Quarter 6 - Week 9

Whenever we get a weekend holiday in the midst of the course. it never fails to knock me out of my routine. The opening books at 9 PM, falling asleep while sitting on the chair at 9:03 PM, and the waking up at 1 AM and realizing that you fell asleep, and then really going to sleep with the warm thought that you "read" something, all this is replaced by blissful sleep at 10 PM everyday. When finally college opens its wide gates again to you, you grimace, growl, grunt and present your slides on the way in. And yet, you rebel by not reading the cases and sticking your nose up at those who do...

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation

The first session was taken by a guest lecturer, one of NSRCEL's first successful ventures. He spoke to us about the journey and how he made it through all those times. A very easy-going guy, but appearing to be the quiet introvert types, he gave us some pretty interesting insight into what goes on in an entrepreneur's mind. The next session was a case study, but like I said, I wasn't paying attention or even read the case. What's that weird feeling, why do I think I'm so cool?

Anyway, since we didn't have Social Entrepreneurship today, I happened to bump into the Startup Saturday sessions here in Bangalore. It was really cool to see the room packed, so much so that the organizers had to bring in plastic chairs to seat those who were standing. Yes, IIMB has plastic chairs... we're not all wood and marble you know. Anyway, I could only listen to two presenters after which I had to go for the next class. The first session was about why and how one should go about an enterprise, and the second was the views of an experienced VC, who injected a lot of dark humour into the entrepreneurial mystery. It was really the best way to spend a free class.

B2B Market Management

Case study, atleast I did it the honour of thumbing through it... I didn't remember much from most pages, but I did remember some thing from the first page. Apparently it was very important, if only I remember what it was. Anyway, to cut a long story short, two cases in two sessions, with absolutely brilliant stories and morals behind them. Too bad I... don't know how we're going to be doing.

International Business Negotiation Skills

No public viewing of the videos we made for our negotiations exercises. Instead, we spoke about the nuances of negotiation. You know all those places/other blog posts where I say "Ahaah! I know wh y I'm paying 8.5 lakhs!"? Well.. this was one of those moments. To give a sneak peek, the more you appear to provide savings based on a particular scenario, the opponent is going to be risk-prone. The moment you make it look like you're going to chop some of the losses, the opponent is more likely to be risk-averse. The moral of the story -> People are rarely rational. Remember who you're negotiating with.

That's when I realized the meaning behind what the prof was trying to say. He was basically saying that the people and the problem are too very different thing. In order to be a successful negotiator, it's important to stay hard on the problem and go easy on the person. A few more such nuggets later, the classes came to an end.

The last week of the quarter lies ahead. Project submissions, exam finals... sigh.. you'd think I would have gotten used to the routine by now after a whole year. What can I say, the IIMB never ceases to surprise.