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GliMPseStudent Magazine, General Management Programme 2012 - 2013

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From The Committees DeskWhatever the mind of man can conceive competitive fever across XLRI and GMPians and believe, it can achieve W. Clement were up to the calling. To top it all, the Stone. GliMPse team organized their own business article-writing competition across XLRI. The We, at XLRI GMP, believe in thinking the untwo best articles that emerged after an intenthinkable and dreaming the impossible. The sive evaluation by esteemed XLRI faculty are never-say-die spirit of a true XLer continues part of this edition. to shine forth, be it through the numerous competitions that we participate in and win, The first issue of GliMPse 2012-13 is not just or be it through doing our bit for the com- the efforts of GliMPse team, but also of all mon social good. And all of this, while swim- the participants who have contributed enthuming against the current, transitioning from siastically to it. GliMPse team takes this opthe corporate to the student world, balancing portunity to thank Prof. Arundhati Sarkar the demands of intensive lectures, assign- Bose and Prof. S. K. De for taking time out of ments and case studies. Down GMP Street, their busy schedules and being the honorary the sun rises before the night begins! judges of the BizWiz 1.0 contest. Special mention must be made of the GMP CEO At the onset of June 2012, 119 professionals Committee and Arijit Basak for their timely from across the globe, working in fields as help at various stages in the evolution of this diverse as oil and gas, medicine, merchant edition. navy and IT services, came together to embark on a challenging journey.The initial So grab a cup of simmering hot coffee, put on settling-in period, marked by fulfilling experi- your reading glasses and dive into this potences like the village and adventure trips and pourri of sumptuous feast for your mind! We memorable events like Prarambh and ice- look forward to hearing back from you. breaker cricket matches, was a great time to Do let us know your thoughts cast away our baggage of past thinking and g1213glimpse@astra.xlri.ac.in. open up to a new world of learning and growing in unconventional ways. And while over the course of almost two ar- ~ Team GliMPse 2012-13 duous terms, the 4Ps and 5Cs might have taken over our five senses, the creative sixth sense of GMPians is very much alive and kicking. The child in us still manages to emerge and delight, leaving an indelible mark on the mind. It takes on the form of artistic paintings, creative poetry and simple anecdotes that transpose one to an altogether different world. We present before you in this edition, some of these creative endeavors of fellow GMPians. The month of October was marked by at

Inside GliMPse...

FDI in Retail Social Media Marketing Tte--tte with the leader Win-Win all the way Meet the Guru Time jNANAN Sharanam Gachammi Alumni Speak The Joy of Giving I LOCKED it!!! GMP Chaupal The brush and the colors Are you game?

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GliMPse organized its first ever business article writing competition, "Biz Wiz 1.0". The contest attracted many entries from BM,HRM and GMP batches of XLRI. Below are best two entries which won the prizes. Congratulations to the participants of winning articles.

Biz Wiz 1.0

FDI in RetailWinner 1st Prize Authors: Apoorv Verma (h12067) Ritika Singh (h12044) Introduction-Meaning of Foreign Direct Investment Foreign direct investment as defined by Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a category of cross-border investment "High expectations are the made with a strategic longterm intent. The OECD dekey to everything." fines a transfer of 10% or - Sam Walton, Founder of more of the voting power (shares in company) as the Wal-Mart definition of foreign direct investment. There is a significant degree of influence by the direct investor in the "Innovation distinguishes management of the direct between a leader and a investment enterprise. The follower." objectives of direct investment are different from - Steve Jobs, Founder of those of portfolio investApple ment whereby investors do not generally expect to influence the management of the enterprise. This is why investment made by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) is called Hot Money.

i.e. The Adidas, Reebok, Pantaloons store we visit and Multi brand retail which houses many brands under the same roof like for example the Big Bazaar, The Shoppers Stop or the next door kirana store. Then other than the retail there is a Wholesale segment which does not directly sell to ordinary customers like me and you. An example of this type of store is the Bharti Wall Mart which acts as retailer to other stores and not directly to retail consumers Evolution of foreign investment in the Retail Sector of India India is a signatory to World Trade Organizations General Agreement on Trade in Services. This agreement also includes wholesale and retailing services. So Despite the initial reservations and apprehensions the government in a series of moves opened up the retail sector slowly to Foreign Direct Investment. In 1997, FDI in cash and carry (wholesale) with 100% ownership was allowed under the Government approval route. It was brought under the automatic route in 2006. 51% investment in a single brand retail outlet was also permitted in 2006. The government further extended the limit in single brand retail to 100% through the government approval route on 10th Jan, 2012. And now the latest decision on 14th Sept, 2012 of allowing 51% FDI in multi brand retail under government approval route after backtracking on a similar decision taken nearly an year ago.

Defining the Retail Sector In 2004, The High Court of Delhi defined the term retail as a sale for final consumption in contrast to a sale for further sale or processing (i.e. wholesale).i.e. sale to the ultimate consumer. Now let us have a glimpse of the Indian retail sector. Indian retail sector is approximately $ 450 billion in size with 96% in the unorganized sector and 4% in organized sector. The organized sector is under two formats namely Single brand retail 3

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The Attached Conditions with the present decision Single Brand Retail For proposals involving FDI beyond 51 percent, previously mandated requirement of sourcing 30 percent value of goods purchased from Indian small and medium enterprises, to be preferred and only to be done if its feasible. Only one-resident entity, whether owner of brand or otherwise, shall be permitted to invest in India. Single Brand retail to be allowed for specific brand, through a legally tenable agreement with the brand owner. The investment can be made only through the government approved route not through automatic route.

Multi-Brand Retail The FDI will not be allowed in the E-Commerce sector i.e. The B2C (Business-to-Consumer) sector on internet would be unaffected with the FDI. But the foreign investment will be allowed in various non-store format activities such as mail order (3) FDI in retailing can easily assure the quality of product, better shopping experience and customer services. and e-commerce as long as it is B2B (Business-to-Business). The State Governments and UTs would be free to take their (3) They promote the linkage of local suppliers, farmers and own decisions regarding FDI in Multi brand retail and hence the manufacturers, no doubt only those who can meet the quality applicant will need to produce permissions from specific states, and safety standards, to global market and this will ensure a while applying to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. reliable and profitable market to these local players. Minimum investment of USD 100 million to be infused by the (5) As multinational players are spreading their operation, re foreign investor. Also, 50 percent of the total foreign investment to be deployed in back-end infrastructure within 3 years of investment The foreign retailers will have to buy 30% of what they buy from small vendors. If the investment of a vendor in plant and machinery exceeds $1 million, it will no longer be considered a small-scale vendor for the purpose of computing the 30% local sourcing requirement. Outlets may be set-up in cities with population of more than 1 million (including area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban limits). State government can decide to allow outlets in cities not meeting the specified criteria Government to have first right of procurement of agricultural products Now that we have the basic understanding on the issue we can have a look at the common pros and cons of the issue Advantages (1) The global retailers have advanced management know how in merchandising and inventory management and have adopted new technologies which can significantly improve productivity and efficiency in retailing. (2) Entry of large low-cost retailers and adoption of integrated supply chain management by them is likely to lower down the prices. This will also reduce wastage, estimated at 40 percent in the case of fruits and vegetables. gional players are also developing their supply chain differentiating their strategies and improving their operations to counter the size of international players. This all will encourage the investment and employment in supply chain management. (6) Joint ventures would ease capital constraints of existing organized retailers. (7) FDI would lead to development of different retail formats and modernization of the sector. (8) FDI would lead to expansion of opposite sell formats as good as modernization of a sector. (9) The prospects of Indian Products developing and reaching to other parts of world. Critics of the FDI claim the below stated disadvantages of FDI (1) It will lead to closure of tens of thousands of mom-and-pop shops across the country and endanger livelihood of 40 million people. (2) It may bring down prices initially, but fuel inflation once multinational companies get a stronghold in the retail market (3) Farmers may be given remunerative prices initially, but eventually they will be at the mercy of big retailers (4) Small and medium enterprises will become victims of predatory pricing policies of multinational retailers (5)It will disintegrate established supply chains by encouraging monopolies of global retailers 4

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Is the FDI as big a threat as critics claim-Challenges that critics of FDI usually overlook (1) Will Foreign Retailers have such a smooth sailing in Indian Markets? I read the book named We are like that only-Understanding the logic of Consumer India by Rama Bijapurkar wherein she contends that Indian consumers are schizophrenic in nature. This implies that they have diverse tastes and are not easy to satisfy. Rama contends in her book that very few foreign brands were able to copy their foreign business models and attain success in India. So assuming that The Wallmarts, the Tescos, the Carrefours will have a smooth sailing in India is probably a too early a conclusion. (2) Had Retailing been so easy in India why are Indian Retailers Bleeding. If we look at the balance sheets of Indian Big brand retailers they arent flourishing as such. Although it cannot be said with certainty that future would be bleak but still they have had a tough journey so far and many are yet to breakeven. A look at some of the data for three such retailers 1. Liliput Kidswear-Stuck in the trouble brewing between promoters and PE. 2. Subhiksha Trading- Nationwide network of 1600 stores had collapsed when the company ran out of cash to service its debt of Rs. 750 Crores. 3. Vishal Retail- Ran up a debt of Rs. 730 crores in late 2009 and reported a net loss of Rs. 431 crores in 2009-10. So this further highlights the fact that Indian consumers are still hard to woo. (3)The Cost of Realty Sector in India The realty market in India has never been cheap. This is especially true for cosmopolitan cities of India. So getting the needed realty space for running the large stores will never be an easy feat for these multinationals no matter how deep pockets they have. This is also an advantage for the mom and pop stores as they will still remain accessible to the consumers. Hence this will remain one of the major reason why it will be difficult to dislodge the unorganized sector in India. (4) The prediction of growth of Indian Retail market by consultancy Firms With rising disposable incomes, expansion of stores and supporting economic factors, India's retail sector is expected to grow to about $ 900 billion by 2014, according to a report by global consultancy and research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. And the various consultancy firms say that although in this pie the rate of growth of organized sector will be faster than unorganized sector, but still it will be wrong to say that they will shrink. In fact it too will grow.

(5) Role of Competition Commission of India It has been said in many quarters that the large players will form monopoly and hence they are harmful. These fears are baseless as first of all monopolies are not so easy to form. Then even with monopolies the firms might not be able to dictate their prices. And lastly there are monitoring bodies like CCI to prevent such scenarios from appearing. Conclusion Hence with above made arguments I would like to say that Introduction of FDI will prove as a blessing for Indian Economy. Our economy desperately needs this booster. So although we would have to make some sacrifice, some of the jobs will be lost, there would be some restructuring in the market. But the long term gains would be lot more than the losses. So it would be in our interest to bear this short term pain in order to reap high benefits in the future. References 1. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-10-08/ news/34323106_1_global-retailers-fdi-total-retail-business 2. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/fullcoverage/fdi-inretail 3. FDI in Indian Retail Sector: Analysis of Competition in AgriFood Sector- Internship Project Report by Rupali Gupta and Payal Malik 4.www.oecd.org.investmentinvestmentpolicy/209014.pdf 5.http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tough-riders-for-fdi-inmultibrand-retail/1003507/2 6. http://www.legalindia.in/foreign-direct-investment-in-indian -retail-sector-%E2%80%93-an-analysis 7. http://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/Documents/India-Retail-FDIchanges.pdf 8.http://zenithresearch.org.in/images/stories/pdf/2012/JUNE/ ZIJMR/9_ZIJMR_VOL2_ISSUE6_JUNE2012.pdf Disclaimer: The content in this article is the sole responsibility of the authors and GliMPse Committee has no liability of any copyright violations whatsoever.

Trivia The retail sector in the nation of 1.2 billion people is estimated to have annual sales of USD 450 billion, with nearly 90% of the market controlled by tiny family-run shops.Source: Money Control.

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GliMPse organized its first ever business article writing competition, "Biz Wiz 1.0". The contest attracted many entries from BM,HRM and GMP batches of XLRI. Congratulations to the participants of winning articles.

Biz Wiz 1.0

Social Media MarketingWinner 2nd Prize Author: Navjot Singh Gill (h11091)

Facebook, the worlds most popular social networking site hit a Billion users on September the 14th. The latest internet viral video Gangnam Style has over 400 million views on YouTube and growing. Approximately 200 million tweets are sent out every day which is the equivalent of a 10 million page book that is written every single day by the users of the website.Such numbers reflect the kind of online presence of potential consumers The internet has permeated the entire world. There are over 2.3 on such social media sites. And this population is just waiting to billion people on the internet which is one-third of the global be tapped. population. This number has grown over 500 % in the past 10 years and looks to grow further. Here is where Social Media Marketing steps in by promoting products and services through Marketing is no longer about the stuff social media websites. A typical way of doing so is through ads that you make, but about the stories you that redirect the user to their own websites but it is not the only tell. Seth Godin way companies are reaching out to customers online. Companies are now creating their own pages/profiles on social networking sites and allowing customers to interact directly with them often through applications and games that promote the A brand is no longer what we tell the offerings of the company. Such tactics keep the consumer enconsumer it is it is what consumers tell gaged while also building awareness about the companys offering. Such interactions are also highly personal in nature allowing each other it is. Scott Cook the customer to share his/her opinions, review the product/ service offered, et cetera hence the customer engagement is much more compared to traditional marketing campaigns. The Privacy is dead, and social media holds company also benefits from word of mouth publicity as the customers interactions with the company are usually shared the smoking gun. -Pete Cashmore among his/her network of friends.

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Nowadays, social media is also providing companies, information about the users such as their likes/dislikes and most visited pages. Companies use this information to reach out to their target audience whom they can then advertise to. Such an arrangement is beneficial to both the social media sites who earn revenue through these advertisers and also to the companies who can target a limited population who are more likely to respond positively to the advertising campaigns. The internet having overtaken the television as the largest advertising market has significantly changed the game for companies who are looking to market their offerings. Companies are thinking of radically different ways to come up with distinctive and unique marketing campaigns that appeal to the consumer and can be integrated throughout the web to reach the target audience. The Old Spice campaign which involved humorous clips showing how the deodorant was manly was very successful and led to a completely new brand identity for the product. This emergence of the internet as a new advertising medium has led to companies moving away from traditional mediums such as print and television. With the mass penetration of the internet and cell-phones, this strategy allows the companies to reach the consumers anytime and anywhere. The fact that people use their cellphones to access the internet increases the reach of social media marketing even further and social media sites are trying to provide advertisements on cell-phones as well so as to not lose out on this huge opportunity. Social media marketing isnt restricted to only products or services but has many other uses. Companies use professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn to market themselves to potential employees by offering them the chance to interact with them and to stay updated with the companys latest news. Barack Obama successfully leveraged social media sites to market himself and his 2008 campaign and he is

relying on a similar strategy for the upcoming presidential elections as well. The Kony 2012 campaign is another example of a campaign that went viral on YouTube and managed to garner support from across the world. The movie Paranormal Activity was marketed exclusively through social media sites and the result was the campaign going viral which helped the low budget horror flick net millions at the box-office and become the highest grossing thriller movies of the past decade. Social media marketing provides a lot of opportunity for products and services to be marketed to a select target audience. However, it isnt as simple as it seems and has many challenges associated with it. A campaign needs to be creative and needs to appeal to the consumers to attract and retain their attention. The presence of several campaigns running together complicates matter further and hence that needs to be managed as well. The brand identity also needs to be maintained which is difficult to do online. Word of mouth can also hurt the brand as customers can just as easily share negative opinions/reviews as they can good ones. Keeping all these challenges in focus, companies can use social media to effectively market their offerings. References 1. http://blog.twitter.com/2011/06/200-million-tweets-perday.html 2. http://www.slashfilm.com/paranormal-activity-passes-100 -million-becomes-highest-grossing-r-rated-thriller-of-thepast-decade/ Disclaimer: The content in this article is the sole responsibility of the authors and GliMPse Committee has no liability of any copyright violations whatsoever.

The minute news hits the wires, it becomes a conversation. Its just a question of how high [the] volume [of] that conversation will become. Doug Frisbie

New marketing is about the relationships, not the medium. Ben Grossman

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Tte--tte with the leader: Interview with Mr. Debiprasad Das Do what you Love and Love what you do!XLRI Leadership Series a GMP initiative-continues to host the best leaders of the industry. As part of the series students had an opportunity to get leadership insights from Mr. Debiprasad Das this month. Mr. Das, a very good friend of Professor Jomon, visited XLRI and enlightened us about Leadership from life. The session was a unique learning experience. GliMPse team had an opportunity to interact with him during his very busy schedule. How do you think GMPians, Having a combination of industry experience and value addition through XLRI GMP course, can create a difference in the industry? I am a strong believer of the GMP program. I think it is a good mix of experience and knowledge. After five years of work experience, when you come back to academics, you are now able to correlate the academic content to your professional In the light of today's worldwide economic uncertainty and recent economic reforms, how do you see the prospect of IT services market and subsequently its effect on jobs? We really believe in employability of people. A very interesting thing that our chairman says is - I would love to see competition running after my employees to attract them rather than to find my employees unable to find a job in the market. What does it mean? It means you have to develop competencies and invest in human capital. So, if you are continuously developing and creating value proposition with the help of your employees, I think you will sustain any economic recession. You need to align the organizational processes and policies to make sure that competency building is getting top priority. When the storm comes you would be able to sustain only if you are internally strong. Your capability to deliver, your capability to thought leadership, your ability to innovate all of these would make a difference over the competition. China and other countries are developing their competencies in IT-ITeS sector and putting a strong challenge for India. How do you think we maintain our leadership position in these industries? Leadership stays until people start copying you. When everybody has copied you, there is no leadership left. Today China, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and many other countries are catching up. These are the countries that are developing their IT manpower. So, we cannot be cozy and idle. We have to do more work. When China, Indonesia and other countries are going towards IT infrastructure and application, we need to take the leadership in business solution consultancy, consulting and architecture development. Precisely, we need to go up higher in the value chain. We cannot be at the bottom of the value chain now because there are too many competitors. With the language proficiency and the 3 decades of experience, now we have to assume leadership in the upper sphere of the value chain. 8

experience. That gives you a unique advantage. Now, how you can create a difference is what you have to figure out. Doing XLRI MBA does not per se mean that you can create a difference. Combining the knowledge that you have gathered in XLRI and your past experience, create a value proposition for yourself. As an HR person I can say that there are many roles in which you can create a difference; mostly in consulting, client interfacing, business solution or business development roles.

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How is your usual day? How is the stress and work pressure? In senior position, taking more stress or putting more hours is not always the effective way. You need to have a strong second line. In my case today, I am in a position right now that people might envy. Because, I have a good second line that is empowered and capable of doing things. That is why I do not mind coming to XLRI for 2 days. For any leader, building a second line is a must if you really want to focus on different things. I did that. Besides, in Atos we are flexible with remote working. So, it does not matter where we actually are. For example, I barely seek leave; I may be remotely connected from anywhere. These are the things that make life much better. As a distinguished and accomplished leader, what advice would you give to the future leaders of the industry to balance their personal and professional life? There are many mundane answers available to answer this question: do exercise, play, go to a holiday and work hard on other day. I will not say that. If you are really passionate about doing something, you really do not feel the stress. You cannot feel the stress because you are enjoying your work. So, my suggestion to you would be: do what you love and love what you do. Also, to be professionally competent, focus on value creation. Day in and day out, moment after moment, see what value you are creating for others. What do you think are the challenges for future leaders and how do you think GMPians can prepare for that? In my view future is going to be very challenging and dynamic. Today, you have to take quick decisions and the impact of the decisions is immediate. There is no fixed strategy. It is continuously emerging and evolving. Future is going to be even more dynamic. And middle management would have to take lot of these challenges. GMP is giving you a simulated environment to prepare yourself for the future challenges. Learn from your curriculum and case studies, as well as from leadership series and your classmates experience. I believe with all these mix of learning experiences, you would be prepared partly to take up the challenging responsibilities.

~ Interviewed by the GliMPse team.

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Win-Win All the WayGMPians were on a winning spree in various B-schools competitions. It is a real challenge to balance extra-curricular activities with extremely busy term-2 at GMP. Yet, some of our colleagues proved that it is not impossible. They have gone all out to win and bring laurels to XLRI. In the process they spent sleepless nights to beat hundreds of teams from premier BSchools over multiple rounds. These successes are a measure of their work experience, knowledge, teamwork and above all the unflinching desire to excel. Champs at Chanakya ! XLRI emerged as winner in XIMB national case study competition Manish Verma, Neha Prasad and Titash Maitra students of General Management Program (GMP) at XLRI, Jamshedpur emerged as winners in national level case study based competition called Maven. The event was organized by the Consulting and Strategy Consortium of XIMB in association with Cognizant Business Consulting as part of annual festival of school, Xpressions'12. The contest attracted more than two fifty teams from top-notch B-Schools and was fought over three rounds of stiff competition. The first round was an online business quiz while the next two rounds were a case study testing the knowledge on top while IIM Bangalore was the runners up.

Chanakya, the prestigious IIM Indore's consulting event of IIM Indore was won by XLRI team, Three Cheers. Chanakya which is held as part of the IIM Indores annual business festival Ahvan- is famous in B-Schools for having the highest prize money across any management event in India worth Rs.1.5 lakhs. The team consisting of Vineet Taneja, Sridhar Devarajulu and Sudipto Shome, students of General Management Program (GMP) at XLRI beat hundreds of teams from premier Bschools over three rounds of intense competition to emerge as modern Chanakyas. The contest involved a live case study sponsored by Cognizant Business Consulting and was judged by an eminent panel comprising of Aashish Chandorkar, director at Cognizant Technology Solution, Prof. Sundar and Prof. Ganesh of IIM Indore. XLRI team fought it hard to come right 10 and aptitude of participants in Finance, Marketing, Operations, HR and Systems to provide a strategic solution.

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XLRI GMP students cracked the "Dainik Bhaskar Groups Crack the Case contest XLRI team consisting of Abhilasha Srivastava and Monika Bagchi from General Management Program (GMP) cracked the Dainik Bhaskar Group case study to become one of the five finalists selected from all over India. The contest titled Crack the Case was open to participants from both industry as well as BSchools. All the participants had to suggest which new territory Dainik Bhaskar Group should address next, based on the case study by IIM Bangalore titled Aspiring Growth focusing on the Maharashtra success of the Dainik Bhaskar group. There were 340 plus registrations for the contest across organizations such as Maxus, Rediffusion, Deloitte, Network 18 Media, O&M, IMRB, Titan, and HDFC, and from top B-schools like XLRI, IIM Bangalore and IIM Kolkata. The finalists included one team each from leading media agency Maxus and renowned research firm IMRB International, one team from XLRI and two teams from IIM Bangalore.

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Meet the Guru: Interview with Prof. Sumit Sarkar

Things that you want to change about XLRI Sometimes I feel too much of effort and time is spent on nonacademic activities which, I believe, can be better prioritized. You also taught at other top management institutes, do you find any cultural differences in XLRI? In XLRI, I feel that there is much more freedom and empowerment. For example, in one of the earlier institutes, once my door knob broke down and, to get it fixed, I actually had to write an application marking a copy to multiple people in dean/director level to get it fixed. Here, I just need to give a call to Lazerus and it gets done. This freedom help us in all our services to XLRI, be it teaching, consultancy or research.

Professor Sumit Sarkar

Amidst the picturesque landscape of Jamshedpur, and in a steel Dr. Sumit Sarkar has completed his Ph.D. from the Centre for city - does XLRI have a location advantage for faculties? Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, New Delhi. Before joining Well XLRI campus is wonderful and the main advantages of me XLRI, he taught at IIT Kanpur and IIM Kozhikode. He has also being here is that Kolkata is very close and I can reach there in 4 taught in an external program of the London School of Econom- hours. Though I feel that there is a lack of avenues to unwind in Jamshedpur. Personally I would have appreciated better places ics. With his innovative real life examples and passion, students at for shopping or entertainment. For example, In Kozhikode, there XLRI are always enthralled not only on the lectures but also on used to be an international movie club which I used to visit frethe subject as well. In one cool evening the other side of the pro- quently. In Kanpur, for instance, the faculty strength was over 400 and such a high count provided better avenues to socialize. fessor was unveiled. Which profession would you have selected if not a teacher at XLRI... Cricket for sure. I would have become a fast bowler. I used to watch and play cricket and aspired to be faster than Kapil Dev, who was the icon during those days. Best things about XLRI Its a very cool place. You have certain degree of freedom and flexibility that is offered here that I find appealing. Every faculty is expected and gets a chance to indulge in teaching, research, consulting and training works. Unlike corporate, I dont need to swipe my card, I dont need to wear a tie and a suit. Incidentally, personally, I hate to wear a tie and a suit. How do you unwind yourself in XLRI? I like to spend quality time with my family. I also have a group of friends and we love to unwind watching football matches over few drinks. Best match of football that you have ever seen There are quite of few of them. Some of the matches that come to my mind now are:1982 World Cup Semi-final between France & Germany 1970 World Cup Final between Brazil and Italy In recent times, I enjoyed the match between Madrid & Barcelona 2007

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Do you prefer class in the morning 7 am or class till 9 pm in the night? 9 PM in the night. I am more an owl than a crow, I like working at night

At what pace do you foresee the Global economy will revive? At the onset, I would like to mention that I dont consider myself an economist. Rather, I consider myself a game theorist. I believe that there are other faculties in this campus who can proAre you a mountain person or a beach person? vide better insights in this matter. However, I would like to menMountain person, I was a regular hiker and also have a Himalation that this downturn in global economy is not new and is part yan Mountaineering Institute certification. However, with inof the business cycle. Having said that, I think that we undoubtcrease in family responsibilities, I havent been able to indulge in edly would require a big push and positive intervention by the this hobby for quite some time. government to bring the economy out of the slump and believe that current steps are in the right direction. Best vacation spot till date Buntar in Himachal Pradesh. Its in Parvati Valley and Parvatiriv- A rapid fire round where you tell one word that comes to your er flows over there. Its totally virgin vegetation and I enjoy it. I mind first about few of our XLRI professors have been there couple of times 4 to be exact Prof. Sengupta: I do not believe in God, I believe in Maradona Prof. Santanu Sarkar: Labour How did you enjoy Durgapuja this time? Prof. Jomon: tapioca and wine, he serves homemade wine to I was in Jamshedpur and visited the pandals with my family. We everyone on Christmas went around visiting 2 pandals each day. In the evenings it used Prof Rajiv Mishra: Placement to get too crowded so we sometimes went in the morning. Prof. Tata Raghuram: Green Prof. Ashish Pani: Very nice person. Do you face supply shortage of TV when demand for daily Prof. SoumyaKanti: Football. soaps among members in house high? I have two TVs in my house one of them is monopolized by the A thought for GMP students women in the house. The second one is monopolized by my GMP as a course may need a rethinking, a more focus intent can daughter. Its only when my daughter is not watching any kids be thought about. For example pre-set specialized classes may program or late in night that I get a chance to watch my movies. be formed of smaller size and this will help to reduce the rigorThankfully, most of the football matches usually happens late in ousness of the program, in the process a relief to students from the night. However, for football matches, I go over to 5-6 classes a day. Soumyakantis place where we get together and enjoy the For the current batch - I wish all the best for the future. matches. With FDI retail in India - what change do you foresee in the ~ Interviewed by the GliMPse team. business scenario? I have my doubts about the extent to which a Wal-Mart model will work in India due to cultural differences. This might work in major cities but I have my doubts about its success in smaller towns in India. There have been many instances where the WalMart model didnt work including certain European countries. However, I do believe that to certain extent the farmers will be benefitted due to removal of the middlemen in the supply chain. Moreover, I also believe that Kirana stores are here to stay and major retailers will not be able to get rid of them completely.

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TIMEconstraint being the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day. We think that there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour but it does not always run at the same pace and puzzles you. Whenever I walk from hostel to the Father Prabhu Hall for an exam, the journey takes eternity and then there are moments such as when you work with friends in group that time just flies. I still dont know where the one week break between term-1 and term-2 went. There are moments during lectures when you check your watch every five minutes to find out that only one minute has passed and then there are moments when you wake up after five minutes dumbfound to see that the clock has advanced by one hour. Time is enigmatic. Time is unfolding itself at a much faster rate and we are almost midway in our course. If you look back in your life, you will realize that a lot has changed in the past six months and a lot will change in the coming six months.

The decision to become a student again has brought in new discoveries and has changed life. One of the prominent changes has been in the way I perceive and value Time. As I went from Thank GOD its Friday to Thank GOD its Saturday, I realized that days no longer matter here and even Sundays may not be yours. Very quickly I forgot what weekends are. You dont realize when days merge into nights and when sunlight destroys the darkness. Sometimes I wake up in nights and sometimes I sleep during days. The snooze button in the alarm has become my best friend. Time has become the biggest luxury of life. As I usually joke with my friends when they make me wait that One year MBA is not to waste time waiting for someone, every second counts here. It matters how one does the balancing act among academics, extra-curricular and future prospects. Tradeoffs are inevitable. At any given moment the plate if always full as there is so much to be done. If completion of an assignment brings satisfaction then extension of a deadline brings the greatest joy. As you finish one task and tends to feel a bit relaxed, the other starts poking from nowhere such that to remain free also you have to put in efforts. The waiting queue of work seems to have an infinite source and this supply chain mechanism is unbreakable and so consistent. You have no choice but to adopt just in time. It is as if we are trying to maximize the value of MBA with the biggest 14

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. - Abraham Lincoln

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. - Nelson Mandela

-Gaurav Mittal (GMP 2012-13)

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jNANAN Sharanam Gachammi We take the shelter of knowledgeyears at a given point of time(the average experience in GMP is almost 7yrs * 119 students). Couple this with the experience of professors who have the perfect blend of industry and academics. Very much inspired with this thought is born the concept of jNANA Shastra (The science of knowledge). In case of an MBA institute, it lies in Academics and Peer Learning. Since XLRI completely takes care of Academics, jNANA Shastra focuses on Peer Learning where GMPians have agreed to take one 60-90 min session each highlighting their industry and workplace experience and give crucial insights. The concept amidst the packed academic rigour, is starting to take pace slowly. Professors of XLRI are also invited for discussions and their success stories to enhance the richness of the discussion. I am very confident that this would be one of the biggest takeaways for future leaders from XLRI GMP and will help broadening their horizon that will shape India of tomorrow. I hope my colleagues and future batches will nurture the seed that has been sown and will evolve this idea into an evergreen tree of knowledge. jNANAN Sharanam Gachammi We take the shelter of knowledge. -Vivek Srinivasan (GMP 2012-13)

One year full time executive MBA or PGDM programs are becoming more and more popular in India. In last few years almost every premier B-School has come up with such a program. Of course XLRI Jamshedpur being the pioneer for it when it started General Management Program (GMP). Students throughout the country understand the importance of first learning at work place and some work experience before they get into formal management education. One-year programs from the top management institutes usually have a minimum requirement of work experience. XLRI asks for a minimum of 5 years of work experience in a managerial role as one of their primary eligibility criteria. Studying in XLRI GMP and about almost half-way through the course, I am able to get a firsthand experience of the differences those 5+ years of work experience can make in a classroom study. The discussions on a particular topic are analysed by many perspectives and directions we wouldnt have otherwise thought of. People from Finance, Marketing, Shipping, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Automotive, IT and Doctors and Entrepreneurs all pitch in to bring in radically different perspectives onto the classroom discussion. This is the essence of an executive MBA. Though your primary interests of diversifying your knowledge remains intact, you implicitly contribute towards the learning of others in the batch. It is a give-and-take relationship that leads to a win-win situation for everyone. Sitting in the back bench of the class, each time a new dimension was brought in, a thought came crossed my mind that this diversity and plethora of work experience is indeed a golden opportunity. The quest for knowledge and the desire to make most of the ideas of the students from one of the top institutes of the country is up for grabs. Doing my math right, I calculated that GMP has a cumulative work experience of 833

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. Khalil Gibran

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Alumni Speak: Interview with Shailendra KumarConsidering XLRI GMP is a collection of experienced individuals, how are the expectations at the time of interview or joining different from other MBA candidates? Any recruiter will look at you as someone who can relate the theoretical concepts to real life situations. Obviously, we are not looking for someone with tons of knowledge but one with the right aptitude for the job, in our case consulting aptitude. ~Interviewed by GliMPse team Shailendra Kumar XLRI GMP Batch 2008, Solution Manager at TCS Global Consulting Practice Shailendra had a brief discussion with the XLRI GMP students on career plans, post MBA growth and shared insights into his field. How significant you find the values XLRI has embedded in you in your job XLRI has imbibed in us a deep sense of human values. These values manifest themselves in behaviour at work like respect for individual, humility, rational thinking and professionalism. I feel the pedagogy, professors and the entire XLRI culture, which is unique, had contributed in the manifestation of such qualities. What is your typical day in office like? A day in life at office would be a mix of Solution Assets creation, Sales support, Self-learning, and discussion with customers. Of course theres coffee or tea in the mid mornings, afternoons and evenings. What is a typical career path in this field? How often are there advancement opportunities? Is most advancement within or across organizations? Growth in any consulting career depends a lot on individual abilities. In TCS consulting practice, there are at least 10 competency groups. One is encouraged to move across these groups to develop integrated consulting capabilities. I have worked in 2 of such competency groups in last 4 years. What do people in your field look for in a candidate? (Skills, personal qualities) Strong Analytical skills, Industry Knowledge, Articulation and Aptitude for continual learning 16 Shailendra conceptualizes, develops as well as sells solutions for problems at the intersection of business and technology in crucial domains including but not limited to -post merger integrations, globalization, time to market, customer centricity etc.

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books Thomas Carlyle

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IT, B-Schools and Primary Education

Are Information Technology (IT) and B-Schools all about higher education? No. In XLRI, few GMPians started a project to fulfill one of their super ordinal goals of providing education to underprivileged rural kids. Here, I will try to explore whether the effort makes sense at national level. In September 2000, a pledge was made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and Achieve Universal Primary Education was ranked second in that list. We are already in the 12th year of this pledge and even now there has been little progress in rural India with respect to the MDG objectives. Currently approx. 31 % of the rural population is illiterate and around 41 % of female rural population is illiterate. It is very clear that rural population needs special attention, which government alone might not be able to provide. Inspired by this need, GMPians decided to do something for a village of rural East Singhbhum district. Although use of IT is widespread in higher education, impact of IT in primary education is not fully understood. IT can contribute to remote access and equity in education, the delivery of quality learning and teaching, teachers professional development and more efficient education management, governance and administration.

ture. After installing the desktop and data card, they spent 2-3 days with the local children and educated them about internet usage. The enthusiasm that children demonstrated when exposed to this new technology was remarkable. This shows that rural population lacks resources and not the spirit. Our batch mates also shared their mobile number with the children. Now, the whole community has access to XLRI students. The project is still in progress and lot of work has to be done. Currently, the project has connected approximately 100 children to the outside world and quality learning. However, I see a huge potential in this. If 3900 (approximately) B-Schools of India start at least one such centre in rural India with a penetration of 100 children associated with each centre. We can connect with 390000 children every year. If such projects are formally infused in MBA curriculum, we will certainly be able to move one step closer to the millennium development goal # 2 Achieve Universal Primary Educations. ~Amar Kumar (GMP 2012-13)

In India today, 4% of our children never start school thats 8 million. 57% dont complete primary schools thats 74 million. And 90% dont The next target was to implement the idea perceived by GMPi- complete school thats 172 million.ans. They bought an old desktop computer, internet data card, and few books of various classes with the help of an IIT JEE coaching institute from Jamshedpur. They networked with the village people to establish the required e-learning infrastruc-

~ Source: Teach For India

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The Joy of Giving...

It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giv- to make a difference TODAY! ing. : Mother Teresa We at GMP as a team felt an ardent need to do something speOpportunities to give and help others are everywhere. If we cial, to give and to spread love and happiness under the aegis of just look around us, someone somewhere could use a kind Joy of Giving and came up with the idea of two events " Serve word today. Someone needs to know that they are those who serve US" and Spandan . loved. Someone is struggling financially and there is something Serve those who serve US a gesture of appreciation to people we can do to help if even a little. Someone simply needs a who serve us hug. Someone wants to be heard and given some time and We organized breakfast for the GMP Mess People, Dhobi and attention. Guards at XLRI Canteen on 7th October'2012 (Morning) The following story is a great illustration of the value of giving, loving, sharing, and doing today. Despite the inexperience in cooking, we could manage cooking A rich man once asked a friend, Why am I criticized for being miserly? Everyone knows I will leave everything to charity when I die. Well, said the friend, let me tell you about the pig and the cow. The pig was lamenting to the cow one day about how unpopular he was. People are always talking about your gentleness and kindness, said the pig. Sure you give milk and cream, but I give more. I give bacon, ham, bristles. They even pickle my feet! Still, nobody likes me. Whis is this? The cow thought a minute, then replied, Well, maybe it is because I give while I am still living. Sunshine Magazine Each one of us wants to make to make a difference in the world we live in .But the question remains How to make it happen. We need a platform to make it happen. So when the Joy of Giving week was approaching, we realized we found a platform and 18 some lip smacking items and do a great hospitable job in serving 26 people. The memories of the cooking experience will definitely be treasured forever by each one of us. It was a fun-filled morning and the smiles on the faces of all guests made it more special and meaningful.

Spandan 2012: Come, let's play together. Be a child for a CHILD - a joy fest for children and a fund raising event.

We organized a small fest at Old Campus Area ( Badminton/Tennis Court near the faculty Quarters ) on 7th October'2012 (Evening)

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We had put up stalls for different fun filled games such asDart Board, Hoop the Loop, Break the Pyramid etc. to be played by the children from the NGO Kalamandir, XLRI students, Faculty, Staff and their children.

its purpose of giving and spreading happiness. Special thanks to Kalamandir, SIGMA Team, Prof Madhukar Shukla and James Sir for helping us.

Attractive gifts were given to winners at each of the stalls. It was a fun filled evening with music, lot of individual andteam based games apart from the stalls.

Cheers to GMP and Cheers to the cause. It is more blessed to give than to receive. ~Acts 20:35 It is just an end of a beginning. Happy Giving! ~JoGW Team (GMP 2012-13)

Through this initiative, we tried the whole XL community tobe part of Joy of Giving week in a fun filled and inclusive way. The enthusiasm and the happiness on the faces of the 32 kids that came from Kalamandir made it very special and poignant for each one of us associated with the event. Thank you kids! We were privileged to host you. Kudos to the whole GMP who came forward with their voluntary contributions and selfless efforts. We raised Rs 15300! Despite the pressing schedule we pulled off the event with great enthusiasm and spirit. The festival of philanthropy helped us experience the true sense of happiness one achieves through selfless and unconditional acts of service. It reinforced our belief that realization of happiness and achievement is not in ownership in sharing. We are committed to pass on this legacy to incoming GMP batches and make it an annual event and an integral part of GMP culture in years to come. Taking names would be disservice to all involved, as the efforts put by each and every individual (GMPians and their spouses) made both the events achieve

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I LOCKED it!!!Scene 1 - Nov 21, 2004 3:45 PM "Shut up! And close the door." screamed my brother when I went in the room disturbing his afternoon nap on a sunny SUNDAY. All I could do was, shout as much as I could. With my jaws agonising in pain, I didnt have any idea of what was going on. Scene 2 - Nov 21, 2004 3:35 PM It was during my 7th Term (final year) engineering exams. Sunday afternoons were generally my little nap time and it helped me study late at night. I woke up around 3.35 PM with a big yawn. Next thing I remember was that I couldnt close my mouth. Initially, I thought that this was some kind of a stupid dream that I always used to get, especially during exams. But the immense pain in my jaw brought me back to reality. I did not have the slightest of the clues of what was going on. I went to my brother and with me shouting (which I always do watching a football or a cricket match), he shouted back. I was running around making all sorts of animal sounds. Fortunately, there was a doctor (a friend) living nearby. I had to write down on a piece of paper how I felt. My first question to the doc, "Dude whats happening?" (..to me...ha ha ha). Lock-Jaw is not a disease but a dislocation of the jaw preventing it from closing as the joint is not in its original position. It is very similar to Shoulder dislocations (generally for athletes). Sounds scary, doesn't it? Well, I bet I can tell you that it was more painful that it sounds. Since he was an eye doctor he couldnt help much. But Doctors do have contacts and in India the close ones ALWAYS help. One of his doctorfriend was in his dispensary and asked me to come down to the hospital. Scene 3 - Nov 21, 2004 5:35 PM After a 2 hrs of drama, we hit oil. The jaw was repositioned manually. Did I say I couldnt close my mouth or swallow, leave alone drinking water or taking pain killers? It seems that the muscle in the jaw is one of the strongest and hence the most painful when stretched. Trivia all that I was wanting to know. The best part was that I couldn't even laugh or talk about it for the next 2-3 days and my family members and friends

burst out laughing each time the topic came up. Only fools laugh at themselves. Scene 4 Dec 2, 2005 06:00 AM This time I was out of college and about to go to work. That day was our Company Annual day and that our training batch was doing a skit, a typical remake of SHOLAY in the IT industry. I was, the obvious, GABBAR SINGH, bald HARI SINGH, who throughout the skit had to shout on top of his voice. I woke up at 6 a.m. as I had to complete some work before we could go to the auditorium for final rehearsals. And Kazaam!!!--- I couldn't close my mouth. Yes I had locked my jaw again. Though I was yet again in the pain seat, my family members seem to be very happy, as they could witness the event live which they missed last time. Following the tradition, we went back to same doc who helped me last time. The Auto danced to the tunes of a bhojpuri sung, the steps guided by the potholes. Thanks to high rainfall and the municipality which had just started the work. The auto-wala, was doing a good job until he couldnt avoid a big one. The rickshaw bumped about 2-3 feet in air Scene 5 Dec 2, 2005 06:30 AM The impact of the rickshaw with the ground got my jaw back to its position. Wow! What a rip-off. I was very happy that I had found a unique way to solve lock-jaws in future and didnt have to disturbing doctors at 6.00 a.m. in the morning. And yes, the skit went fine. GABBAR was a hit and we won 2nd prize.... ~ Vivek Srinivasan (GMP 2012-13)

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GMP Chaupal : Creativity Reservoir

! , , , , ! , ,

Make your day!Wake up friend, the sun has risen There is a new light on the horizon Its the time to start a new day, And get set ready to stride your way Forget yesterday, the trials and tribulations, Experience today's joys and jubilations Set your sights on the goals far away, Whatever be the hurdles, just keep going your way Undaunted by the setbacks and the derisions, Keep striving hard, and add new dimensions Cast away your doubts and make a foray, Win or lose, your efforts are here to stay Don't look back at the things that have frozen, Just look up at the sky, its a new season! You might not instantly make the mark today, But the pleasure of trying will surely make your day!

, , , , ! , , , , - , ! , , , , !

~ Tanmay Chakraborty (GMP 2012-13)

~ Onkar Sabnis (GMP 2012-13)

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The brush and the colors

~ Prof. Arundhati Sarkar Bose

~ Nivedita Samal (GMP 2012-13)

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Mind Benders

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions Oliver Wendell Holmes. So, stretch your mind, and unleash the hidden talent of your grey cells. Send the answers to these mind benders to g1213glimpse@astra.xlri.ac.in. The first two senders of allcorrect entries will receive a surprise gift.

A Billionaire at his death bed calls his two sons to tell them he wants to transfer all his wealth to only one of them, the one who wins a race. He gives them a camel each and tells them one whose camel reaches the finish line 2nd wins all the money. The sons, confused, go to a fakir who advices them. The sons go back and start racing the camels towards the finish line. What was the fakirs advice? A Man walks to the bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender shows him a gun and the man returns back happy. What was the mans problem?

A man comes back from a business trip with 100 coins to share with his two children. He places the coins on a table with 60 of the coins heads up, and the rest tails up. Then he turns out the light so that it is completely dark. He tells his son that he must split the coins into two groups. He then tells his daughter that she may decide which of the two groups is hers, and which her brothers is. They will then turn the light back on, and each child may only keep the coins in his or her group that are heads up. (Dad gets to keep all the tails up coins.). When the light is off, the children cannot see or feel the orientation of the coins. The little boy is determined to devise a strategy that will *guarantee* that, no matter which group his sister picks, they will both end up with the same number of coins. What should the little boy do?

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The GliMPse ExperienceBeing a part of the editorial team and creating something that deals with OUR lives has been nothing less than sheer pleasure ~ Abhilasha

Beyond bringing our life and achievements to light, brainstorming with members having innovative ideas has been enthralling -Darshan

GliMPse has provided me a platform to enhance my creativity by interacting with like-minded people ~ Jay Prakash

Over period of time, XLRI GMP has become a melting pot of ideas ~ Amar Kumar

Each part of the journey has been a unique value-adding experience. ~ Abhik

It provided multiple opportunities to interact with industry leaders, and gain first-hand insights into industry issues ~ Viswa

GliMPse is a wonderful platform to showcase the multi-faceted talents of the GMP batch ~ Onkar

Creativity allows you to make mistakes. Art tells you which ones to keep. Thank you teammates for all your support. ~ Manikandan. K

Its a true glimpse to the wonderful Kingdom XLRI, where talent thrives in many forms ~ Titash

Being part of GliMPse team gives me an opportunity to work with and understand the GMP cohort more. ~ Gaurav

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