Quarter 9 - Week 3

The assignments begin to pile up. You can see the difference between quarters when you have just two courses, and when you have three. We have had three quizzes already till date, and midterms are due in a couple of weeks. It's a fast quarter!

Consumer Behaviour

This week was with related to consumer perceptions and attitudes. We looked into what makes people think of products in particular lights, and what are the reasons for it. It can vary... there's stuff like classical conditioning, where you associate the product with some known experiences and hence keep buying it. There are different types of positioning, where you can either be informative, or base it on affective needs. Emotions are a huge driver, and we see how our good friends Maslow and Freud have unearthed elements that can be used in less-than-noble ways. For e.g. fear is a major motivator. So if you wanted to sell some sort of hair cream, or face cream... some brands try and position it on what happens if you DONT use it. Hence the 'avoid hair loss', or the 'anti-aging creams'. In order to avoid what might be inevitable, or essentially undesirable, you end up buying such products to be a little happier for a while longer.

And hence we got into the topic of motivation. To be motivated, is essentially to remove that which is causing some sort of a botheration for you, and once removed you go to your normal state. Like you, I initially thought.. that can't be it.. it's driving you to achieve results, that's what motivation is. But let's see it carefully. When you motivate your team to perform faster/better, you're essentially trying to tell them that meeting that deadline/achieving those results is good for the person, probably because they won't get punished if they DO meet it, or even more subtly, they will lose the reward if they dont meet it. Hence, there's an inner discomfort, to do something. And therefore the team does what is required, blinded in the notion that they're doing it on their own. That's just downright dangerous, but effective.

Strategic Leadership

Two cases this week, the first was that of Ranbaxy, and how they moved from being a domestic pharmaceutics distributor, to a global pharma corporation. The prof started the class with the answer to the question that was apparently posed to him by a few of our classmates... what is the takeaway that we're looking for out of this course? And so, he shows us the difference between what we learnt back in Q1, and what we're learning now. The funda, he says, is not to accept the frameworks that you studied way back in a blind fashion, but to go to the depths of it to understand why it works, and what are the boundary conditions. All the cases we've done so far have stuck their thumbs up to Porter and his five forces, not to mention the Resource Based View model. So he's trying to help us ask 'Why?'. What's the reason certain models fail, and when is that. What are the new upcoming frameworks that we should toss around at the back of our minds, mindful of the fact that the model could be a generic thing around which we could find loopholes.

This course is all about helping us ask the right questions, not finding the right answers (Fundoo global gyaan, but it can be inspiring when you're in a class). And so he takes us through the aspects of why and how Ranbaxy became the powerhouse it did... simply because the new blood that came in took it out of a slowing progress curve onto a much larger one.

The next session was about the Indian Software Industry - why is it the way it is? I can tell you, from the readings for the day, it looked so much like we should have actually failed. The sentiments in the class were approximately the same. When the prof showed us the NASSCOM vision that we'd be 225 billion in 2022, everyone looks skeptical. Prof. asks why, and we say, our cost arbitrage wont work anymore, not enough intellectual workforce, reactive organizations and most importantly, no local demand. After hearing all this, the prof keeps quiet, staring at the class.... for all of 5 seconds. In the remaining one hour of the session, he took us on a whirlwind tour of what we've accomplished as Indians, and shoved our noses into what we had achieved and mentioned 'You've done all of this, but when someone asks you if you can do better, how the hell can you say that we weren't capable in the first place! What you guys told me, any layman on the street can tell me, but what did you see about what actually happened?'. A major motivator session if you ask me... all of a sudden I feel proud to be in the Indian Software Industry. In case if you're curious, the reasons were mainly the fact that we adopted processes that helped convert software delivery from a chaotic, creative craft to a controlled science. We went together to sell our offerings, as NASSCOM, to those in need of it. We took advantage of the greatest catalytic element at the time, the Y2K bug, and once it was over in 2000, we continued to build on top of it, knowing that the catalytic moment that came for us can not be had by any other nation, the opportunity was already gone!

He then went on to show us what types of software industries have continued their growth, how many of them are plateauing out... and at the end of the session, he closes with the simple statement, 'What got us here, won't get us there. I'm looking at those potential people who can take us there, the question is if you're brave enough to take this challenge on'.

That's just awesome.

Personal Interpersonal Effectiveness Workshop

There were waaayyyy too many readings this week. And more importantly, way too many assignments from them. Things that we really had to think about, and think hard. Introspection isn't very easy, when you have to really confront yourself with the questions of why we're doing what we're doing, and what is it that we want to do from hereon. There were a lot deeper ones related to how do you perceive yourself and how do others perceive you. Are you ok with that interpretation, if not, why aren't you ok with it? What would you like to do to change. Phew! H.E.A.V.Y.!

This week's session was meant to make us relook at what makes us and our interactions what they are. There was also this bit about meditation, which I'm yet to complete. But I think it's got something that might be of help. At the end of the day, I won't be able to make decisions to the best of my ability if my thoughts aren't clear. Hopefully meditation is one way of doing so. We also continued to talk about what goes into a person's vision, and how does he want to approach it, what are the fears we would face etc. There's not much to be specific about, all the discussions kept meandering around this... so that's the takeaway.

The readings and exercises for next week are a lot tougher. We have two cases in SL, one presentation in CB, some intensive daily exercises in PIEW and an application problem in CB as well. Sundays are no longer fitted in my calendar.

Quarter 9 - Week 2

The pace hasn't really picked up yet, there's this 'friction' that tells you that hey, there's one more week that you can relax for now. That doesn't stop the quiz or case study from happening though. And so, you attend both half-prepared, knowing fully well that you're going to get whacked out of your senses. The profs are slowly beginning to show a slight impatience, since they're raring to go, and they're not going to let a class of 70 slow them down. So, on we go, to weeknights of readings and weekends of learning.

Consumer Behaviour

This week continued to deal with perceptions and elements related to branding and loyalty. We essentially spoke of how products need to be slowly embedded in the consumers mind - through both behavioural and cognitive learning. The first is more related to the emotional aspect, how you motivate and reinforce the perception in the consumer's mind, that he SHOULD use this product. In fact, if you stop reminding the user every now and then of the product, it actually gets removed from his mind and then it becomes extremely difficult to place it back in there. Another way of learning is by drawing a parallel between that brand and some experience/relationship you've had in your life, maybe a father/daughter thing like in Titan or the mother/son thing in Bournvita, or the boy/girl thing in Fastrack. So you liken it to something and remember the brand everytime one of the associations is drawn up. A few more examples came up of different modes of learning.

Strategic Leadership

This week, we spoke of two cases, Park Hotels and Bharat Forges. Interestingly, the prof seems to have picked up cases where the person started off in the role at the age of 23 give or take a couple of years. These aren't cases of people who got leadership roles by 30/35. The soft matter aside, we were trying to focus on why and how people make decisions that take their companies forward. In Park Hotels, we were grappling with the fact of whether the right clientele was being targeted, whether they should pursue restaurants as a primary business instead of hotels, about whether expanding to the next few locations was the right thing to do etc. Towards the end, we start drawing connections to what the management thinks of the Parks hotel, and where is it that they really think they want to go to. Honestly, I was like eh?

Bharat Forges was a much more interesting case. It looked like these guys were being highly proactive, in choosing customers and expansions, and moving forward all the time. Of course, it took the guys 15 years before he really starting breaking out of the cocoon in terms of humongous decisions, but hey, he took it all the same. And the entire class was constantly looking at how did this guy really get to where he was going. Was it based on luck? Was it based on the fact that competitors weren't moving? And as the prof tries to make us arrive at the reason of all the decisions that were taken, we grab at straws here and there, trying to figure out if the decisions were right for the time, and was there anything else that he could have done. Again, I better try to analyse some of the case, or it's going to be more 'Eh?' moments.

Personal Interpersonal Effectiveness Workshop

Today's class dealt more with choosing if we're doing what we really want to do in life, and what is it that we want to be remembered for. The class started with a discussion around the mission and vision, and an assignment the prof had set for us - What would we do if we knew we were going to die in 1 year, 5 years and 40 years. By the end of the discussion, the basic question was are your priorities aligned, and do you know what your priorities are in the first place. We then moved on to meditation and we spoke of what it was expected to bring to a person. Today's discussion was a little less meatier than what I remembered from the time before. Let's hope that I get more out of the next session, or that the discussions go deeper towards where we should dig further.

Back to the daily grind, two weeks are up!

Quarter 9 - Week 1

A month's vacation later, we hit the books hard! It's always invigorating to dive in after a good long break. You completely forget the internal struggle and heated brains that you've put up with and you set out to wrestle the courses again! I've apparently taken up some really hard courses this quarter, so I've prepared everyone back at office to forget me on Fridays while I bury my nose deep in the readings.

Consumer Behaviour

Easily the scariest subject in our electives list, mostly due to the feedback on the prof that we've received. Stuff like "You guys are screwed!", "He's >= Three demanding profs!" etc. tend to take their toll on you, so much so that you arrive an hour early to the class. A legend in the corridors of IIMB, this professor is known for the clarity that he draws out in the concepts, provided you're willing to give away a pound of flesh. And then we sit in class, trembling, waiting... when all of a sudden...

The man humbly welcomes us to the class, and sets forth his conditions. He describes the rigour with which he'll approach the content, and gives people one last chance to try and exit the course. He explains why he focuses so much on the theory, and with a smile wishes we understand the concepts clearly. A little difficult to draw parallels between the described and the description, but hey, it's just one week. Let's see what happens.

So this week, we study the basics of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning , like a sort of primer, and then we start moving towards perceptions and how they affect the way people approach certain products. The brands that are created are worth their weight in gold, and he goes on to explain what brands used what strategies to what result. Cool stuff.

We did have one quiz on Saturday (so friggin' early??!?) and one extra class till 7 PM on Saturday. Strenuous, but manageable, that's what I say.

Strategic Leadership

Yet another celebrated professor takes us on a ride down the corridors of power, where he teases us unrelentingly. Dissing us this way and that, he tries to ask us, what do we hope to learn in Strategic Leadership that we wouldn't have picked up in Strategic Management from Q1. And then after a few feeble answers here and there, he says "You guys have spent two years in this programme, so tell me, what do you think you'll learn here that you didn't learn before?" Then this master of magic goes on to lead a presentation, where he actually shows us the difference between what we learnt, and what we would learn.

Then we begin with the case.

I've never seen a prof tear through a class so efficiently before. Within ten minutes, he had the entire class tongue-tied. Nothing anyone said was good enough. He pokes, he prods, he looks amused, and then he intentionally tries to misdirect people. On the second day, he must have teased us out till around 15 minutes before the class ended. And then finally, he unveils the presentation and explains to us what the difference is between the way a manager grows and the steps he chooses, and the way an organization grows and how these two don't usually mix. He ends saying that what you do for your growth need not be for the growth of the company. So then is the step the right one? What do you do, to take the company forward? What do you do, that sets the direction for the company, and makes it a little more certain about where it's going, even if you're not directing it? And doing the right thing for the company, my friends, is Strategic Leadership.

Nice!

Personal Interpersonal Effectiveness Workshop

A very different course from what the others are, this is being taken by a prof we're quite familiar with. And the same prof approaches this topic more gingerly and carefully than he did the previous one. A very exclusive course, only 20 people are allowed in it. And the motive? To learn from ourselves, and look inward to realize what we want to do, and where we want to go. We saw the application of a couple of very cool exercises, one of which sent shivers down my spine as a person practiced it in front of us all. At the beginning, everyone smiles as someone comes forward to volunteer for a class exercise. But within 3 minutes, everyone's quiet, looking down and serious as hell. 'Powerful' doesn't describe this tool.

Beyond that, there was just the fact that we were all sitting together, telling each other stuff out of our own experience. Seemed like only half the class was saying anything, the rest keeping entirely quiet. Guess we'll see how often this lasts before the prof gets the noisy guys to keep quiet.

The articles for this week were 'Knowing Yourself' and 'Winners and Losers'. They both seemed to look at what a person needs to do in order to realize what he is, and where he wants to be. Nice interesting emo stuff.

And so the first week drew to an end. Three of the most celebrated profs, all teaching intensive courses... I couldn't think a better way to start my final year.

Week 8 - Project Presentation

One week after the exams, and I'm just itching for my final year project presentation to get over, so I can get started with my awesome holiday plan! Dragging my feet on the prepping of the presentation is driving my co-presenter nuts, God bless him for being so patient.

This post you're witnessing here is unique, for it's the only one of its kind on this blog. I won't be doing any more projects to claim credits, so take ten seconds to absorb the magnitude of this event. (You see the IIMB student halo shining, you see? You see??)

For certain reasons that can not be disclosed, we're doing a project for an organization who's name I cannot disclose, the subject of which can not be disclosed. Yes, I'm feeling so much better after this claim for transparency. But what I CAN tell, is how we get these projects, and what it involves. Essentially, there are three ways of choosing a project, one- you go out, find a topic of interest, approach a prof who thinks its interesting too, two - you approach a prof who's subject you like and ask him if you can help in part for your project requirement, and three - you wait for companies to drop projects in your lap, and you propose your potential study to them and go ahead if they accept it.

We chose option number three, as there were a couple of organizations that approached us with a set of projects. We picked one that we thought we'd like to work on, and wrote out a proposal for them. They seemed to like our approach, so we got the go-ahead on this. The next step was to find a prof who'd be interested to guide us on this topic, and we had one in mind... luckily, the prof was free enough to allot us some time. As part of the requirement, we were to spend atleast 6 hours each week on the project. Now, this happens in bursts here and there, maybe three hours this week, twelve the next etc. But you're constantly in touch with your prof to find out if you're approaching the solution properly. In our case, we sync-ed up once a week. Both with our faculty guide, and the guide from the project sponsor. Why do we sync up? It's not that you're doing something wrong, it's more like the road ahead splits into so many directions, and you're trying to find where the company wants to go, and what the literature suggests to go down through.

So eleven weeks later, we had our presentation today to an external project evaluator. Apparently profs at IIMB have a huge contact base, so they're able to identify an appropriate evaluator from a field very relevant to your topic, who will look at your findings objectively and rip it apart. IF he can. (Muahahahahahaaah!)

Things went well.

I must say, I'm feeling content.

I'm done with two years. It feels.... peaceful.

Quarter 8 - Week of Exams

When you just have two subjects per quarter, you'd have had enough time to read them well in advance of the exam. Which means once the exams come up, you don't need to study. I now have an idea what the studious types in school and college felt like when exams were around. Unfortunately for me, doesn't look like the next couple of quarters will be as easy.

Ethics in Business Management

A case-based exam. One of the cases right out of our book, about an age-old conflict between a game studio and a game publisher. Interesting case, most of the frameworks seemed to apply them (or rather I made sure I fit it in somehow!). It's intriguing how a one-and-a-half page case can really keep you thinking for over an hour and a half.

Managing Offshored Software and IT Services

Yea, I don't want to talk about this one. We knew it was a multiple choice based exam, and therefore assumed that it would be easy-peasy. Let's just say the prof has seen enough batches come and go, and he knows how to set a picnic where you really feel lost.

I'm looking forward to the one-month-holiday we get now. No waking up at 6 AM, sleeping at 12 AM, worrying about how to finish the next assignment. It'll be a reminder of how life was, two years ago.

Two years. Just another six months to go, but I can't help feeling... sad and relaxed... all at the same time.

Quarter 8 - Week 9

The anticipation of the end of the quarter coincides with the realization that we're THIS close to completing two years at college. We've already spent more time here than a full-time student would, atleast in terms of calendar days if not man-days. It's like a half-baked sense of accomplishment.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session had some light reading associated with it related to guidelines with being on a board. Better put, I ignored a couple of the heavy-read articles due to the mountain of piling assignment and project (Read the singulars there? Yes, it is a great day for sloth and excuses). The prof seems quite enthusiastic about the role directors play in setting the path for the company and for monitoring it. He strongly believes that ethics starts at the top, and just one person who thinks in a particular direction sets the direction for the entire behemoth. In fact, he says that you can see a change in the company within a couple of months when a new CEO or board comes into play.

The next session was one for reflection (I love these reflection thingies... you listen to what others think, you spout what you think, and the prof spouts what he learns... and we all have tea.) The prof took us through a summary of all the topics we had visited over the last nineteen sessions, and encouraged the class to come forward with any learnings they'd want to share with the class. He even showed us an oath that is being taken voluntarily by a few MBAs once they graduate, much like the Hippocratic oath, about how they'll do what's best for society, their company, their families and themselves. Interesting how things begin, no?

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

The last two sessions of the quarter were completely dedicated to presentations. We presented our findings from our individual projects to the rest of the class, and showed the connect that we were able to observe with our learnings from class. It was a brilliant way of seeing the kind of projects and experiences we go through, in a very academic way.

Of course, NOBODY managed to finish in time, so everyone takes 15 minutes when we're allotted 10 minutes each. The result? On the second day, we were there for a full extra 45 minutes, listening to the last three projects. In the last half-hour, people started really getting fatigued, and due to the overwhelming need for lunch before the next class in 15 minutes they excused themselves... one by one. Till there were only a couple of students left with the prof listening to the last guy.

Once that got over, even the prof heaved a sigh of relief. As it turns out, this was his last set of sessions here at IIMB for quite some time as he's leaving for the US on an assignment. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but this was the prof who helped start the PGSEM programme and was its first chairperson. Listening to him talk of how the industry reacted to the programme was a revelation in itself. It became so much easier to understand how the programme evolved till its present state. It's so inspiring to see him visiting different places around the world at his age.

I'd probably be playing Farmville if it's still around in another 30 years.

Anyway, we're off to do our final project which we can tick off our list of things-to-do before we graduate. And then, it's on to the final exams...

Quarter 8 - Week 8

Two assignments and one quiz, reasonably less of a load when you consider what we typically have to do over most quarters. But then again, it may be because I've only taken two courses this quarter. The weather seems to make things slightly better too. Heavy rains over the last day made things a lot cooler, and you're thinking 'It's a beeeeeautiful day, to be in campus'.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session was around a case about the Ford/Firestone debacle. Apparently these guys released an awesome SUV onto the world, but because of the design, it's centre-of-gravity was high, and so when people take steep turns, it tended to roll over. So, while trying to figure out where the problem lay, they may have stumbled upon the fact that the tires were also contributing to the issue due to poor design and assembly. As things transpired, the reason there was an increased quality issue was that the general workforce was on a strike for two-and-a-half years, and contractors with much lesser experience were hired to keep the factory going. Turns out that over thirteen years, around 200+ people lost their lives, many more were injured due to inaction on the part of the corporations. So the class dealt with the aspects of the problem that were systemic/corporate/individual, and who COULD have done what, who SHOULD have done what, and thereby one more case to apply a framework to.

The next session was related to the role of a director on a board, and how boards can influence the strategy of the company. More or less, the gist is that it's the board's role to protect the interest of stakeholders. So it's important to stop looking only at short-term quarterly results, but look at the long term and try to create actual value for society. The board's in a perfect position to do that, as they are wise,old(mostly) men who've been there, done that, and are on the board because of their experience (preferably). Hence, they need to set the direction for the company, but leave the day-to-day execution of the direction to the CEO. It's a very interesting piece of info, that I sure wasn't aware of. I did keep wondering what the board does, now I know...

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

Laid back week if u ask me. The first session had a lot to do with game theory, and the prof's take on it. So a lot about how one player's action is dependent on that of the other, and that your relationship is very instrumental in defining where you go with your outsourcing partnership. There was also some interesting talk on how you should chart your payment plans. At the beginning of an outsourcing relationship, you charge fixed-price. Once you're reasonably comfortable with their skills, you take it as time-and-material, so that you show an incentive for the person that you trust their expertise, and after a reasonably long duration, you go back to fixed-price. Why would you do that? Because by now, the party would have built up capability and reusable components, and if you charge time-and-material, your work is supposed to get over a lot quicker... AT THE COST TO THE SUPPLIER! So you basically want to encourage quicker delivery at regular prices. So be using fixed-price, you encourage them to use reusable components to get the product out faster, at a price acceptable to them. A very interesting scenario!

The second session revolved around the Bharti Airtel case of outsourcing. Everyone agrees it's a brilliant plan. I mean, you don't have to worry about tech, just your marketing strategy and day-to-day operations. It's like letting the experts do what they do best. But through the entire case, there was one question that kept bugging us. Great plan, nice follow-through, amazing growth. But how long will it last...? The outsourcing game will be fruitful for as long as Bharti grows, but once it stops that growth, will the suppliers still be in a weak position as they might have been at the start? They do control all the infra, and how heavy will that weigh against Bharti? In ten years, when they renegotiate their deal, since they're going with only one supplier for IT (IBM), what's the chance that they'll be holding a higher power in the equation? In any case, was an interesting discussion, and something that left us thinking for quite a while later.

Now, we're on for the last week, a bunch of assignments and the final project submission. Wish us luck, as we go into the eye of the storm.