. They think that the entire exercise is a waste of time and that they don't gain anything from those sessions. My question to them.. if they already know everything, then how come they don't seem to be acing the sessions. For example, in the influencing skills, how come they weren't able to influence the other groups and come to a conclusion? How come then, they couldn't find a way out of the problem we were posed with? Their attitude is such that that even the Instructors are frustrated. The instructors don't know how to deal with the permanent "Oh, why are you making me sit here. I'd rather be elsewhere" look/attitude that most students exhibit during these sessions!

So many people come to ISB to learn the soft skills.. the leadership skills, the people handling skills, the presentation skills, the problem tackling skills that they lacked when they were in the industry. However, somewhere along the line in the last 6 months, they have lost track of their objective. Initially, I remember how people were cribbing about the course being too Quant oriented. These days, when we have courses like Management Behaviour of Organizations or Leadership Development Program, people call them "faff" courses which don't have any substance/learning content in them (just because there is no quant in it). Somehow, they forget the bigger picture (the one outside the window). They forget that these skills learnt in these so called "faff" courses will be the ones which will help them move higher. These are the skills that differentiate a Leader from a worker. There are so many "simple" things that I learnt even from this recent session on Influencing Skills as part of the LDP. Simple things like Spatial arrangements can make such a difference to influencing a group of people. Similarly, while a lot of people thought that the group discussion sessions of LDP were utter wastes, I found value in them. i learnt how important small stuff like your posture at the table can play in a discussion. I still remember how when some people leant forward when they were speaking, they automatically put the rest of the people in the group into a defensive mode. They were sub-consciously perceived to be "aggressive" and "pushy". The instructor also pointed out how you cut-off/don't listen to the two people by your side when you lean forward at the table. You automatically zone them out of your field of view! The two people on the side then feel ignored or are forced to respond aggressively to get back into the discussion again.
Such small stuff, I don't think anyone will point out to me in the real world. I'm indeed glad that we had instructors who pointed out such sub-conscious references. I know now that I"ll definitely watch the way I sit at a group discussion especially if I'm looking to convince someone else of some idea.
So, coming back to what I was saying.. there is INDEED a lot of value to all these sessions. If only people would develop some patience to be involved in these sessions and actually set aside their grades and assignments for the few hours we are involved in these exercises. It is the case of the two pictures above. When we focus on just what is in front of us, then all we'll see is the grill on the window. Then, there may not seem to be much in that direction. However, if we just took an instant to step back and look beyond the grill, we probably will notice the beautiful landscape lying yonder in the exact same direction. Yes, definitely, we need to be aware of the grill which lies between the landscape and us. But, let that not be the ONLY thing that we see!

P.S. Oh, BTW, the grill is still there in the second picture. The camera was focused beyond the grill.. that's all! If you look carefully, you should still be able to see the grill lines in the 2nd picture.

Posted by Manu

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TiE - ISB Connect Starts Tomorrow!!

This is one of the biggest events of the year at ISB. We have delegates from different industries and sharing their knowledge with us. Then we have panellists from these industries also speaking to us. The main highlight of the event would be the presentation of the business plans to the Venture Capitalists.

This serves as an ideal platform for entrepreneurs to pitch for their venture. It’s also possible that it gets funded.

All this happening, I just come to know what I had missed in my life till now. This is how the real world, the real market, the real business looks like. How in the world I would have possibly known as to these kinda things do happen? Its really mind boggling.

Really really looking forward to the event!!

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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Where does the time fly?

It felt at the start as if this term was the coolest of all the ones that have already gone by but now when I sit in my room in front of my laptop, I seem to have a 1000 items on my checklist. Its not just with me but with all of my batchmates.. no one is able to figure out where and how the time is lost? Knowledge is definitely gained in the time lost but still its somewhat confusing the way this is happening.. :)

This weekend we have at least 6-7 things to be done. Assignments, Speaker series, Events, Classes, Presentations.. etc.. a whole lot of it. All in all a jam packed weekend... also with mid terms coming up in another 7 days, its even more scary.

Also with the different sections enjoying the company of their section as a whole for the last time, its sad as well. Term 4 will mark the end of the core term and it will be the last few days our sections will be attending classes together. Its been so entertaining... the arbit class participations, the sleeping beauties, the cross talks, the late comings... all seem to flash back in my mind.. :)

Today we have planned the last section event of the core terms and we are going for a picnic. Everyone is thrilled about it are definitely looking forward to it. Also the fact that we would be half way through with the course after term 4 is giving everyone mixed feelings.. on the positive side, its the achievement of finishing an MBA (a rigorous one) and on the negative side, its the scare of the placements which would be approaching soon... will i get the job I dreamt of? Will I get a job after all? Will I Will I... so many questions.. :)

Lets wait and watch, what the future has in store.. you keep a watch here and you will know what the present is like.. ;)

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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Introduction to McKinsey and company

McKinsey and Company visited ISB on 9 September 2006 to conduct an “Introduction to McKinsey” session with the student body. The session was conducted by:
Rajiv C Lochan – Associate Principal
Venkatesh Srinivasan – Engagement Manager
Rohit Kapoor – Junior Associate (ISB Class of 2006)
Gautam P Chhugani – Junior Associate (ISB Class of 2006)
Ruchi Bansal – Junior Associate (ISB Class of 2006) and
Chris Fernandes –Recruiting coordinator

The session began with a presentation giving the general background and information about the firm. This was followed by each of the speakers recounting their own experiences with the firm and the ups and downs in their careers. The student body appreciated the honesty and frankness of each speaker as they recounted their initial days in the firm.

Thereafter, the focus shifted to the recruitment process of the company. Venketesh invited questions from the students regarding the recruitment process and the same were addressed during for the remaining part of the event. The main focus of the remaining part of the session was on the short listing and interviewing process followed by McKinsey.

The speakers gave a detailed insight on the interview and evaluation process and elaborated on the parameters on which they judge the candidates. They emphasized on the fact that grades are important to the extent that they provide a quantifiable measure on the basis of which the candidates can be differentiated. However, it was also very clear from the discussion that grades were not the only consideration and other factors are equally important. These include – prior work experience, leadership skills and extra curricular activities. They also gave a brief overview of the rigorous resume short listing process where they spend almost 7 -8 minutes per resume and that every resume that is accepted needs the concurrence of at least two people.

After the resume short listing stage there are two rounds of interviews where they judge the following skills of the candidates:
· Quantative skills
· Problem solving
· Personality
· Ability to work in teams

The session was immensely useful as it gave a sense of what McKinsey is looking for in the applicants and provided an opportunity to students to reflect on their profiles and assess whether there is a “fit” between their profiles and the expectations of the firm and what needs to be done in order to bridge the gap.

Posted by Sunanda

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Kun Chevrolet Cricket Tourney update

ISB KNOCKS OUT AEGIS

 

ISB defeated Aegis in a day night encounter played on Sunday to finish second in its group at the end of the league stages of the KUN CHEVROLET CORPORATE CRICKET CUP 2006.

Aegis won the toss and put ISB in to bat. ISB had a poor start as RK was dismissed in the first over. There was a brief stand between Nishant Tiwari and Srikant before Srikant was dismissed for 16. By this time Nishant had gotten into rhythm. Naresh joined Nishant but was soon retired hurt after hurting his knee. Prateek joined Nishant in the middle but he too was dismissed soon. Then came the partnership that turned the match for ISB. Naresh came back, this time with a runner, and gave Nishant much needed support in the middle. Nishant blazed his way to 76 (4’s – 6, 6’s - 4) while Naresh at the other played a calm knock of 18 giving Nishant most of the strike. Some hefty blows at the end from Neeraj and Mahesh took ISB to 166/7 in 20 overs.

Aegis began their reply on a strong note putting on 47 for the first wicket before Kartik Agarwal struck for ISB. Soon RK joined the party picking up 2 quick wickets. It was anybody’s game as Aegis required 60 of the last 8 overs with 7 wickets in hand. But Kartik, RK and Venu bowled a tight line giving nothing away and picking up a few wickets in the bargain. Kartik’s spell was exceptional. Mahesh chipped in with a couple of wickets at the death and ISB were home by 8 runs. Rehan and Nishant did some good work on the field with a stumping and a catch respectively. Amrit top scored for Aegis with 56.

ISB finished the group stages with 3 victories and a defeat. Watch this space for updates on the Pre Quarter finals.

Team for the day: Nishant Tiwari, L Ramakrishna (C), N S Srikant, Naresh Mahadevan, Prateek Garg, Mahesh Shenoy, Neeraj Kumar, Venu Gorti, Kartik Agarwal, Rehan Habeeb(WK), Shankar Balakrishnan.

Scores in brief:

ISB – 166/7 (Nishant – 76, Naresh – 18, Srikant – 16, Raj Kumar – 3/30, Rakesh – 2/20, Rasheed – 2/36)

Aegis – 158/8 (Amrit – 56, RK – 3/29, Kartik – 2/19, Mahesh – 2/35, Venu – 1/23)

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

 

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Term 4...

With Term 4 at our doorstep after the term break, every one was pretty cool about studies. By now every one had got the hang of their life at ISB and knew how to tackle it with help of the "strategy" course already completed in Term 2.. ;)

Now with one week into the Term 4, it looks as if people are still in the term break mood. No assignment has been given to us till now for this term, which has never been the case for the previous 3 terms. Every one is enjoying this moment but I somehow have this feeling that its just the lull before the storm.. :( I also hope that I am wrong.. :)

To tell you all more about Term 4, we have 4 courses as usual and they go as follows:

1)       Management of Organizations: A completely qualitative subject with official "paper plane flying" exercise happening in our 2nd class. We have never had any thing of that sort before and it was fun.. :) The name of the subject tells you what its all about.

2)       Investment Analysis: Whatever was left over by Corporate Finance in Term 3 is going to scare us in Term 4.. :) It has started off pretty smoothly with the same concepts being revised again to create a base but have heard from sources that its uphill from here on. :(

3)       Strategic Analysis of Information Technology: This subject deals with the much-accepted or rather assumed fact that implementing IT in every organization helps.. so we will find if this works for all or not.

4)       Government, Society and Business: The name sounds pretty wierd ... right? How the hell this course would help us after an MBA? That was the exact question I had in mind but with a couple of lectures down my belt, I understand how the regulatory policies of countries and governments changes the rules of the game in a business. And its going to fine tune as the term proceeds. :)

Thats what we have for this term and lets see how and where it goes for when we can call ourselves 50% MBAs.. :)

 

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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ISB accounts for Deloitte H & S in the Kun Chevrolet Cup

ISB Cricket team followed the basketball team had left off (they beat Microsoft a couple of days back) by bringing further laurels to ISB. They won their second match in a row in the KUN CHEVROLET CUP 2006.

In an early start Deloitte won the toss and elected to bat. The first few overs were quiet with not much action. In the 5^th over Abhijit drew first blood by having the Deloitte opener caught at point. Shankar then got into the action from the other end picking two quick wickets. Deloitte opener Manish batted well to score 36 before being dismissed by Shankar. After 10 overs Deloitte were 68/4 and looked set to score in excess of 140. That is when Neeraj Kumar came into the attack. He literally ran through the lower middle order of Deloitte picking up a wicket in each of his four overs to end up with 4/27 in a classic exhibition of leg spin bowling. He was unlucky not to get a fifth as the ball hit the stumps and bails did not fall off. The Deloitte innings folded up for 125 in the 19^th over.

ISB had a new opening pair in Nishant Tiwari and Prateek Garg. They started off at breakneck speed taking 22 off the first two overs and then there was a quiet over. If Deloitte thought that the initial burst was tough to handle and things would get easy they were wrong. What followed was impossible to handle. Both Prateek and Nishant tonked the bowling to all parts of the ground as ISB score moved from 50/0 in the 9^th over to 100/0 in the 13^th over. There was a competition between the two as to who would be the first to reach 50. Prateek won the battle there but was soon dismissed for 51(28 balls, 6’s -2, 4’s - 7). Nishant fell on just short being dismissed for 49(33 balls, 6’s - 1, 4’s - 9). There was a minor hiccup as 3 wickets fell in a hurry. But in the end ISB won comfortably reaching the target in the 15^th over with 5 wickets to spare.

The man of the match was shared by Prateek and Neeraj.

ISB next takes on The Hindu on Sunday.

Team for the day: Abhijit Roy(C), L Ramakrishna, Kartik Agarwal, Naresh Mahadevan, N S Srikant(wk), Prateek Garg, Nishant Tiwari, Prateep Dasgupta, Neeraj Kumar, Shankar Balakrishnan, Nitin Gupta, Venu Gorti, Nagaraju B.

Scores in brief:

Deloitte – 125/10 in 19 overs (Manish – 36, Sridhar -15, Neeraj – 4/27, Shankar – 2/11, Nitin Gupta – 2/18)

ISB – 126/5 in 14.2 overs (Prateek – 51, Nishant – 49, Nishit – 3/15)

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