MBA - The Dark Side

Now since the MBA season is over, it is time to look back what happened in all these stressful months that have brought joy to some and disappointment to others. The MBA season as i define starts mid November when people sit for CAT and ends in mid-January immediately after FMS. This is keeping in mind that majority of people sit for these exams. Obviously, there are some other exams as well that lie outside the scope of my definition of "MBA season". And i won't be talking about the Do's and Don't's but i would like to bring to light few of the issues that everyone of us (being aspirants) are aware but as we say "Time is the best healer", we forget about them and move forward in life. I must say there are two reasons why i am writing this. First, because i too have failed in achieving what i had expected (let's be frank) and secondly, i have lost all the interest in getting myself an MBA degree. After the infamous fiasco pertaing to the unexpected/surprising scores of the candidates, one thing that surfaced was that i was sure that the colleges are less concerned about making a man out of a boy or woman out of a girl. I won't deny the fact that money is needed to run any institution or business but transparency and the inclination to be true to the intellectual society is something that was not very much present. When we talk of MBA, the word "Professionalism" needs to be attached to each and every activity that is associated thereof. The first time i sat for the MBA exams, i used to think why the institutes introduce the B-school forms before the result and infact even the last date to purchase. I was unaware of the power of the word "Business" at that time. I wanted an MBA degree but without knowing the deep meaning of the business itself. Students, every year, shell out thousands of rupees to purchase the forms and then when they get to know that an undesired event has taken place they see their money going down the drains and become helpless and disheartened. Why not the results come out and people get to know where they stand so that they shell out the hard-earned money of their parents (for those who are still not into job) according their potency and satiate themselves. But then a questions arises: How will the institutes satiate themselves? And this is not all. Another concept has emerged these days. And we call it - "The profile call". No one has ever tried to define it in absolute terms because of the simple reason no one understands it. Now tell me, if i am rejected on the basis of some parameter, then how would i come to know that whether i am fit to apply even when i sit for that particular exam next year. This happened to one of my friends last year. He was rejected by some XYZ college and when he inquired the reason he got the reply that he did not score enough in his class XII exams. Now this person can never apply to the college because he cannot defy time to go back and change his class XII marks. Whatever may be the case, i have come to believe that all this is beyond my comprehension and I trust the Almighty for this.

I feel this is not something that the student community should come forward so as to bring transparency in the system because i don't want to burden it with one more responsibility. The competition has increased by leaps and bounds and amidst this if i ask the youth to come and fight for the betterment of the system, i would be asking too much. If youth has to do everything, then where is the moral responsibility of people who claim themselves to be the Guardians of the society. I may sound too patriotic, philosophical and unrealistic but when one sees people who being utmost capable don't make it as per their dreams just because of these issues, one feels dejected.

CAT- It's new; It's different

So the time has finally come. It took 33 years to break that old convention. Yes, you are right - the CAT has become online. The IIMs have eventually selected Prometric ETS as their partner in delivering their computer assisted CAT. The things may look to be quite streamlined for the IIM people but i fear there are few things that would pose problems for the aspiring candidates. I won't be talking about the flaws in the execution of the process because i don't know anything about it. For that, we will have to wait for the prospectus and the guidelines issued by the IIMs.
The first thing that would catch an aspiring candidate's eye would be the institutes, i mean the coaching institutes. Since every coaching institute used to conduct mock tests before the actual CAT, this time the scenario would be a little different. Every institute would follow its own process and would try to move anywhere around GMAT because that is the only online exam and which caters to the admissions into MBA institutes around the world. May be a possibility is there that IIMs specify the structure of the exam and for that we will have to wait. And if not, institutes would do their best to experiment with the online CAT. So experimentation will be at its best on the assumption that IIMs won't disclose much. The new CAT may give a lot of surprises because GMAT aspirants have GMAT prep tests easily available on the internet that can be downloaded for free which give the exact feeling of how the test would be like. I mean the interface. And if CAT doesn't supply that, the surprise factor may be a little cumbersome for the first timers. So availability of online mock CATs by the authority will make a lot of difference.

Second aspect is attempting the test from monitor screen. I have seen people, the ones who have appeared for GMAT, who face problems attempting the questions from the monitor screen. Because our education system is such that for the past twenty or so years we have been reading from books and notebooks that it is most likely that people may face problems during the test keeping in view that last CAT attracted around 3.5 to 4 lac people. Underlining important lines from the RCs, solving the question at the question paper itself, eliminating options by putting a cross infront of the options are some of the factors that people have become well acclimatized and therefore can be problematic. So again practising questions and that too from the screen is something that the aspirants will have to keep in mind in the coming months. And consequently it is highly likely that a candidate may not be able to justify his potential during the test. And moreover, it is still undecided that whether the candidate has to attempt all the questions or he may revert to the ones he has left.

The next aspect is the type of questions. Seeing the GMAT pattern and the no of people who have appeared in the last CAT, it is quite predictable that the questions would be tricky wherein the logical type of questions would dominate. Again the basics would have to be in place in such a scenario otherwise the chances of failure would rise. Another thing that becomes important with the concept of online CAT would be the domination of profile based admissions into the colleges. If GMAT pattern is adopted, preparation of essays would become an inherent part of the admission process. Seeing this year's scenario when colleges like symbiosis etc have started to bend towards candidate's profile, it is predictable to some extent that people would be called for interviews only on the basis of the profiles and very rarely the marks scored in the exam. Obviously, when lacs and lacs of people appear, these things do stand out and colleges have taken a serious note of this. One consequence of this would be that the no. of applicants for exams like SNAP, JMET, FMS, IIFT, NMAT, XAT etc would rise.

Another factor is the application fee. I reckon that people will have to shell a bit more than what they had done last time for the simple reason that the infrastructure required to conduct the exam for so many people in the mentioned ten day window period would demand the costs to go a little higher.

Amidst all these obstacles pertaining to CAT, i can see some added advantages. If CAT adopts the GMAT pattern, then people will not have to prepare separately for GMAT and as a result the number of GMAT applicants from India is bound to rise. Moreover, the B-schools taking CAT scores may also rise. So just watch out and strategize to tame the CAT in a different way. All the Best!!

India, China and Outsourcing

First of all, let us first define what we mean by outsourcing. Outsourcing is getting your work done by someone else who can do it in a cheaper and better way. Now when it comes to outsourcing, the first geographical location that hits our minds is India. India, which has traditionally attracted most of the services outsourcing projects, is currently churning out engineers at the rate of approximately 4 lacs per year which comprises the majority of its skilled workforce. If we are talking about Asia another destination that has caught the attention of everyone is China. China is considered to be the hub of manufacturing. China’s economy is the second largest in the world after United States when measured on the Purchase Power Parity. With the growing influence of China on the world stage, it is considered to be the next IT destination but there are some of the factors that stand against the country and give India an edge.

The key factors that are worth mentioning when we talk of offshoring are:
1. Abundance of technically skillful labor force.
2. Low cost workforce.
3. Quality of service.
4. Regulatory environment.
5. Robustness of infrastructure.
6. Knowledge of English language.
7. Time zone attractiveness.

Now India has tremendous advantage in terms of these factors. Not only that, since India has been doing well on the offshoring front, it has got the knowledge of how the projects are handled and it can use this knowledge as well as experience in taking an active part in the designing stages of the new projects. Another important aspect is the emergence of KPOs where India with its intellectual capital can show its capability in areas like research, designing etc. This is something that China does not own. China is relatively new to this kind of situation. Moreover, China lacks on account of English skills, Mandarin being the local language, and western business practices. But there are some factors that favor the rise of China and they are:
1. Liberalization of Government Regulations.
2. Growing middle class.
3. Large-scale investments in technical education.
4. Vibrant economy.
5. Availability of cheap labor force.

Chinese, over the years, have shown themselves to be hard working, competitive, and dedicated, as a result of which they are able to overcome any odds by dint of labor. China’s Government on the other hand has chalked out a massive program on primary education with focus on training in English. So if we see the overall picture we can be very sure that China can definitely prove to be a threat to India in the near future and India must raise the bar in terms of providing quality services to maintain the current trend in offshoring.

The Class - Erich Segal: A Review

Have you ever read a book that has the undefined power to take you through a journey even when you know that you are not a part of the theme but still feel the happiness, agony, frustration that the characters go through? That is what makes this work special, yet awesome and that is what you call the class in real sense.

Written about The Harvard class of 1958 (though fictional), Erich’s story circumscribes around the lives of five main characters who enter Harvard as children and exit as men who defy all the obstacles to become the heroes of the class of 1958. One peculiar virtue of Erich’s writings has been his mesmerizing way of defining his characters be it Love Story or be it Doctors (I haven’t read others) and how these characters, being special in their own, capture the theme of the story as a unit. The story talks about Danny Rossi, who breaks away from his father, to transform himself from a musical prodigy to an icon that the whole world bows when he takes the stage. There is Ted Lambros, who spends his Harvard years as a commuter, ascents to the top and finally achieves what he always craved for: tenure at Harvard. Then there is Jason Gilbert who is born as a hero, lives his life as a hero and also dies as a true hero. George Keller, the Hungarian, enters Harvard barely knowing the intricacies of English language but masters everything to reach a place where everyone aspires to be but only a few dare. And lastly, Andrew Eliot, who could not satiate himself with his entity and purpose of life, eventually finds solace at the end.

A good story cannot be but a striking balance between the ups and down of the life. And this is where Erich Segal has proved himself time and again. This reveals itself from the fact when Andrew writes in his diary “I guess he just didn’t know how to be happy. That's the one thing they can't teach you at Harvard”. Although all these men find whatever they ever desire, one thing they ultimately realize that there is one more thing that is above success, above all and that is happiness and it is priceless. The people get so much blinded by success that they forget that there even exists a word in the dictionary called success and that is what the author has tried to convey to his readers, and to this world. Another interesting feature that I could make out is Erich Segal’s ability to involve real events like war, elections etc and playing fictionally with the real characters that have stood out in the history, which makes this novel all the more real and less fictional and that is what enthralls the readers.

In my opinion I would juxtapose this book with all the other must reads because it truly justifies what we say in literal sense “vicarious thrill” of reading any book.

Must Read Books

• Ambedkar: Towards An Enlightened India by Gail Omvedt
• India In Turmoil by Ved Marwah 
• India Since Independence by Bipan Chandra 
• India'S Struggle For Independence by Bipan Chandra 
• Contemporary India: Economy, Society, Politics by Neera Chandhoke, Praveen Priyadarshi 
• India's Foreign Policy Since Independence by V P Dutt 
• Foreign Policy Of India by V N Khanna  
• Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India`S Foreign Policy by Rajiv Sikri
• The Sikhs by Khushwant Singh 
• The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
• Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
• The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
• To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
• The Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh
• It's not about the bike - Lance Armstrong
• I Dare - Kiran Bedi
• Doctors - Erich Segal
• The Class - Erich Segal
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• The curious incident of the dog in the night time - Mark Haddon
• Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
• Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
• Digital Fortress - Dan Brown