A mba feb2016 by IMS Publications

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www.advancedge.com Editor-in-Chief Kamlesh Sajnani

Editor Aditya Prakash Iengar Sr. Correspondent: Alolika Banerjee

Design Uma Shirke, Satish Yadav, Sylvester Moses

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Nobel Prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

Truer words have rarely been said. We hear an awful lot about people who spend time finding themselves — who they are, where their interests lie, etc. But the crux of the matter is that you are who you make yourself. And at the end of the day, what you make yourself will define how you live your life! This is the time when you must focus on the impact of these words. You are not what circumstance makes you. That can turn out to be defeatist and counterproductive: “If only I’d scored well in CAT I’d have gotten into an IIM!”

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Contributors Dr Suresh Srinivasan

Write to the editor at:

This holds true especially for those who did not fare as well as they would have expected in CAT 2015. And the cover story in this issue is for them. Do not lose hope and sit down, metaphorically speaking, with your head in your hands. CAT, although important, is certainly not the end of the world. There are a lot of options for those whose CAT results weren’t spectacular, and you’ll find out what they are in this issue. We have already covered how to crack the next round of admissions: GDWAT-PI. In this issue, we bring to you a few tips and tricks from PI experts on making sure you grab that coveted seat in your dream B-school. It is now that the Corporate World section of this magazine becomes vital. You will surely have gone through the section in your previous issues of Advanc’edge MBA, but just in case you didn’t, do so now. Reading all the issues you’ve got till now will give you a good grip on current affairs, especially from the analytical point of view, which means you won’t be left faltering at the altar, so to speak. Stay calm and prepare well. I wish you all the very best.

editor@advancedge.com Websites: www.advancedge.com, www.imsindia.com www.facebook.com/advancedgeMBA

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole and in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed and published by Kamlesh Sajnani, on behalf of, IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051. Printed at Uchitha Graphic Printers Pvt. Ltd., 65, Ideal Ind. Est., Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 13 and published at Mumbai.

Aditya Prakash Iengar Editor Advanc’edge MBA October 2012 3

C ONTEN TS 06

CAT 2015: If not, then what?

MBA BUZZ

CMAT 2016: Test Analysis

COVER STORY

Preparing for the Personal Interview

10 14

China’s whopping woes are worrying the world

MUST READS In Search of Excellence Dreams from My Father Moloka’i

STUDY HOUR Test Q&As

Period 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years

The global crude scenario, and how India can benefit

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the articles by contributors and others are not necessarily those of the Publishers, unless specifically stated therein. While no effort is spared in ensuring the accuracy of the information published herein, readers are advised to reconfirm the current facts before acting upon any such information. The Publishers regret their inability to accept responsibility for any inadvertent errors of commission or omission in this issue. Readers are recommended to make appropriate inquiries before incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The publishers do not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of any products or services. The Publisher, Printers or Editor shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior permission from the publisher.

Top Ten New year resolutions

US elections: Its potential and the global impact

ROHIT AGGARWAL, CEO and Founder, Koenig Solutions

TANVI GUPTA, Alumnus, Gold Medallist, MICA

COUNTDOWN

CORPORATE WORLD

CORPORATE INTERVIEW

ALUMNI SPEAK

FEBRUARY 2016

Word Dose: Moments from a meagre life

Globescan

SuDoKu

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cover story

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

a A Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognized university A minimum experience of 5 years as on December 31, 2016. A consistent academic record A valid GMAT/CAT/XAT Score taken in past 3 years

Selection

application July 31, 2016

Dates* March 12 & 13, 2016 April 23 & 24, 2016

Venue* Mumbai

May 7 & 8, 2016 June 18 & 19, 2016

Bengaluru

June 25 & 26, 2016

Delhi

July 23 & 24, 2016

Kolkata

For further information you can write to us at admissionspgpm@spjimr.org Visit our website at www.spjimr.org/pgpm Call Urvija Singh on +91 22 61 454 388, +91 7045687955

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*The above dates & venue are subject to revision. *Only shortlisted candidates shall be called for an interview

Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 5

cover story

CAT 2015: If not, then what? When the CAT results were declared, many of you may not have scored as much as you would have wanted. But all is not lost. In this article, we explore other options that you might want to look at. The Advanc’edge Team

ith the CAT results now out, a lot of you will be ecstatic, scoring better than you’d hoped. Others might have gotten exactly what they predicted, while, let’s face it, some of you may have fared lower than expected. This article is for you, if you belong to the third category. Let us explore three different paths that you can take, if you feel that your CAT scores are not up to the mark, and you might not get admission into your dream B-school.

Option 1: Retake the CAT

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The first and foremost option is the most obvious. Wait for another year, prepare again, plug all the gaps that you feel still remain, and take the CAT again in 2016.

6 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

If you think this doesn’t seem like the ideal option, think again. In this one year, you can actually increase your chances of getting an admission into your dream business school. For freshers, the best course of action is to start working somewhere, preferably in the field in which they would want to specialise. This means that when you’re taking the CAT next year, not only do you know more about your preferred choice of field and career, you’re more confident, and, of course, you have a year’s worth of work experience. This adds a lot of weight to your profile, as the selection process at all the institutes includes a weightage for work experience. For those already working, use this additional year to plug

your gaps, as mentioned before, and do something that adds to your profile. Get involved in community service, start a serious hobby that you can build into a passion, learn a language, get an additional certification. Think of this extra year as a gift you can use to make sure you crack the CAT next year.

Option 2: Other tests Then there are the other tests, of course. If you’ve already registered for and taken the SNAP, NMAT, TISS, XAT, etc, you have already covered your bases. A good score in any one of these tests will ensure that you are halfway to a good business school. Even if you hadn’t registered for these tests, there are lots more to do. To start off, take tests like the MH-CET. This test is the entrance exam to some top business schools in Maharashtra, including names like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, etc. Admission to nearly 85 per cent of the total seats in Maharashtra will be given through the MH-CET. Similarly, the other state specific tests are TANCET (Tamil Nadu), ICET

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cover story

Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 7

cover story (Andhra Pradesh), PGCET or KMAT (Karnataka), etc. You can also choose to get enrolled in niche programmes like the Business Analytics programme at Praxis Business School, Kolkata. Given that Data Analytics is becoming one of the most important aspects of an organisation’s functioning, the demand for quality business analysts is growing, and Business Analytics programmes offer a highly successful career option.

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Option 3: education

International

Finally, the third option is to explore getting an MBA degree from an international university. Naturally, this has its own advantages and disadvantages, but it is certainly a viable option, especially if there are programmes that begin in 2016, which means that you don’t miss out on a year at all. To pursue an international MBA programme, you will need to write the GMAT. Reportedly, the GMAT is easier than the CAT, which is said to be the toughest MBA entrance exam. The advantage of GMAT is that it can be taken anytime during the year, which means you can prepare for it and take the test when you’re most confident. So you can always prepare for both the GMAT, as well as to retake the CAT in 2016. One of the best takeaways from studying at an international university is the kind of peers you get to meet. With a class that is comprised of students from 10 or 11 different countries and faculty from across the world, the learning experience is almost unparalleled when you consider the exposure you get. So, at

8 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

global MBA programmes, since there are individuals of so many different nationalities in one class, students end up learning not only from their professors but also from their classmates. Today, European universities top most of the lists, with European business schools having the seven highest 5-year MBA gains in the world. For instance, at IMD (Switzerland), students are currently earning US$2,11,000 five years out of school after arriving in Lausanne, Switzerland with a median salary of US$84,000. This equates to almost three times the pre-MBA salary! Moreover, graduating students are placed in companies

IF YOU’VE NOT SCORED AS WELL AS YOU’D HOPED, DON’T GIVE UP. THERE ARE MANY OTHER OPTIONS. across the world, which leads to even more exposure in terms of culture, markets and workforce. This also means that the students get access to a large network of alumni who are working in companies across the world. Another advantage of an international MBA is that except in the US, most programmes are a one-year or 15 month course. This means that students don’t have to invest two full years to get their MBA and get a career boost. In fact, one-year programs are also slowly becoming popular in the US, as business schools look to offer an alternative to students who don’t want to be out of the workforce for two years.

MiM programmes Finally, there are also Masters in Management (MiM) programmes offered in institutes across the world. MiM programmes are designed for people in the early stages of their career – right after their undergraduate degree or after about a year on the job. Most business schools do not even require or ask mandatorily for professional experience for their MiM programmes. The programme is mainly targeted at candidates with non-business related undergraduate degrees such as in Humanities, Science, Arts or Engineering, and at those with a background in business studies. The length of MiM programmes are also usually just a year, and include a compulsory internship. As for tuition fees, MiM programmes are cheaper than MBA programmes. While tuition fees at the most expensive full-time MBA programmes can reach as high as €70,000, the most expensive MiM programmes cost only around half of that. The primary disadvantage for most Indian students is the cost involved in getting an MBA from an international business school. However, that disadvantage too is slowly fading, as more and more institutes have started offering scholarships that can go as high as even the full course fees. Apart from this, getting loans for studying at an international institute is far easier today than ever before; this adds to the affordability of these international programmes. A

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Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 9

mba buzz

Preparing for the Personal Interview A thorough reading of the current economic and corporate scenario along with strong analytical skills can help candidates create the required ‘a good first-impression’ to the interviewers at the Personal Interview round, post the CAT. Dr Suresh Srinivasan

s the saying goes, “You get a chance to make a firstimpression only once.” And this is a chance that should not be missed. The Personal Interview is a good platform to create that first impression. To achieve this, one just can’t wish it to happen that way. One has to work for it. This is absolutely possible if one systematically works towards making the first impression perfectly immaculate. How can one prepare for this? Proactive preparation ahead of the personal interview is the only solution.

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Introducing oneself A typical business school interview starts with a question, which can be something like, “Tell us about yourself.” The panel expects a crisp “elevator pitch” type of answer for 60 seconds, briefly touching upon one’s academic and other personal achievements and areas of interest. Such a question is a great opportunity for the candidate as it serves as a tool to steer the interview panel towards an area where one is well prepared. The key words the candidate uses while answering such a question will have a major impact on

10 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

how the interview shapes up over the next 15 minutes or so.

Steering the interview towards a familiar domain While responding to such a question, after providing some brief personal details (which anyway is available as a part of your CV with the panel) make a statement like “I regularly keep track of some of my favourite companies and the strategies they pursue.” This could be an open ended statement and in effect the candidate is steering the interviewer towards an area on which the candidate has clearly done a detailed work and is well prepared and rehearsed. When you make business relevant statements like these, it is highly probable that the members of the panel will delve deeper into such statements and possibly move

ONCE YOU’RE CONVINCED OF YOUR OWN LIFE CHOICES, IT ISN’T HARD TO CONVINCE ANOTHER PERSON.

to the next question something like, “Okay, tell us something about one of your favourite companies and what strategies you think they have been following.” So, if you have proactively prepared some detailed analysis on a company like say, ITC or Infosys, you are much better off for constructively holding on to at least 20% to 25% of the interview time by laying down a clear analysis with suitable examples. Of course there could be some dynamism and everything is not likely to be exactly like the way you planned; but, predominantly you are likely to be in control of a large part of the conversation that is likely to follow.

Reading up on companies There is no better way than preparing yourself on some of your favourite companies and industries. Pick up a few industries (telecom, FMCG, ITES, etc.) and choose at least one company in each of these industries. Read thoroughly about them, understand them, look up for the current major issues in these industries, how these companies are performing and how their competitors are reacting. Such preparation will place you

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Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 11

mba buzz well for the discussions you need to hold on to, in the personal interview. Reading the Corporate World section of Advanc’edge magazine will help you as a starting point which you can develop further through regular reading of a business daily, tracking such companies and industries until the date of the personal interview. Being familiar with emerging industries like e-Commerce and internet based aggregators (like Ola, Uber, etc.) will be useful. You will be considered to be keeping track of latest developments in emerging industries.

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Demonstrating capability

analytical

Demonstrating analytical capability in the personal interview is another area that is extremely important. Say, five areas where you can focus are detailed below. These can be used somewhere with many of the questions that come along in the personal interview: Familiarising yourself with details of India’s population is important, for example India’s overall population is 1.2 crores. Make a note of the number of people who are above poverty line. Get to know the literacy level of the nation along with the economic status and per capita income. It is also essential to know the household income and spending patterns of the Indians. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) reports are very useful and will help you on this front. Additionally, gather information on familiar areas of retail market in India: its size, players, growth potential, etc, telecom/ broadband/ mobile/ Internet penetration and India market capitalisation, top 30 Indian companies and many other such topics. These will help you in anchoring your conversation to solid analytical logic. All the best! A

12 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

Nine tips to maintain a positive body language 1. Make eye contact Candidates often gaze down, look at the wall behind the interviewers, or simply look away from them. Never, ever, lose eye contact with your interviewers. Making friendly eye-contact can instantly connect you with them, and build trust and likeability. But remember, don’t stare! 2. Smile Interviews are stressful. But you can make them look and feel easier by smiling, both for you and your interviewers. Keeping a straight or nervous face is not a way to engage your audience. Smile genuinely. Your interviewers might burst with laughter at a point. It is okay to laugh with them, but keep it to a minimum. You don’t want to come across as a clown! 3. Have a firm handshake The handshake, and how you lead up to it, makes an immense first impression. Approach your interviewers with a smile and give a firm handshake, that exerts a comfortable pressure. Don’t show off a vice-like grip. A limp and floppy handshake is equally bad. If you are nervous and sweating, wipe your hand before entering the room. 4. Don’t fidget Fidgeting with your hands is extremely distracting. Don’t pop your knuckles or bite your nails or skin around them during an interview. 5. Don’t make unnecessary body movements Hand gestures are used to convey important points. But overdoing it is pointless. Rolling your eyes, however tempting, conveys disdain, impatience and disrespect. Avoid it. Don’t keep shaking your leg. Finally, don’t nod at everything. Thinking that it will stand you in good stead is wrong. It is normal to nod in agreement when you genuinely agree with what is being said, but avoid it when you don’t. Similarly, don’t shake your head if you disagree with something. Express your disagreement by speaking facts and logic. 6. Don’t touch your face or hair Touching your face or hair often sends out a message that you are either nervous, or dishonest. Avoid it. 7. Don’t dither, and don’t ever swear! Try your best to avoid phonetic fillers, such as “umm”, “you know” and “like” while talking. Swear words, it goes without saying, are a complete “no”. 8. Don’t rush Try not to rush through your speech, and miss out important points. Running out of time can make you look unprepared. Don’t speak fast, speak clearly instead. Put across your thoughts and ideas, rather than finishing your speech! 9. Sit straight, don’t slouch When you take the seat opposite your interviewers, sit in a relaxed and professional manner. Don’t be stiff and don’t slouch. The former may make you look prudish, and the latter will make you look messy, disrespectful, and even lazy. Also, don’t cross your arms. Your interviewers may assume you are closed off, defensive, or simply, bored. — Amarendra Singh PI expert

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YOUR ONE

STOP SOLUTION FOR

GENERAL AWARENESS

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PREPARATION

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 13

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CMAT 2016: Test Analysis

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MAT January 2016 was conducted on a single day test window on January 17, in a single day and single slot from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, thereby eliminating anxieties over normalisation of scores. Each centre accommodated a vast number of students. This delayed the start of the test in many centres, as students had to wait for the completion of the biometric authentication process. At some centres, the students were asked to queue up after the test for the completion of the biometric process. As per student feedback, there were no major technical glitches during the test. Overall, the test was moderately difficult and marginally tougher than the previous year. The Logical Reasoning section had a number of easy questions. All the 25 questions were individual questions. The Quantitative Ability section had 5 to 6 questions of medium to difficult levels, but the rest were easy. The English section contained five to six difficult questions; the rest were of an easy-to-medium level of difficulty. The General Knowledge section, which is generally the differentiating section, was the most challenging, with tougher questions. Let us move on to our analysis and feeback on the different sections in CMAT 2016.

14 Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016

Table 1 No of Specifics Qs. Algebra 2 Roots of quadratic equations Numbers 3 Prime numbers, Odd /Even Factors, Divisibilty Time Speed & Distance (2), Profit & Loss (3), Arithmetic 9 Averages (2), Problem on Ages (1), Mixtures (1) Geometry 4 Ellipse, Circle, Parralelograms, Equation of a line Modern Math 4 Venn Diagram, Logarithm, Probability, Progression Data 3 Pie Chart (2) and Line Graph (1) Interpretation Area

Quantitative Technique and Data Interpretation This section can be rated as having an overall moderate difficulty level, primarily on account of the 5 to 6 medium to difficult questions. As in the previous CMATs, all questions in this section were single questions and no set-based ones. This section was heavily dominated by Arithmetic-based questions, most of which were quite easy. Table 2 Area Arrangements Groups and Conditionalities Clocks Cubes Visual Reasoning Directions Coding Family Tree Data Sufficiency Fact-based inference Statement/Implication Statement/Conclusion

Qs. 9 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1

Amongst the questions which students found most challenging, one was based on quadratic roots and the other on the minor axis of the ellipse. The question based on the mixtures of metals and the problems on ages were relatively time consuming, felt some of the students. The Data Interpretation questions were all easy and should have been attempted. One of the questions on pie charts was ambiguous because Specifics Circular, Linear, Matrix

One using symbol based logic Based on Arrangements

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Conceptualized as a centre for excellence in teaching, training, research and consultancy in International Business, GITAM School of International Business (formerly GIFT) is acclaimed as one of the topranking B-Schools in International Business in the country. It is part of a 100-acre campus of 35 year-old Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Visakhapatnam, which is now declared as GITAM UNIVERSITY u/s 3 of the UGC Act 1956. The School has positioned some of the internationally eminent and experienced faculty. It has the best core and visiting faculty, who have rich experience from the reputed B-schools and industry in the country and from abroad.

Ø Admission Criteria :

Second Class or equivalent grade in any Bachelor's Degree (after 10+2) from a recognized University. Those awaiting results of Final Year Degree examinations may also apply. However, if proof of graduation is not submitted by 30th, September 2016, their admission will be automatically cancelled without refund of fee. Valid test scores in CAT-2015 / XAT-2016 / MAT - (Sep-2015, Dec2015, Feb-2016 and May-2016) / GET'16 (GSIB Entrance Test 2016) / GMAT/CMAT – 1st & 2nd tests.

Ø Admission Process :

Admission process shall include test (if applicable) and GD/PI which will be conducted at Bengaluru/Bhubaneswar/Chennai /Delhi/Guwahati/Hyderabad/Indore/Kolkata/Mangalore/Mumbai/ Nagpur/Raipur/Ranchi/Visakhapatnam. GSIB reserves the right to add or delete any centre(s).

Ø How to Apply :

Application can be submitted “on line” by visiting our website: Application can be submitted “on line” by visiting our website: downloaded from the School's website www.gsib.org and submitted duly filled-in, enclosing a DD for Rs.1000/- in favour of “GITAM School International Business”, payable at Visakhapatnam. Candidates can register for GSIB Entrance Test GET'16 in the same application by paying an additional fee of Rs.500/-

Last date for submission of application GSIB Test - GET 16 GD & PI Announcement of Results

ü Admissions criteria :

Any Graduate or Post Graduate in Mathematics, Statistics, Commerce, Computer Application, Economics, Business Administration, Engineering/Technology, Chartered Accountancy, Cost Accountancy, and Certified Financial Analyst with 50% marks is eligible to apply. Candidates who are in the final year also eligible to apply provided they complete their final education as specified above by September, 2016

: 21-03-2016 : 26-03-2016 : 27-03-2016 : 28-03-2016

The candidates will be selected on the basis of their aggregate scores in Business Analytics Entrance Test BET-16 (multiple choice types) and Personal Interview (PI). Due weightage will be given to the candidates with good academic record and relevant industry experience.

ü How to Apply :

Application can be submitted “on line” by visiting our website: www.gsib.org Alternatively, the application can also be downloaded from the school's website www.gsib.org and submitted duly filled-in, enclosing a DD for Rs.1000/- in favour of “GITAM School of International Business”, payable at Visakhapatnam.

ü Timeline:

Last date for submission of application BET-16 GD & PI Announcement of Results

: 25-01-2016 : 30-01-2016 : 31-01-2016 : 01-02-2016

III. Ph.D (FT/PT) Programmes F Admissions criteria :

(I) Post-graduate degree holders of GITAM University or any other recognized university with a II class securing at least 55% of marks or equivalent grade (50% in case of SC/ST candidates)in the concerned subject or in an allied subject, can apply for full-time or part-time Ph.D. programme and their admission is based on the merit in the entrance test GRAT and personal interview. (ii)Preference will be given to candidates with UGC /CSIR NET qualification subject to the fulfillment of the above condition. l

Admission Process :

How to Apply :

Timeline:

Those short-listed for admission to M.Phil/ Ph.D Programme (FT/PT) at GITAM School of International Business shall have to take a written test which will be for 60 marks, and appear for an Interview which will be 40 marks. Candidates have to submit a separate application form for each programme (M.Phil / Ph.D) along with a Demand Draft for Rs.3000/(Rupees three thousand only) towards registration fee in favor of GITAM Schoolof International Business, drawn on any scheduled bank payable at Visakhapatnam. Last date for submission of application : 16-07-2016 Admission Test & Interview : 17-07-2016 Announcement of Results : 19-07-2016

for MBA & PGDBA Contact: Chairperson – Admissions GITAM Schoolof International Business GITAM University, Visakhapatnam – 530045, India. Tel:0891-2840413/400 Email:admission@gsib.org,URL:www.gsib.org

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MBA- International Business MBA- International Banking and Finance MBA- Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Ø Timeline :

One year Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) Co-branded with IBM

ü Admission Process :

I. MBA Programmes Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

II. PGDBA Programme

for Ph. D (FT/PT) Programmes Contact: Prof. R.Venkateswarlu, Chairperson-Research Programmes GITAM School of International Business GITAM Campus, Rushikonda, Visakhapatnam–530 045 Ph +91–0891-2840406/ 09441354376 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 15 Email: researchadmissions@gitam.edu ,URL:www.gsib.org

mba buzz of two close options. It would have been a good idea to attempt the sitters first and then come back to solve the tougher lot of questions later. A general snapshot is as follows: In around 50 to 55 minutes, around 21 to 22 attempts with 85 to 90% accuracy would be considered good.

Logical Reasoning

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This section can be rated to have been on the easier side. This section was dominated by Arrangements and Group & Conditionality questions. Most of the questions were not lengthy, even the ones based on Arrangements and Groups & Conditionality. Similar to the previous section, this section too had single questions only and no setbased ones. The single question on Visual Reasoning was found to be difficult by most students. Around 3 to 4 questions on Arrangements and Groups & Conditionality were time consuming, primarily because the questions included a lot of data. There were three questions based on verbal reasoning, including one each on fact-based inference, statement/ implication

and statement/ conclusion type. There was one question on Data Sufficiency based on arrangements. In this section too, it would have been advisable to solve the sitters first and not waste too much time on solving the time consuming questions initially. A general snapshot is as follows: In this section, 20 to 22 attempts, with 85 to 90% accuracy, solved in around 50 to 55 minutes would be considered good.

Language Comprehension This section was quite similar to the earlier CMAT. There were four passages with a total of 15 questions. The questions accompanying the passage were of moderate difficulty level. Three of the passages were short (about 200 to 300 words each) and contained three questions each. One was long (about 700 words) and contained six questions. Most of the questions were inference-based, however, some involved critical reasoning. The long passage was on “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”, and the questions were of easy-to-medium difficulty level. The two short passages

Table 3 Area Qs. Specifics Reading Comprehension 15 4 passages Option that weakens the 1 1 question argument 1 synonym of a word in a sentence, Synonyms 2 1 standalone word ‘Arcane’ 1 Idiom based Fill in the blanks 2 1 Identify a word pair that will fit the single blank Idiom-based match 1 1 Match four idioms with their meanings 3 Identify correct sentences, Grammar 4 1 Identify correct words from homonyms in four sentences

16 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

were based on “Failure/Success” and “Gender Diversity at the Workplace”. Their questions were on the easier side. One short passage was on “Ageing and Baby Boomers”. It contained three difficult questions and would have been best left without being attempted. In 4 or 5 questions, the options were close. Out of the remaining 10 questions, 6 were simple for someone who had been preparing vocabulary and grammar. However, 3 to 4 vocabulary, idiom and grammar-based questions were challenging. A general snapshot is as follows: Around 20 to 22 attempts, with 85 to 90% accuracy, solved in around 50 to 55 minutes would be considered good.

General Knowledge Almost 22 questions in this section were static and three dealt with current affairs. The questions were spread across all areas — science, history, geography, literature, Indian culture, sports, business and economics. Around six questions were easy, 11 medium and eight difficult. Around three questions were based on Indian events and 22 on international ones. A general snapshot is as follows: In this section, 10 to 12 attempts, with around 80% accuracy, would be considered good. Overall, a score of around 225 to 230 should be a good enough score to get a GD-PI call from Goa Institute of Management and a score of around 260 to 265 would be required to get a call from KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. A

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Indian Education Society’s

Management College and Research Centre ‘Vishwakarma’ M. D. Lotlikar Vidya Sankul, Plot No. 791, Shri Krishnachand Marg, Bandra Reclamation, Mumbai - 400 050.

HIGHLIGHTS

INDICATIVE LIST OF RECRUITERS

More than 100 Years Old Legacy in Education.

15-Years of Excellence in Management Education.

Curriculum Vetted by Industry Professionals.

100% Placement Assistance.

AIMA - National Best Budding Manager Award recipient 2012, 2013

Recipient of Institutional Innovation Award for LTM Module in Annual AIMS Convention 2015.

Average Industry Experience of Faculty: More than 10 Years

Ph.D. Study Centre for SNDT Women's University, Mumbai and Macquarie University, Australia

ADMISSIONS 2016-18 PGDM - 120 Seats Eligibility

PGDM (Pharma and Healthcare Management)- 60 Seats Eligibility

} Bachelor degree in any discipline from a recognized } Bachelor degree in Pharmacy, Medicine, Biology, Chemistry University with minimum 50% marks in aggregate or equivalent and other Life Sciences with minimum 50% marks in aggregate or grade. equivalent grade.

Tests* Accepted

GMAT /CAT (2015) /XAT (2016)/MAT (2015-16)/ATMA (2015-16)/CMAT (2015-16)/MH-CET (2016) *IIMs or any other agency conducting the above tests have no role in the selection process of IES MCRC.

www.ies.edu/managment

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Final year students awaiting results may also apply.

Call us on - +91-22-61378329/330 (O), 9029201800 (MO) Reach to us at - admissions@ies.edu Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 17

corporate interview

‘Managers today need to be updated about tech’ …feels ROHIT AGGARWAL, CEO and Founder, Koenig Solutions. In an interview with Alolika Banerjee, Aggarwal, a man who has seen intense struggle during the initial days of his business, advises the youngsters of today not give up on their dreams but carry on the struggle. Q. Tell us about your journey from student to CEO. The journey has been quite an interesting one with varied experiences. I graduated from Punjab Engineering College in 1992, and at that time, India was in the middle of the IT boom. I too was eager to start my own company in information technology. I had heard a lot about IT exports and was initially keen to start with that. To be honest, I really didn’t have much idea about things at that point in time, and I thought of hiring a few people who knew IT, and had developed software for different companies. I wanted to start off as a training company and then market abroad as a brand that develops software for other companies. That was when the seeds of Koenig Solutions being a training company were sown. I saw many ups and downs in that phase. In fact, the early years were so turbulent that even though the company did well in brief phases, we ran losses for nearly the first eight years. Those were my years of

struggle. I was young, inexperienced and a complete novice in this competitive business world. I wasn’t even an MBA! It seemed like I had jumped into the ocean without learning how to swim first. During that time, my father was my greatest strength. Words can’t describe the support he gave me, even when I had all but quit. I slowly learnt the nuances of the trade from him, since he was already a businessman. We grew every day slowly, but steadily. And then, after a point, there was no looking back.

Q. Why did you choose the name Koenig? Koenig is a German word and it means “the king”. However, Germans pronounce it differently. My father was in the manufacturing business, and the name of his company was Koenig Electronics. He wanted me to join his business, but I was keen to start something on my own. And when I did, I named it Koenig Solutions, in tune with the name of my father’s company.

Q. What does Koenig Solutions do?

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We provide training on all popular platforms like Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, VMware, Red Hat, SAP, Adobe, Apple, Salesforce, Android, Symantec, etc to customers in over 50 countries of the world. These are all highly technical trainings with end-to-end solutions for people who run back-end operations and are into IT solutions. Most of our trainees work in Fortune 500 companies and governments all over the world.

Q. When did the concept of imparting training and making it a source of your sustenance come to you? Starting a company that provides IT training was certainly a coincidence. I started the training part with the objective of getting into IT exports. But in the end, I didn’t delve into the latter after all. IT training served Turn to Pg 22

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corporate interview

20 Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016

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Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 21

corporate interview What is a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC)? A MOOC is an online course with the option of free and open registration, a publicly-shared curriculum, and open-ended outcomes. The term MOOC was coined during the course “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” by Dave Cormier, from the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada). MOOCs integrate social networking, accessible online resources, and are facilitated by leading practitioners in the field of study. Most significantly, MOOCs build on the engagement of learners who self-organize their participation according to learning goals, prior knowledge and skills, and common interests. MOOCs are the natural evolution of OpenCourseWare, first created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2001. Therefore, it does not surprise that the MIT also leads the development of MOOCs, first with MITx, and then with edX.

me well here. All I can say is that it was not by choice — IT training started off as a means but turned out to be the ultimate goal of our business.

Q. What is the biggest lesson that you have learnt personally from challenges you faced along the way? From all that I have been through, I can say that I have learnt one very important lesson in life — try your luck in tested waters and then take up bigger challenges. It’s better to swim in shallow water first, and then go to a swimming pool, then a pond, from where a person can venture into a slow moving river to finally try one’s luck in the ocean. It is unadvisable to jump into the ocean without knowing how to swim, as I had done. Another lesson I’ve learnt — although it is an often repeated one — is not to bite off more than one can chew. This is very crucial for those who start a business. The founder has no demarcated role, and has to play multiple roles — from being the HR, finance analyst, sales person, marketing guy and many others. So it is better to go slow and steady, rather than try to do everything together.

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Q. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are currently the new wave that lends a whole new dimension to learning. How far do you think education globally is changing because of MOOC? Yes, MOOC is everywhere and even our Prime Minister is talking about it. MOOCs are becoming more and more popular since they are free and anyone enrolling for them can buy the services of a teacher who is truly valuable. So there’s more and more good quality learning, thanks to MOOC. Teachers play an intrinsic element in making

22 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

education a delightful experience. And in a MOOC, there is no place for bad teachers. People are buying the services of revered teachers, teachers who are knowledgeable and are aware of the best way to teach. In this way the quality of learning is improving with MOOC. Quality of training will also go up because the teachers don’t have monopoly over the content.

Q. How does Koenig’s “fly-me-atrainer” concept work?

A lot of companies in India or abroad often introduce different modules, for which they need in-house training for their employees. We send qualified trainers to their offices to conduct programmes. We are the biggest in the IT sector when it comes to providing this kind of service.

Q. Are there any negatives to this form of training? A MOOC is good for a basic level of learning. It’s good for people who are highly motivated to learn and also have time on their hand, because when you learn on your own, you tend to take longer to finish your course. But if someone has a time crunch, for instance, it will be very difficult for him or her to upgrade oneself through learning via MOOC.

Q. In this hugely competitive corporate world, what’s the role of Information Technology for young managers? I feel it’s mandatory for managers today to have knowledge of information technology. In today’s world, a lot can be achieved with the use of technology, and running a company is no exception. From conceptualising to execution, everything can be smoothly handled by using the right technology. So, managers need to go beyond the basic tech savviness, and keep familiarising themselves with new technology concepts. Today the primary prerogative of technology is to make life smooth and easy for the users. For example, in case there is a natural calamity, drones can reach out and provide faster relief than conventional methods. However, one needs to know what a drone is first, and only then does the question of using it arise!

Q. According to you, what are the three qualities which are essential for anyone to become an entrepreneur?

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corporate interview

Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 23

corporate interview Different things work for different people, so it’s difficult to pinpoint certain specific qualities. However, I can say from my experience that to be an entrepreneur and be successful in it, one needs to have a clear vision of what they want. That’s the first and foremost quality. Secondly, maintain the perseverance and determination to turn your dream into reality. There will be hurdles and bumps on the road, but whoever can survive through the lean patches will emerge the winner in the end. And lastly, there is no compromise for honest and hard work. An entrepreneur has to put in hard work and be honest towards the customers, investors and employees.

Q. To what or whom would you attribute the success of your venture? I attribute this success to everyone except myself. My father, my investors, people who work in our company, and work much harder than me, deserve the real credit. I also attribute our success to our customers, who are kind enough to take our services and recommend us to others. All these priceless people play a pivotal role in running Koenig Solutions, for which they might not even be getting the return as I get.

Q. What is your mantra for coping with negative experiences or setbacks? Share with us some of your experiences. Everyone has to realise that ups and downs are part of any journey. Nothing can remain perpetually smooth and wonderful. Accordingly, our emotions at different stages, be it success or failure, should not be so overpowering that we forget the real

MANAGERS TODAY NEED TO KEEP THEMSELVES UPDATED ABOUT THE LATEST TECH CONCEPTS AND INNOVATIONS. essence of life. Happiness must not make us overly ecstatic and sadness should not make us thoroughly despondent. That’s the mantra of life and my philosophy as well. Good and bad come in phases; all we need to do is persevere and not lose our hope. Hard work must be carried on at all cost.

Q. During an interview, what are the qualities you look for in a candidate? I mostly look for people who are energetic, open to new ideas and have an ability to adjust. Energy and determination are crucial to how far one advances in one’s career.

Q. Do you think it’s essential to have an MBA degree to succeed in today’s competitive world scenario? I believe it is. I have not done MBA, but I have read many books on management and training and that learning has helped me in my day-to-day running of the business. Practical knowledge and wit as well as management education are necessary for people to make a mark in the corporate world.

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Q. What advice would you give to someone who is starting out in their career?

Rohit Aggarwal at Koenig Koshish, a CSR initiative.

24 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

My advice to youngsters would be to first introspect and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Once they do so, they can pursue their dreams, keeping in mind both their strengths and weaknesses. When the strengths sync with their aspirations, everything will fall into place. Finally, youngsters need to persevere against the thousands of odds coming their way. That is the only mantra for success. A

corporate interview

Industry Engagements at PGPM

at the beginning of the programme. The participants have to articulate their career aspirations at the end of their journey with SPJIMR. Efforts are made to understand the thought process that goes into career planning and help is extended to discover

Placement Process

Samavesh This is an annual industry-academia conclave organised by PGPM students at SPJIMR, Mumbai. In this summit, virtuosos from the industry and academia get together to discuss contemporary business issues and answer some momentous questions prevailing in today’s business world. Such knowledge will provide you with food for thought. Over the years, this summit has witnessed distinguished business leaders, spanning various domains share their insights into real world business problems, their solutions and most importantly what it takes to run businesses successfully.

Profile Mapping: This is an activity which is conducted

As the placement cycle nears, enhancement programmes are held: } Resume review workshops are conducted } Mock interviews sessions are conducted } Grooming workshops are conducted

opportunities based on individual backgrounds, qualifications and previous experiences. This is done by organizing a very involved one-on-one interaction sessions with the in-house team of faculty & industry experts. Based on the gap analysis, the team of experts suggests the skills that need to be developed, the kind of projects/ research work that needs to be take up. Personality development exercise:

For PGPM, a rolling placement system is followed over 4 months from September through December. Placements commence with a series of pre-placement talks (PPT) by recruiters to the students. On campus interviews are lined up by the Placements team, which strategizes on the sequencing of companies so as to give the best opportunity to the participants. Since the placements is at lateral levels, due emphasis is given to the line up of companies and jobs profiles which match the functional expertise and career aspirations of the participants. All the activities are channelized to leverage the past experience of the participants to make them ready for the company – ‘to hit the ground running’! For more information on industry interactions, please refer to the video of Dr. Radhika, who talks about insights into PGPM industry interaction & placements at http:// www.spjimr.org/pgpm/ A

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The PGPM programme at S P Jain Institute of Management & Research is carefully tailored to meet real-time industry requirements, thus leveraging the participant’s experience. Regular inputs from members of diverse industries will help keep abreast of current practices, emerging trends, areas of focus and career tracks. A strong representation from the industry on the Advisory Board of the programme boosts it further. The process is a continuous augmentation of career graph through: } Guest Lecture series } Industry led courses } Alumni Mentorship programmes } Live projects – Domain Study } Industry Academia Conclave: Samavesh

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 25

corporate interview

Better days ahead for MBA education in India …feel the professors at Amrita School of Business. The institute is coming up with pathbreaking programmes to make sure students get the best possible experience for life and living. Q1. What are your views on the current state of management education in the country today? (Response from Sri Rajiv Nair, Assistant Professor, Amrita University MBAs Program, Amritapuri) The current state of management education in India is probably best described as changing for the better. The need for an industry-academia partnership has never been more explicit as it is now. As the number of B-schools approach optimal levels it will help industry assist them in developing managers who can hit the ground running and add value from the very earliest stages of their careers. The standard B-school curriculum with an inevitable skew to Western perspectives is perhaps unavoidable in the first year of the curriculum. However I feel we are in an excellent position now to augment that with indigenous techniques and methods used successfully by firms in this market.

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Q2. You have been in the education industry for a long time. What do you think is the future of the MBA degree? (Response from Sri Rajiv Nair, Assistant Professor, Amrita University MBA Program, Amritapuri) Well, it should be fairly obvious from my earlier comments that I believe the future is healthy. In fact the 5th Indian Management Conclave, 2014, also lends credence to my views. In line with the Conclave, I feel that the attention to skill development, higher standards at management education providers and rapid metamorphosis on pedagogy with the advent of new technologies such as MOOCs augur well for MBA aspirants. Q3. According to you, how should students spend their time at ASB in order to make the most of the MBA experience at your institute? (Response from Sri Sougata Ray, Assistant Professor, Amrita University MBA Program, Amritapuri) We want our students to come with an open

mind and utilise their stay at the institute to the maximum possible. Students should be prepared to work in groups for their assignments and projects. Reading is a must. Not only should they use their text books, but read newspapers, business journals, case studies and so on. We ensure that our students get the best of management education for life and living which results in greater societal benefit. Q4. How does the AMRITA MBA, MBA-MS program prepare students for industry? (Response from Sri Avinash Shivdas, Assistant Professor, Amrita University MBA Program, Amritapuri) The AMRITA MBA, MBA-MS programmes are designed to provide complete holistic education - Education for life and Education for living, which is the vision of our chancellor, Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. As a part of education for living, we prepare students to be competent in the industry by the concept of experiential learning. Experts offer workshops across all specialisations, industry visits, a 10-week summer-internship programme that gives them real-time hands on experience. The introduction of BUSINESS ANALYTICS as a separate specialisation depicts the futuristic view of our curriculum design. The AMRITA MBA - MS dual degree program offered at the Bengaluru campus is designed jointly with SUNY-Buffalo, USA. Eminent professors from the US offer courses in the Bengaluru campus. Students also have the opportunity to travel to SUNY-Buffalo as a part of the programme. The most unique aspect of the AMRITA MBA and the MBA- MS programmes is the emphasis on education for life, where the vision of the students are enhanced to encompass protecting the planet and its people. Students have participated in clean up drives, initiated several ‘go green’ initiatives and many more initiatives. A Advt.

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corporate interview

Amrita School of Business

BT 2015 RANKING

TEST PERCENTILE CUT OFF CAT XAT GRE GMAT* MAT* CMAT*

60%* and above

B-SCHOOL DETAILS Amrita Nagar P.O., Ettimadai, Coimbatore-641 112 S 0422 2685455 0 0422-2686274 + asb@amrita.edu 8 www.amrita.edu/asb

PROGRAMMES OFFERED Flagship Programme MBA, MBA -MS* Other major programmes Executive MBA-MS* , Ph.D*

Total no. of students Percentage of female students Work Experience Distribution Freshers 1 to 12 months 13 to 24 months 25 to 36 months More than 36 months Educational Background Engineering Commerce Science Arts Others

50 56 Yes 28,161 300 38 16000 plus 3 State-of-the-art facility Available

2 years Degree in any discipline which is recognized by the Association of Indian Universities with minimum Eligibility 50% and any one of the valid MBA Entrance test score (CAT/ MAT*/CMAT*/GMAT*/XAT/GRE) Work experience Desirable CAT/MAT*/GMAT*/GRE/XAT/CMAT+ Tests accepted TOEFL* Candidates will be shortlisted and selected based on the following criteria: • Academic Performance Selection procedure • Performance in the entrance exam (CAT/MAT*/CMAT*/GMAT*/GRE/XAT) • Performance in the personal interview. Date/month of test Provided by the vendor Distribution of forms November 2, 2015 commences from Last date/ month of February 29, 2016 submission of forms Residential (Yes/No) Both (Residential & Day scholar)

Total no. of students Students participating in placement process No. of companies No. of offers PPOs/Lateral offers International placements Highest domestic salary offered Highest international salary offered Mean domestic salary Median domestic salary

EXPENSES & ACCOMMODATION

Roles offered

Duration

Amritapuri Bangalore 2.4 L 4.5 L 2.4 L 4.5 L 1.3 L 1.4 L

76% 12% 6% 4% 2% 52% 25% 8% 9% 6%

FINAL PLACEMENTS (flagship programme) 2013-15

FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME - ADMISSIONS

Total Fees (1st year) Total Fees (2nd year) Hostel Rent & Mess fees

325 44%

Coimbatore 4.1 L 4.1 L 1.7 L

Kochi 2.4 L 2.4 L 1.4 L

Top recruiters (sector-wise)

Sectoral breakup

243 220 110 262 3 16 6.81 Lakhs 13.5 Lakshs 5.09 Lakhs 4.95 Lakhs Finance: L & T Financial Services: IndusInd Bank,Sundaram Finance Ltd., IT: TCS & HCL Technologies Bank: ING Vysya Bank,IndusInd Bank Telecom: Idea Cellular Marketing: Khimji Ramdas, Barakat (LLC), Federal Bank; Zoho Corporation; Net Elixir (PPO) Consulting: Crisil, Copal Amba, Mc Kinsey Management Trainee, Asst Manager, Floor Manager, Probationary Officer, Manager-Sales, IT 27%, BFSI 22%, Consumer Durables 11%, Consultancy 8%, FMCG 7%, Services 7%, Manufacturing 5%, Retail 4%, Telecom 4%, Education 3%, IT - BPO 2%

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No. of full time faculty No. of visiting faculty

Hostel facility Library No. of books No of periodicals subscribed No. of foreign journals subscribed No. of e-journals subscribed In-house publications Internet facility Broadband facility

BATCH PROFILE (2014-16 flagship programme)

---

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

Private

300

Advt. Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 27

alumni speak

Have a mindset that’s both qualitative and quantitative This is what MICA gold medallist and winner of the Dewang Mehta Award TANVI GUPTA believes every MBA aspirant should inculcate in themselves. In an interview with Advanc’edge MBA, she talks about the importance of a qualitative bent of mind, her time at MICA, and how it is different from IIM-B, where she is currently pursuing her PhD. Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. I was interested right from my school days in taking part in extracurricular activities, especially those that need a creative and artistic bent of mind. That was actually one of the reasons I’d chosen MICA, since it focuses on that creativity, compared to other business schools. Every student there has some or the other creative hobby, whether it by design or music or art. We would compete with each other on creativity. In fact, at MICA, there are regular advertising related competitions that require you to conceptualise and design an ad.

Q. How did MICA come about? I’ve been in Bangalore all my life, did my schooling and college there. My undergraduate degree was BBA. I’ve also worked part time while I was studying, first with an event management company, and volunteered in a lot of promotional activities for various brands, and then with a graphic design agency. That was when I developed the interest in the field of advertising.

At the time, the people I worked with told me about MICA. Of course, the IIMs are the most sought after B-schools, but for those of us interested in advertising, MICA is the place to be. So in my third year of bachelor’s, I enrolled with IMS for preparing for the CAT. I managed to crack the CAT, so I joined MICA as soon as I completed my undergraduate studies.

Q. Did you work experience help in joining MICA? B-schools, including MICA, don’t really consider part time jobs as work experience. So you might say that although I actually did have work experience, I was counted as a fresher when I joined MICA. But I must say that the work experience did help me a lot. I got a lot of exposure in my work, since I met a lot of people and handled a lot of clients in my roles. During the promotional activities, I often was left alone to manage an event or clients, and then in my role as a graphic designer, I interacted with people from Norway and Sweden. So going in to MICA, I had already had some practical exposure, which helped tremendously. Moreover, I think the kind of work experience you have will help. For instance, if you’ve been coding for two years, and then come to MICA, it won’t really make much of a difference. However, having said that, the simple fact of being exposed to an organisation is certainly a big help.

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Q. Did you get calls from other institutes after your CAT result?

28 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

Yes, I did get calls from IIM Shillong and a couple of other new IIMs. The first group discussion and personal interview was at MICA, though, for their flagship programme — PGPCM. When I went through that experience, I immediately decided that I would select MICA over any other institute! And they announced the result on the same day, so I knew I’d made it to the institute, so my path was set!

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alumni speak

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alumni speak

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Q. What was life like at MICA?

Q. What kind of placements do graduating

Well, it was the first time I had stepped out of Bangalore students at MICA get? for such a long period of time; I’d never even stayed Well, even though MICA is in many ways a B-school, in a hostel before. So the first few weeks were a bit there are a lot of elements that make it a C-school, or a of a culture shock for me, with people from all over communication school, as well. So while some students the country living in one place. But it did open up my get into advertising agencies and market research firms, mind a lot to different kinds of people with different a lot of MICA graduates move into the media industry. perspectives and cultures and thoughts. Finally, there are those who choose roles in brand MICA really had some life changing courses, management in different companies like L’Oréal or P&G. especially those on culture and communication. Basically But essentially, the roles fall into the marketing domain. the courses have a connection with the humanities. Personally, since I was looking specifically for a And between all the studies and peer interactions, we market research firm, I looked for companies separately, developed a sense of empathy, which I believe MICA is and did not participate in the placement process. I did unique among B-schools in creating. my own search on LinkedIn, targeted Millward Brown, Then there were courses on consumer behaviour, an American market research MNC, and wrote directly which connected marketing with psychology. In fact, to the managing director; I got that job. this course got me interested in market research, which is why I am doing my PhD right now at IIM Bangalore. Q. And you’re currently studying at IIM-B? Life at most B-schools is perceived to be very strict. Yes. I worked with Millward Brown for around three But it wasn’t so at MICA at all. We were quite relaxed years, first in quantitative research and then in the in the classroom, not under qualitative division. It was tremendous pressure. The there I decided to pursue professors were also very the fellow programme in PRACTISE THINKING jovial, almost like friends — marketing at IIM-B. INDEPENDENTLY, AND the stereotypical hierarchy didn’t exist at all. There are Q. How has your LEARN TO EXPRESS also a lot of extracurricular experience at IIM-B been YOURSELF IN AN activities taken up on different from MICA? campus, which add to the The fundamental way of ARTICULATE AND colour of the life at MICA. approach is very different — while MICA focuses on CREATIVE MANNER. Q. Tell us about your the qualitative and creative summer internship. aspect, IIM-B’s approach is You know, I did my summer far more quantitative. The internship at JWT, an ad agency in Bangalore, which focus at IIM-B is more heavily on quantitative analysis helped me focus my interest in research work through and interpretation than on the qualitative. the profile they gave me there. In case of summer So I find IIM-B somewhat stark, as compared internships, it is actually difficult for a student to choose to MICA. Numbers, at IIM-B, are paramount. This is the role they want in the company. You have to make natural, of course, because the vast majority here are your choice of company carefully, based on the area engineering toppers from IITs and other top institutes. you’re interested in. And because you’ll be doing the But I feel that my field requires both. I think that if the work hands on, this internship is a very good way to two could be somehow merged, it would be much more understand whether the field or role you want to get powerful than each of them singly. into is actually one you’ll remain interested in. At any ad agency, the roles are broadly classified into Q. Any words of advice for aspirants who are account planning and client servicing, and the former eyeing MICA? requires market research. My role was in account Practise being able to think independently, and more planning, so that really helped, even though the level importantly, you need to be able to express and of research that happens in an ad agency is not too articulate that thought in a creative, innovative way. rigorous. Have an academic interest in learning what you’re being Finally, JWT did offer me a pre-placement offer taught, because only then will you be able to do justice (PPO), but I didn’t accept the offer since I didn’t want to to the role in the organisation you join eventually, and work in an ad agency. ultimately to your career. A

30 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

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alumni speak

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alumni speak

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Because you shouldn't finish your MBA and still be a fresher

32 Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016

alumni speak

The Most Practical Business School ITM PGDM iConnect 2016-18 (AICTE APPROVED) We believe that a business education is incomplete without proper work experience. Thats why we have included a 5 Month Industry Internship into our PGDM program. Welcome to ITM Business School - The Most Practical B-School. The ITM-PGDM iConnect 2016-18 is a two-year full-time AICTE approved program. Join us on a developmental journey that will take you from inexperienced fresher to a ready-to-work manager.

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10 Specializations 5 Month full-time Industry Internship 225 hours of professional development Real, hands-on CSR projects 650 companies for campus placements

ELIGIBILITY You need a Bachelors Degree with min. 50% & either CAT, XAT, MAT, GMAT or CMAT

2015 Placements Snapshot Highest: Rs. 13.50 Lac Average CTC: Rs. 6.80 Lac

HOW TO APPLY App Kit Rs.200/- Submission Rs.1000/-

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Send a cheque/DD of Rs.200/- to our Admissions Office or buy the App Kit for Rs. 200/- from any ITM location.

Application Deadline 31st March 2016

Apply online at www.itm.edu/pgdm )1800 209 9727

Scan & visit us!

ITM Business School ITM Global Leadership Centre ITM Institute of Financial Markets

Bengaluru Chennai Mumbai Navi Mumbai Noida Warangal ADMISSIONS OFFICE: 1001, 10th Flr, Platinum Techno Park, Vashi, Navi Mumbai - 400703

* pgdm.admissions@itm.edu  www.itm.edu

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 33

Top10 count down

New Year Resolutions

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, And next year’s words await another voice.” -

T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Another year has begun, and no matter how grim and dismal the previous one had been, a new year ushers in the hope of a better tomorrow. It’s true that resolutions are sooner broken than taken, yet we can never resist coming up with fancy resolutions! The simple reason is that resolutions reflect our good intent and hope for making our lives as good as we would want them to be. Here’s a list of New Year resolutions taken by famous people in various years of their lives. Such resolutions might help us re-frame our to-do lists for the coming year and also get a glimpse of how their brilliant minds work.

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MARK ZUCKERBERG Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Facebook

34 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

This Internet entrepreneur clearly believes in taking resolutions and is quite vocal about them as well. Zuckerberg says he wants to build a basic smart home technology to customise his own home like Iron Man Tony Stark’s futuristic life. This year he has challenged himself to code his own version of JARVIS from Iron Man, the digital butler who controls Stark’s life and home. Zuckerberg plans to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then he’ll start teaching it to understand his voice to control everything in his home – music, lights, temperature and so on. He’ll teach it to let his friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. On the work side, it’ll help him visualise data in virtual reality to help him build better services and lead his company more effectively. Every challenge has a theme, and Zuckerberg wants to name this year’s theme as “invention”.

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OPRAH WINFREY American talk show host, actress, media proprietor The iconic talk show host, who set the standard for many others to follow, used to ask God each year for a new virtue, like courage or love, years back. Lately, though, she does not take resolutions, because she believes in moving with the flow and living for the moment. Well, it’s true that every day is a new day and good enough to take resolutions for a fresh start and a hopeful tomorrow.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC Tennis player, World Number 1

World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic has a beautiful resolution for 2016: “Let’s make one New Year’s resolution that we will all try to keep: To help someone in need and be someone’s hero, even if only for a day.” The Serbian tennis star, who apart from being one of the best tennis players in today’s arena, runs a charity foundation, Novak Djokovic Foundation, which he founded in 2007. He certainly is the hero for millions the world over for his game as well as his charitable causes.

JEFF BEZOS Founder and CEO of Amazon BARACK OBAMA US President

laws in the country. Referring to the issue, Obama said in his weekly radio address that his New Year’s resolution for 2016 was to move forward on that unfinished business as much as he could. He asked US citizens to help him fight an “epidemic of gun violence” and a “gun lobby [that] is loud and well organised.”

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Jeff Bezos has a rather unique New Year’s resolution – nab an Oscar! The Amazon CEO, whose company picked up two Golden Globes and two Emmy Barack Obama had always Awards in 2015, seeks to earn an Academy mentioned his inclination to Award — and might do it soon in 2016! formulate stricter gun regulation

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BRAD PITT Actor, producer The dashing actor is known for his charitable causes along with his celebrity wife Angelina Jolie, who has an intrinsic association with the United Nations. The actor’s former resolution had been to redouble his efforts to support various charitable organisations around the world. Over the years, Pitt has proven to have been more than successful to keep up with this New Year resolution.

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ARIANNA HUFFINGTON Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post

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For Huffington, reading is not particularly an activity to be indulged in before going to sleep. She is perpetually reading, so much so that her own sleep at times is SHAH RUKH KHAN hampered because of it. Actor, producer This year she resolves not to remain sleep deprived and The hugely popular Indian actor is known abide by the words of her for stretching himself till the end to get the book The Sleep Revolution, best possible results. One of his resolutions which is slated to come out earlier had been to be really fit. He resolved to in April, and complete her have a body structure that he’d never had before quota of 7 to 8 hours of sleep and was ready to push himself to a seemingly every day. impossible extent in order to get his desired result!

not ed is so is

o d er on, out e her sleep

MARILYN MONROE Legendary American actress and model In the winter of 1955, a 29-year-old Marilyn Monroe had made extensive New Year resolutions to sort out all her woes. She resolved to put in an effort to be more disciplined so that she could be regular for her daily assignments like studio sessions for actors, acting exercises, directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lectures at the theatre wing and others. Monroe, who was known to have psychiatric problems for an extensive period, also resolved to put in an effort to work on her phobias and address the issues through analysis. She also hoped to take at least one class at university in literature.

LIONEL MESSI Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi is one player who is known to have a particular New Year resolution every year. The star striker for Football Club Barcelona sets himself new challenges which serve as motivation and help him develop as a player. No wonder New Year resolutions like these have helped him become one of the best and most sought after footballers in the world.

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New Delhi Institute of Management has been consistently ranked among the top MBAs of India by the AIMA, IMRB, Business World, Business Standard, Business India, DNA Group of Newspapers and KPMG. While Business World has rated NDIM as 15th best MBA in India including all MBA/PGDMuniversities and colleges;National HRDN, the biggest conglomeration of HR heads, has ranked its placements as 24th best in India. Over the years more than 1000 companies of repute have recruited at NDIM and given 100% finest placements year on year basis. Business India has rated NDIM in the highest A+++ category and the KPMG has ranked NDIM among the fastest growing MBA-schools of Asia. Set up in 1992 by former bureaucrat & freedom fighter J.R Bansal (former Member UPSC), Dr. M.L Shahare (former Chairman UPSC), R.K Kaul IAS (former Deputy Governor RBI) and Justice RS Sarkaria (former Judge Supreme Court and Chairman Sarkaria Commission & Press Council of India); NDIM is approved by the AICTE, Govt. of India,since 1996 and by the Association of Indian Universities since 2008. NDIM is Accredited by the Government of India’s National Board of Accreditation since 2004 and is among the very few MBA schools to be Internationally Accredited with “Premier College Status”, a rare international recognition. NDIM is known for its highly rated 74 full time faculty who have worked with 201 Industries and Corporate houses and with 19 international universities.Theycontinue to be teaching at European universities and areon the Boards of several multinational companies. The faculty designs and conducts trainings and

consultancy for various departments of the Government of India and the corporate sector and is regularly chosen to train the families of India’s civil servants and the staff of India’s Parliament, para military forces and the corporate big wigs. White ‘Intellectual Capital’ of NDIM has been rated at 20th place, its Academic Excellence has been ranked at 18th spot in India. PGDM/MBA at NDIM comes with Dual Specialization. PGDM with two Major specializations multiplies career opportunities and opens up wider options for the graduating students. Specializations at NDIM include: HR, marketing, Finance, IT & Systems, Media marketing & Communication, Logistics-Supply Chain Management & Operations, International Business. NDIM is known for its ‘Case Based Learning’ and ‘Skill Based Curriculum’ finalized by 93 recruiters drawn from different sectors who constitute NDIM’s Advisory Council. In addition, 137 industry professionals regularly Mentor NDIM students to industry specific requirements and groom them for leadership and strategic roles. NDIM has proudly hosted 621 corporate leaders at its campus during the last 1 year including Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Enterprises), Analjit Singh (Max India), Dr. Arvind Lal (Lal Path Labs), Suresh Kumar (Fortune Group), Padmabhushan Suresh Neotia (Gujrat Ambuja), Adesh Gupta (Liberty Group), U K Sinha, Chairman, SEBI. Corporate Connect of NDIM has been bracketed at the 1st rank in India by the AIMA, Business Standard and IMRB, at the same level as the IIMs. NDIM facilitates longest hours of industry connect of its students with senior industry professionals.

Every student works on atleast two” live projects” at recruiters’ premises in addition to 8 to 12 weeks of industry attachment and Continuous Corporate Mentorship. This is strengthened with a Major Industry project of 14 weeks. NDIM is perhaps the only b- School in this part of the world to offer such a strong handson learning which is coupled with 120 international projects in 15 countries forthe 1st year students to multiply opportunities for their international placements. 147 projects have been recently done by the students with MNCs in India. NDIM is highly rated because of its unique “Beyond the Campus Learning” initiatives where students regularly visit various business chambers FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, PHDCII and a number of TV channels where they activelyparticipate in high level business discussions and directly interact with industry captains. Both, the “Living Experience” at NDIM and ‘Infrastructure’of NDIM have been rated as 5th Best in India by the Business World and 8th Best by AIMA, IMRB and Business Standard. Governance at NDIM has been rated at 15thplace in India.NDIM is governed by 7 former-Chief Secretaries of Indian States/Secretaries of the Union of Indiaincluding former-Chief Election Commissioner of India, Chairman UPSC &PESB, Advisor and Secretary to three former Prime Ministers of India; a serving Union Minister,former-Chief Justice Bombay High Court &Judge of the Supreme Court of India,and 5 CMDs of reputed industrial houses of India. Its full time working Chairman VM Bansal is a former civil servant known for his strong corporate connect and innovative strategies. A Advt

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New Delhi Institute of Management

BT 2015 RANKING

TEST PERCENTILE CUT OFF 76 Percentile 87 Percentile 90 Percentile 300 77 Percentile 500

B-SCHOOL DETAILS

PROGRAMMES OFFERED Flagship Programme PGDM, PGDM (Marketing), PGDM (Finance)

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

No. of full time faculty No. of visiting faculty

INFRASTRUCTURE Hostel facility

Nil 76 48

Yes ( Hostel is within 1 km. Diameter)

Library No. of books 29339 MBA specific books No of periodicals subscribed 120 on exchange basis No. of foreign journals subscribed 120 full text from Emerald 12000 Journals & 13 crore books & No. of e-journals subscribed manuscripts. 1. Review of Professional In-house publications Management 2) FLAUNTE, 3) Finalyst Internet / Broadband facility Yes / Yes

FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME - ADMISSIONS Duration

2 years Minimum overall aggregate of 50% in graduation. Eligibility Valid scores of National Management Apptitute Tests: CAT, MAT, CMAT, XAT, ATMA, GMAT Extra weightage provided in the final selection Work experience process upto 10%. Tests accepted CAT, MAT, CMAT, XAT, ATMA, GMAT, i) GD:10% Weightage ii) Personal Interview : 15% Weightage iii) Graduation : 30 % weight age iv) Work Experience: 10% Weightage v) Extra-Curricular : 5% weightage Selection procedure vi) National Management Aptitude Test (CAT/ MAT/XAT/CMAT, Etc.) : 30% weightage Preference is given to applicants: i) who have done social service. ii) J&K & Northeast residents. iii) Wards of defence/police/ para military services personnel Date of Distribution December of the previous year Last date/ month of April of the relevant year submission of forms Residential (Yes/No) Yes ( Hostel is within 1km. Distance)

EXPENSES & ACCOMMODATION

Total Fees (1st year) Total Fees (2nd year) Hostel/Placement Fee, Alumni Membership Fee, & other deposits

Rs. 365,000/Rs. 360,000/1. Rs. 950000/- 2. Hostel Fees @ annum : 90000/- (optional)

New Delhi Institute of Management, 60,50 (B&C), Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi - 10062 S 011-29956566/67/68/69, 40111000 0 011-29965136 + Info@ndimdelhi.org 8 www.ndimdelhi.org Private, Autonomous,AICTE approved, Accredited by National Board of Accreditation and MBA Equivalance granted by AIU

BATCH PROFILE (Latest incoming batch) 2015-17

451 39% 36% 25% 17% 10% 12% 70 196 26 39 120

FINAL PLACEMENTS (flagship programme) 2013-15

Top recruiters (sector-wise)

412 412

205 Multiple 67 11 16.2 LPA 9800 US$ per month 5.9 LPA 5.3 LPA BSFI- HDFC Bank, ING Vysya Bank, Citi Bank, ICICI Securities, RBS, Axis Bank, DHFL, Deutsche Consulting- Deloitte, KPMG, E&Y, S&P Capital IQ, Ken Research, Nielsen, IMRB E-Commerce- Quikr, MTS, Naukri.com, Just Dial, Tolexo, Food Panda PayU, Qshop IT- WIPRO, CSC, Sapient, HCL Media- HT Media, Times Group, TV-18, INX News, Dish TV, Jain TV, PayTM, Percept Ltd. Hospitality- Hyatt Regency, Moolchand, Soudi German Hospital, Mahindra Holidays FMCG/FMCD- Nestle, Dabur, Colgate, MTR Godrej, Parle, J&J, Videocon, Bajaj, Philips Manufacturing- JK Tyre, Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Harrison Locks, Kurlon

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CAT MAT ATMA CMAT XAT GMAT

Advt. Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 39

corporate world

US elections: Its potential and the global impact The battle between the Democrats and Republicans has started. Issues like global economy, international terrorism and climate change continue to grab the headlines, but the party that gives solutions to domestic concerns will be the favourite of the American voting public. Dr Suresh Srinivasan

raditionally, US elections have always been fought on domestic American issues, and the 2016 run up to the presidential elections is no exception. However, the election that is currently underway has a very interesting angle — foreign policy issues on immigration and terrorism. These issues are turning out to have a large impact on the daily lives of Americans, and have hence gained prominence in the run up.

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The Democrats Republicans

and

the

The US traditionally has two contemporary political parties, both with contrasting ideologies — the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Democratic Party, considered to be the world’s oldest active party, stands on the platform of modern liberalism encompassing social and economic equality. The party prescribes government intervention and regulation of the economy moving towards

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universal healthcare, equal opportunities, consumer and environmental protection. On the other hand, the Republican Party, originally founded by anti-slavery activists, prescribes conservatism encompassing free market capitalism, a strong national defence, deregulation, a cap on labour unions and is known to widely support Christian traditional values. As of now, the presidential election is

months away, scheduled for November 2016. The Democrats and Republicans are, at the moment, in the process of choosing their respective candidates for the presidential post. Currently, debates are raging between candidates within Democrats and Republicans. Once the parties nominate their respective candidates, which will occur in the next couple of months, the election will move on to a completely different platform where the nominees of Democrats and Republicans will fight it out.

The Democrats line-up

nine

In the fray for the Democrats is Hillary Clinton, who was the Secretary of State for the United States under President Barack Obama’s first term between the years 2009 and 2013. She has widespread approval from the Democrats at this point in time, commanding close to 48% rating. Along with her is Bernie Sanders, a socialist senator from

corporate world Vermont, who is a promising candidate with a 35% approval rating from Democrats, at this point in time. Another Democrat in the fray is Martin O’Malley, who served as the Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. O’Malley, however, lags far behind both Clinton and Sanders with less than a 4% rating.

The Republican line-up From the Republican side, we have Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman with real estate interests and also a popular television and media personality. Trump is active in the fray, with a close to 35% rating from the Republicans. His net worth is estimated at close to US$7 billion. Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas with a 20% rating and Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida with a 11% rating, are the two other big contestants from the Republican side. The Republican fold includes many others, including Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, Chris Christie, governor from New Jersey, Jeb Bush (brother of earlier President George W Bush) and John Kasich, a governor from Ohio. All these other Republican contenders, however, have an approval rating less than 10% at this point in time.

The voting issues

hardline stand on immigration. He has marginalised the different ethnic and religious groups during his campaign and has targeted Muslims more specifically, going to the extent of proposing that they be banned from entering the United States. Trump has also accused Mexicans in general to be drug dealers and rapists and has called for deportation of such communities out of the US. He has even proposed the construction of a wall around the US interfacing Mexico as part of his immigration policy. Naturally, Trump has received wide-ranging criticism due to his comments, and not merely because the cost of such proposals, including the deportation of more than 10 million illegal immigrants, could be as high as $25 billion, with associated ongoing maintenance costs. Although the working class seems to be quite supportive of Trump’s immigration stance, critics equate and compare the impact of such a cost on the US economy to the housing crash of 2007.

A number of domestic issues in the US have become critical in this election. Obviously, as is to be expected, the views of both parties and their nominees have a divergent perspective on these issues. The beauty of the American elections is that there is an open and transparent debate on the key issues and challenges facing America, and how the various candidates propose to resolve them. The voting public, therefore, has an opportunity to clearly understand the position of each of their candidates on the key issues. As far as the issues on which this election is being fought, the terrorist attack in Paris last year and the subsequent inflow of refugees from the Middle East into Europe and the US have magnified the internal security concerns within the US. In addition to this, the traditional migration of Mexicans across the border into the US cotinues to remain a major issue of concern, one that tends to weaken the internal security of the US. These issues are definitely taking the center stage.

Trump’s handling situation

The Democrat stand

the

The Democrats are, however, taking a much softer stand on the immigration issue. Close to 75%

Trump has taken an aggressive

The heavyweight contenders for the US presidential election

Hillary Clinton

Bernie Sanders

The Republicans

Ted Cruz

Donald Trump

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The Democrats

Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 41

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Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016 43

corporate world of the Democrats have come out in favour of providing citizenship to such migrants, while on the other hand, a very small section of Republicans tend to support such a view. In fact, current president Barack Obama has committed to provide asylum to more than 10,000 Syrian refugees, a move that has been severely criticised by the Republicans.

The ISIS threat There have been different views with respect to how the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) should be handled. The candidates have been calling for fresh approaches, and are demanding a new generation of leaders who can work collaboratively and anticipate the threats before they happen.

The US economy The health of the US economy is an equally important issue on which the election is being fought, especially since the concerns on employment, gross domestic product, household income and housing prices are being considered as top priority by the candidates.

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Other issues at hand Environmental issues, climate change policy and how US could get on top of the curve to influence the global order, and more importantly mitigate the hard stance of emerging economies, are also being championed by all the candidates. Around 75% of the Democrats are serious that America should take the lead and bring in a world order, a view with which around 50% of the Republicans also agree. However, it is noteworthy that a large section of Republicans are also questioning the credibility of the very theory of global warming and the resultant climate change. Healthcare is again a key

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issue that impacts the average American, but has turned out to be highly controversial even within parties. Obama’s Affordable Care Act (colloquially called Obamacare), which was enacted into a law with the objective of medical inclusion and making healthcare more cost effective, is particularly a target for the Republicans, who are staunchly opposed to it. Even the Democrats want to bring in a major overhaul to this enactment. There are a number of other issues that concern the voting public. Shootings, police killings and gun control, traditional issues concerning the average Americans are also being actively drawn into the debates. Gun control is a very sensitive issue, and more than 75% of the Democrats are in favour of tightening the regulations, which not more than 20% of Republicans

agree with. In fact, more than 60% of Republicans are in opposition to any new restrictions on gun usage. In fact, while commenting on the Paris attacks a couple of months ago, Trump has even commented that if the citizens had been carrying guns, it could have reduced the casualty. Trump’s aggressive position on many domestic issues, as well as gestures of applauding America’s enemies like North Korea and Russia, is a reflection of his “cowboy style” response to sensitive international issues; this certainly is a major cause for concern. It remains to be seen how both Democrats and Republicans bring solutions to the table addressing for the concerns ailing the average Americans. The party with the most realistic solutions will ultimately be the one to woo majority votes in the elections. A

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE IBM acquires IRIS Analytics IBM is legendary in entering new businesses ahead of the competition. It recently acquired IRIS Analytics, a company which applies cognitive computing models to combat payment fraud. This will strengthen its analytics and counter-fraud technology portfolio and make it apparent that the company is well positioned in enterprise solutions business.

Bank of India enters clearing house business The government-owned Bank of India (BOI) is entering the clearing house business through its acquisition of 49% shares from Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE) in BOI Shareholding Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Its main business will include timely completion of BSE settlements for funds and securities.

Times Internet Limited acquires micro-content app Times Internet Limited, the digital arm of The Times of India Group, has acquired micro-content app Viral Shots. The company has experience in the mobile and Internet space to scan stories from over 300 social destinations and web publications and to present the same as content shots in less than 60 words.

corporate world

The global crude scenario, and how India can benefit Oil rates across the world have taken a sharp plunge. This is a perfect situation for India to stabilise its financial system and establish itself as one of the most prominent world economies. In this article, we explore the reasons for the price cut, including the current Saudi-Iran row. Dr Suresh Srinivasan

Why has crude touched such a low level? On the one hand, a classic supplydemand equation is operating. The supply of global crude oil is far higher than its demand. Over the last few years, the United States has substantially increased its crude oil output, and contrary to popular perspective, the world’s largest producer of crude oil and gas is no more Saudi Arabia or Iran. The US has overtaken them all, doubling its crude production over the last few years. Global production of crude oil today is close to 80 million barrels per day, which is about 25% more

than what it used to be around 20 years ago. With the US producing much of the crude oil, large OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) exporters like Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, which used to supply oil to the US, are now flooding the global markets. This has resulted in a glut. Canada is enhancing its crude production from oil sands and so is Iraq. Russia is also in no mood to cut down production, and is steadily increasing crude oil output. The natural economic consequence of such increased supply in the global markets has been that the price of crude is steadily falling. Now, with global sanctions on it being lifted, Iran too is going to increase its global oil supply. This can only serve to further escalate the current oversupply issue in the next few years. Global demand for crude is also dropping, especially with the

developed economies having already slowed down. Emerging economies like China have entered a slowdown phase. Naturally, all this is resulting in the global demand taking a sharp dive. With nations across the world stipulating increased mileage targets for vehicles year after year, we are seeing the influx of highly fuel efficient cars around the world, which has also resulted in driving down the consumption of petroleum and diesel.

Role of OPEC OPEC countries could cut oil exports to stabilise supply, in line with the demand, and thereby arrest falling crude oil prices. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem

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lobal crude oil prices have taken a steep dip. Brent crude has breached the US$30 a barrel mark to end up at around $29 a barrel, a price that had been seen 12 years ago. This has triggered off a series of cascading events. Stock markets around the world felt the shock, with prices dropping to a fourmonth low. Investors have been diverting investments to lower risk havens like bonds and gold. Gold prices have steadily inched up. Dow Jones have dropped by close to 400 points.

Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 45

corporate world to be not working, as OPEC is no more in full control of the global production. Secondly, opinion is divided within OPEC itself. Members like Iran and Venezuela are advocating production cuts to stabilise supply, while members like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are in no mood to cut down on production. Any drop in production will adversely impact the economies of the latter countries, which are primarily oil dependent and will face a serious adverse impact with drop in crude oil prices. It is estimated that the annual revenues of key oil producing nations like Saudi are likely to be down to about $0.4 trillion this year. More importantly, given their earlier experience, any production cuts can reduce their market share and create a further dent on their national revenues, which they would like to avoid at all costs. In effect, this is taking these nations down in a spiral of low oil price and driving them to produce more, which in turn will widen the supply-demand gap, while driving global crude oil prices further down, creating a catch 22 situation.

Middle East face-off Recent events in Saudi Arabia have escalated the tension in the Middle East. The country executed a prominent religious leader sympathised by Iran, and in retaliation, the Saudi embassy was burnt down in Iran. These events, and those that followed, have sparked a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the nations have severed their diplomatic relationships. This has

THE US HAS OVERTAKEN SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN TO BECOME THE WORLD’S LARGEST CRUDE PRODUCER. also caused Sudan and Bahrain, both allies of Saudi Arabia, to severe diplomatic ties with Iran. There has always been a strained relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In their race to become a dominant power in the Middle East, both the nations have been fighting proxy wars by backing different groups in the war-torn country of Syria. Yemen, where a rebel group has taken over the government,

has also been a major point of concern for Saudi Arabia, as it feels that Yemen, once a strong supporter, will weaken Saudi Arabia’s influence in region, being backed as it is now by the rebels who are being supported by Iran.

Repercussions Saudi-Iran row

the

The tension due to the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is being felt in the entire Middle East and African region, bringing in uncertainties and escalating the perception of risk in the minds of investors. This will most definitely have a significant economic impact in the region. Iran and Saudi Arabia have strong ties in terms of import and export of goods. More importantly, with diplomatic ties broken, people travelling from Iran to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia could be seriously impacted. This can have adverse implications in terms of tourism and travel, with cancellation of flights severely affecting the aviation sector in the region. On the OPEC consensus for cutting supply, the situation could worsen further, as Saudi Arabia and Iran have different viewpoints,

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE ITES major Capgemini has acquired Oinio

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Capgemini, the ITES major from France, has acquired Oinio, which has capabilities in providing digital transformation services around the Salesforce platform across Europe and Asia. This acquisition complements Capgemini’s overall capabilities and is expected to entrench it further in the digital transformation space.

Bharti Airtel becomes the 100% owner of Augere Wireless Leading Indian telecom service provider Bharti Airtel is now the 100% owner of Augere Wireless, which holds 4G spectrum in Madhya Pradesh. It recently acquired the last tranche of 26% shareholding in the company. Airtel now has 20MHz in the 2300MHz band across nine service areas.

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corporate world

The global impact The oil and gas industry is rather unique. The ground rule is that investments in new oil rigs and infrastructure flow in only when the oil price is high. This is when the investments would sound to be viable and provide an acceptable return on investments to the investors. However, when the oil price is down, investment turnout becomes unviable and the industry goes into hibernation, dumping all investments and also cutting down on jobs. In such a situation, no investments will come in, which means that the supply remains constant as the demand slowly surges. Once the demand starts exceeding supply, the crude prices will look up, which will encourage investors to invest, and thereafter, jobs in the industry shall slowly surge. The above cycle is now in a shrinking phase, with no investments flowing in. In oil producing countries, the job market has already started going down. In several of the oil dependent countries like Russia, Venezuela and Nigeria, the economy is in quite bad shape, even triggering political and social unrest. In many of the oil producing states in the US like Alaska and Texas, job losses have been numerous. Many large oil producing and refining companies like Shell and British Petroleum

have steeply cut down on jobs around the world. Numerous smaller oil and gas companies are close to bankruptcy.

Impact in India With low crude oil price prevailing, along with the prospect of a further dip, India is sitting in a very comfortable position, where more than 70% of its requirements are being imported. It is expected that India is likely to save more than `two lakh crores on account of its reduced crude oil bill.

This does not necessarily mean that petrol and diesel prices at the pumps and retail outlets will be slashed. Contrarily, the government will reduce the price marginally but most of such savings will be retained by the government through taxes. It seems that we are in for a prolonged period of low oil prices, which means India could capitalise on this situation to strengthen its economy by enacting reforms in a timely manner. Otherwise, it will remain another wasted opportunity. A

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Hitachi has acquired Ignify Hitachi Solutions India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Hitachi Solutions America, has announced that it has acquired Ignify, a solution provider specialising in Microsoft Dynamics Industry Solutions. The company said this strategic acquisition brings to Hitachi Solutions expanded global delivery capabilities with the addition of more than 450 technical and delivery resources.

Spice Mobility acquires 22.54% equity stake in Sunstone Eduversity Private Limited Telecom operator Spice Mobility has acquired 22.54% equity stake in Sunstone Eduversity Private Limited for an undisclosed amount, Spice Mobility said in a regulatory filing. Sunstone Eduversity Private Limited is a company incorporated for the purpose of engaging in the line of education business. Consequent to the acquisition, Sunstone Eduversity Private Limited has become an associate company of SDL, the regulatory filing added.

Reliance Capital acquires 6.82% stake in Saregama Reliance Capital, primarily a financial services company belonging to the Anil Ambani Group, has acquired 6.82% stake in popular music publishing label Saregama India Ltd. for `43.17 crore. Formerly known as The Gramophone Company of India Ltd and more popularly as HMV (His Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Voice), Saregama claims to be custodian of over half of all the music ever recorded in the country.

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with Iran in favour of the OPEC to cut production but Saudi Arabia in opposition. There is also a contradictory theory that the Middle East crisis could create global geo-political uncertainties, and thus could potentially arrest the decline of crude price, if not increase it in the short run.

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corporate world

China’s whopping woes are worrying the world With the Chinese stock market crashing in the first week of January, it is apparent that all’s not well with the country’s economy. Chinese economic data has a major impact globally and that’s precisely the reason why international analysts are keen to dissect the issue. Dr Suresh Srinivasan

hina is already the second largest economy in the world, after the United States. Having achieved double digit growth for almost two decades — a fact that had almost become a given — it is now struggling to keep up with its escalation. There are two aspects that can be inferred from China’s changing fortunes. Firstly, the global economic environment has become quite uncertain with dynamics not seen before, and China is attempting to come to terms with such changing dynamics. Secondly, and more importantly, having grown to such a large size, the international community’s scrutiny of the economic and financial data that China is releasing, has become extensive. This scrutiny has been bringing out a number of contradictions. In short, what China is claiming and what is happening on ground don’t quite add up.

regulators always believed that high regulation and manipulation could fix the country’s economic problems as they showed up. Although this method may have worked once, it certainly is not working anymore.

Stock market crash The first week of January 2016 saw a major crash of the Chinese stock markets, an event that sent shock waves around the world. Earlier, 2015 saw two such major shocks where the overall market capitalisation of the Chinese stocks was halved. Within a few months in 2015, it moved up by more than 20% before crashing

again in early 2016. Now, the markets are down by more than 40%, when compared with the figures reached during mid-2015. Such volatility seems to have become more of a regular feature than is comfortable, and what’s more, this volatility appears likely to repeat more frequently. Let’s find out why.

Difficult structural issues Even though China has become a top-2 economy in size, the country is still an emerging economy with a number of structural imperfections. And these imperfections become extremely difficult to address

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Government interventions In order to sustain its growth, extensive interventions on the part of the government in China have become the order of the day. In the past, Chinese

50 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

The Chinese stock market crash sent shock waves around the world.

corporate world

Reforms needed in Chinese stock markets

the

Taking the Chinese stock markets for example. A number of reforms are required to make it investor

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Talwalkars is acquiring 50% stake in Zorba One of the largest fitness chains in India, Talwalkars is acquiring 50% stake in the yoga studio chain Zorba, based out of Chennai. From the fitness zone, this acquisition moves Talwalkars into high growth lifestyle business involving yoga, which is closely related to Talwalkars’s core business of fitness.

Accenture recently CRMWaypoint

acquired

Accenture recently acquired CRMWaypoint, a supplier of cloud advisory and technology services in the Netherlands. This acquisition further strengthens Accenture’s position as a leading provider of cloud services, and creates value to customers in terms of providing high-standard cloud strategy and technology consulting, as well as cloud application implementation, integration and management services.

Sony partners ESPN; launches two sports channels Sony Pictures Networks India has announced the launch of two sports channels in partnership with ESPN, which is making a comeback in India. The two channels, SONY ESPN and SONY ESPN HD, will go live on January 17. The programming line up of Sony ESPN channels include UEFA Euro 2016, 2018 Fifa World Cup, La Liga, Australian Open and UFC among others.

Emami forays into packaged honey category Consumer goods firm Emami has forayed into the packaged honey category under its Zandu brand. Emami has positioned Zandu honey on quality and claims its product has zero sugar. Neither category leader Dabur nor Patanjali, quite new in this category, has made such claims. While Patanjali has priced its honey at a 40% discount over Dabur, Emami’s Zandu honey has priced itself at a 35% premium.

Paytm acquires Shifu Digital payments and e-commerce firm Paytm has acquired consumer behaviour prediction platform Shifu for around `50 crore. Being in the e-commerce business, understanding and predicting consumer preferences and behaviour give a competitive advantage, and Shifu is reported to have the right kind of tools and capabilities to achieve this advantage.

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at this level of scale and size. The fundamental issues are so concerning that reforming them successfully at this stage become highly questionable. Over the last six years, there has been a fundamental flaw in the way China has been responding to both the global slowdown as well as its own. Government owned Chinese banks that garner deposits from the public, pay very low interest rates to retail investors. However, the same banks lend to government-owned companies to invest. More than one lakh government-owned enterprises are reported to have benefited from this practice. This has gone to create large urban infrastructure in terms of towns, commercial establishments, malls and residential complexes, which have actually been lying vacant for months. Along with this, the government-owned banks also fund private companies at very high interest rates. In essence, the retail investor is not creating wealth out of his deposits, while the government is using such funds in sub-optimal manner. All of these merely create overvalued assets, thereby posing a serious threat for the economy as the country moves forward. All these shortcomings resulted in a severe slowdown in manufacturing activity on the back of an economy that is heavy on debt. A monstrous industrial capacity has been created but which remains largely idle and a housing market that has been overbuilt.

Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 51

corporate world friendly. Markets start falling when “bearish” sentiments are triggered. Chinese authorities generally respond with a number of administrative and arbitrary interventions, including banning large operators from selling shares as well as halting trade. In January this year, trading had virtually been halted for two full days. These actions actually send a completely wrong signal to the investors that the regulators are preventing them from exiting the market. It becomes very clear that there is no market-driven regulation. In contrast, in case of advanced and well regulated economies, a range of tools including transaction based taxing excessive trading and others are used.

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Window dressing becomes impossible beyond a point Chinese authorities released a preview of 2015 economic data, claiming that its economy grew by close to 7%. They also claimed that household income continues to remain strong in spite of weaker global demand. The Chinese Premier also claimed that the economy is transitioning from the one built on natural resources to one that is now being driven by human resources, with services now accounting for half the economy. The preview also showed that domestic consumption contributed nearly 60% of the economic growth. But is all of this actually true? First of all, the 7% growth, if authentic, would be the lowest growth China has achieved in the last 25 years. But analysts claim that even though the officially reported growth is 7%, the actual

52 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

growth is unlikely to be more than 4% to 5%.

Dismal days ahead China is showing dismal growth in spite of all the regulatory interventions that are taking place in the economy. This makes it clear that all is definitely not well with China, although the country and its leadership are putting up a brave front. Naturally, this is a major cause for concern for the global economy. Chinese economic data has a major impact on the global economy,

CHINA CLAIMS 7% GROWTH, BUT ANALYSTS BELIEVE THE REAL FIGURE TO BE NOT MORE THAN 4 OR 5%. and that is precisely the reason why the international analysts are dissecting such numbers to the core.

State enterprises: Lack of transparency There is a total lack of information and transparency on the financials and performance of state-owned enterprises which dominate the Chinese stock markets. Small investors purely operate on the basis of sentiments, rather than transactions that hinge on on fact-based fundamentals. This pushes up the volatility in the market steeply. As a result, when there is a trigger for the market to move up, small investors start buying. The reverse happens when a sell-off is triggered. The economic data and

numbers being released by China is intended to be confusing and makes it difficult for investors to take a position. China’s exchange rate policy is a classic example. The regulatory intervention in Yuan value by the People’s Bank of China has been so arbitrary that its pattern of depreciation and strengthening has been virtually impossible to predict or comprehend.

India’s position With China now ready to go all out towards depreciating its currency for maintaining its exports and making the Yuan become competitive, Indian currency has to depreciate further to remain competitive. The same challenge will hold good for most of the neighbouring economies in the Asian region, if they have to remain competitive. It is well known that Indian exports have already suffered over the last 12 months. A further depreciation of the Indian rupee is certainly not healthy for the Indian economy. The other problem is on handling the cheap Chinese goods that are being dumped. India is mulling a higher import duty on goods like steel and raw silk. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has expressed his concern with such dubious practices by China that are already adversely impacting crores of investments made in smaller Indian steel companies. It goes without saying that 2016 will be an extremely challenging year for China, and the international community could potentially see the real colour of its economy. A

corporate world

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 53

must reads Since you’re planning on doing your MBA, you need to be well read, and not just on current affairs. In this section, we offer you some choices of books that will broaden your perspective, and you will find that you will never be at a loss in a discussion!

New York Times bestseller for quite a few years, In Search of Excellence is a must In Search of Excellence read for anyone who is keen to make a mark man, in the competitive world of management. Author – Robert H. Water s ter Pe The authors, Robert H. Waterman, Jr. and Jr. and Tom Ltd Tom Peters, researched on more than 43 Publisher – Profile Books companies to discover the secrets of the art of Genre – Non-fiction management. Price – ` 339 No matter how varied the companies might have been, all of them shared certain basic principles of management. So anyone who is ambitions and yearning for success, this book is certainly a must read for him or her. Amply illustrated with anecdotes and examples from the experiences of the best-run companies in the world, this book spells out the secrets of success in easy and simple terms.

reams from My Father is the story of US President Barack Obama, much before he assumed the centre stage in American politics, to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother. It was a unique struggle that took him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego. The book, where Barack retraces his family’s unusual history, delves deep into his own awakening to the fears and doubts that exist not just between the larger black and white worlds but within him. Lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting, this memoir became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. A gripping read from one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics.

r Dreams from My Fathe a am Author – Barack Ob Publisher – RC Genre – Autobiography Price – ` 236

S Moloka’i Author – Alan Brennert Publisher – Griffin Genre – Fiction

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Price – ` 853

et in Hawai’i more than a century ago, Moloka’i is an extraordinary epic and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-coloured mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end, but

instead she discovers it is only just beginning. Moloka’i is the true-to-life chronicle of people who embrace life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humour, and compassion of this novel that few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel’s story.

54 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

study hour

Are you a Brainiac? In this section, we shall explore several different types of questions from the various areas of entrance exams like the CAT, CET, GMAT, etc, and how to best solve them.

Quant DIRECTIONS for questions 1: Choose the correct alternative. 1.

If y =

1] 0

4 Let x = p , then the equation becomes

3 2 y = p + p – 20p > 0

then, for how many integer values of x is y > 0? 2] 255

3] 624

4] Infinite

–5 < p < 0 or p > 4. Since, p takes infinite values x takes infinite integer values. Hence, [4].

2. In

PQR, PD

QR and QR = 2RD. The length of all the sides of

one side measuring 26 units. If the area of

1] 35 units

PQR, PD

2] 32 units

PQR have integral values, with at least

PQR is 240 sq. units, then semiperimeter of

3] 31 units

PQR can be:

4] 36 units

QR and QR = 2RD.

PQR is an isosceles triangle.

Then either PR = QR = 26 or QR = 26

If QR = 26

But the length of PR =

PD = will not be an integer number.

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 55

study hour

PR = PQ = 26

(PD)2 + (DR)2 = (26)2 = 676

and PD x DR = 240

PD + DR = 34

PD = 10 and DR = 24 or

semiperimeter =

(a + b + c)

(26 + 26 + 20) = 36 or

(26 + 26 + 48) = 50.

PD = 24 and DR = 10.

Hence, [4].

Alternatively,

After (i), consider the options.

From each option, we get the semiperimeter(s) and third side of the triangle and using the formula ;

where a, b, c are the sides of the triangle, we can check whether the area is 240 or not.

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3. Sk = {(x, fk(x)); where x is a real number}; k = 1, 2, ..., n. The function fk(x) is defined as fk(x) = xk+2 + 2yxk + xk+1(y + 2). How many pairs of the form (x, fk(x)) are

present in every Sk; where k = 1, 2, ..., n and y is some constant?

1] None 2] 1 or 2

If (x, fk(x)) is in both Sm and Sn (let m > n), then

(x, fk(x)) = (x, fm(x)) = (x, fn(x))

i.e., fm(x) = fn(x).

Also, m = n + p; for some p > 0

xm+2 + 2yxm + xm+1(y + 2)

= xn+2 + 2yxn + xn+1(y + 2)

xp[xn+2 + 2yxn + xn+1(y + 2)]

= xn+2 + 2yxn + xn+1(y + 2)

2 or 3

xpfn(x) = fn(x)

If fn(x) = 0, then xn+2 + 2yxn + xn+1(y + 2) = 0

56 Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge MBA February 2016

3 or 4

study hour

xn[x2 + 2y + x(y + 2)] = 0

x = 0 or (x +2) (x + y) = 0

x = 0 or x = –2 or x = –y

... (i)

If fn(x) 0, then xp = 1 x = 1

... (ii)

Now, if y = 0 or 2 or –1, then

(0, 0), (–2, 0), (1, fk(1)) are the only pairs that are in every Sk.

But if y 0, 2, –1 then one more pair

Hence, [4].

Note: fk(1) = 1 + 2y + (y + 2) = 3y + 3 constant

(–y, fk(–y)) is in every Sk.

fk(–y) = (–y)k+2 + 2y(–y)k + (–y)k+1(y + 2) = (–y)k+2 – 2(–y)k+1 – (–y)k+2 + 2(–y)k+1 = 0

Verbal DIRECTIONS for question 1: The following question has a paragraph with one italicized word that does not make sense. Choose the most appropriate replacement for that word. 1. The late planetary scientist and author Carl Sagan loved to describe humanity as ‘starstuff pondering the stars’, but he didn’t factor in hatred and disgust as possible conclusions. The Sun was glaring today; I found myself glaring back. Amanifally, of course; otherwise it would have blinded me just for looking at it. (1) Metaphorically (2) Euphemistically (3) Paradoxically (4) Ironically

From the second part of the last sentence, we can infer that the author was not actually glaring at the sun, i.e., he was doing so only in the figurative sense. Only ‘metaphorically’ conveys this meaning. Euphemistically’ (meaning ‘inoffensively’), ‘paradoxically’ (meaning ‘seemingly contradictorily’) and ‘ironically’ (meaning ‘incongruously’ or ‘sarcastically’) don’t fit at all in this context. Hence, [1].

2. PRINCIPLE (1) The principle behind the machine’s operation is quite simple. (2) They have agreed to our offer in principle, but the details still need to be worked out. (3) As a matter of principle, she always makes it a point to arrive for all her appointments on time. (4) The principle cities of the country need to be well connected by road and rail.

‘Principle’ means an accepted rule. This fits the first three usages. The correct term in [4] should be ‘principal’ which means ‘main or important’. Hence, [4].

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DIRECTIONS for question 2: The word at the top of the four options is used in four different ways. Choose the option in which the usage of the word is INCORRECT or INAPPROPRIATE.

Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 57

study hour

Moments from a meagre life Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout

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WORD DOSE

for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Excerpt from O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi

MAT CH T HE W O R D S W IT H T H E IR M EA NING S 1. Bulldozing – (boo l-dohz-ing) (v)

7. Shabby – (shab-ee) (adj)

13. Furnished – (fur-nish-d) (adj)

8. Howl – (houl) (v)

14. Beggar description

2. Grocer – (groh-ser) (n)

9. Instigates – (in-sti-geyt-s) (v)

15. Mendicancy – (men-di-kuh n-see) (n)

10. Sniffles – (snif-uh l-s) (n)

16. Squad – (skwod) (n)

11. Predominating – (pri-dom-uh-neyt-ing) (v)

17. Vestibule – (ves-tuh-byool)

6. Flop – (Flop) (v)

12. Subsiding – (suh b-sahyd-ing) (v)

19. Coax – (kohks) (v)

a. A person who sells food and small household goods. b. Unfairly assume that someone has a particular undesirable quality or has done something undesirable. c. In poor condition through long use or lack of care. d. Extreme unwillingness to spend money or use resources, stinginess. e. Becoming less intense, violent, or severe. f. A person whose trade is cutting up and selling meat in a shop.

g. Being the strongest or main element; being greater in number or amount. h. To utter a loud, prolonged, mournful cry, as that of a dog or wolf. i. It’s an idiom, which means to be impossible to describe. j. A head cold causing a runny nose and sniffing. k. Bring about or initiate (an action or event). l. (Of accommodation) available to be rented with furniture. m. Fall, move, or hang in a loose and ungainly way, drop.

n. Begging. o. Use force insensitively when dealing with (someone or something). p. A living human being, often in contrast to a divine being; one who has to die some day. q. Persuade (someone) gradually or gently to do something. r. An antechamber, hall, or lobby next to the outer door of a building. s. A small group of people having a particular task.

3. Butcher – (boo ch-er) (n) 4. Imputation – (im-pyoo-tey-shuh n) (n) 5. Parsimony – (pahr-suh-moh-nee) (n)

58 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

18. Mortal – (mawr-tl) (adj)

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 59

study hour

A quiz to boost your General Knowledge 1. Name the country that will be hosting the 12th South Asian Games in 2016. a. Bhutan b. Myanmar c. India d. Sri Lanka 2. The World Robot Conference 2015 had been organised recently to discuss on collaborative innovation and the building of an intelligent society. Name the nation that hosted the conference. a. Japan b. China c. USA d. France

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3. World Milk Day, established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is observed annually to recognise the importance of milk as a global food. When is the day observed? a. June 1 b. July 1 c. October 1 d. November 1 4. A 75-day long beach festival started on December 1, 2015 and will go on till February 2016, making it the world’s longest beach festival. In which place is this festival being organised? a. Lakshadweep b. Kerala c. Daman and Diu d. Goa 5. Name the manufactures aircrafts.

nation that Rafale fighter

60 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

a. United Kingdom b. France c. China d. United States of America

6. This Indian state has recently launched ‘Tourist Mitra’, a tourist-friendly police-force that will be deployed at the various tourist destinations in the state. Which Indian state is this? a. Karnataka b. Himachal Pradesh c. Goa d. Kerala 7. Name the organisation with which you can relate the movement – ‘Orange, the world campaign’. a. World Bank b. NATO c. OECD d. United Nations 8. A new UN report titled ‘The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’, pointed out that this country was the mostaffected by weather-related disasters between 1995 and 2015. Name this country. a. China b. India c. United States of America d. Indonesia 9. Name the new President of ASSOCHAM. a. Sunil Kanoria b. Sandeep Jajodia c. Deepak Mahajan d. Ved Jain

10. The researchers of this nation have created the lightest form of gold consisting of 98% air, 20-carat gold, and milk protein. The new gold is made almost entirely of air while retaining the regular metallic sheen of its regular form. Which is this nation we are talking about? a. Spain b. Switzerland c. Denmark d. France 11. Noboru Karashima passed away recently at the age of 82. He was renowned as .... ? a. Historian b. Scientist c. Social Activist d. Actor 12. As a part of its global overhauling, which is this banking major that is shutting down its private operations in India? a. Standard Chartered Bank b. BNP Paribas c. HSBC d. Deutsche Bank 13. This 86-year-old Indian origin South African freedom fighter has been awarded The Freedom of the City of Cape Town. He was a close confidante of South Africa’s first black president and global anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. The other recipients of the honour include Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. Who are we talking about?

study hour a. b. c. d.

Ahmed Kathrada Prakash Utsav Govan Mebki Denis Goldberg

14. According to the Salim Ali Bird Count conducted by BNHS in association with Bird Count India, India is home to 514 species of birds. Which among the following birds spotted in India is under ‘Critically Endangered’ category of IUCN? a. White-rumped Vulture b. Egyptian Vulture c. Steppe Eagle d. Great Knot 15. This Dominica-born British lawyer at the age of 60 has been elected as the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth. Name her. a. Cherie Blair b. Justline Thornton c. Gareth Peirce d. Baroness Patricia 16. Name the state that will be the second one to set up the NRI Commission. a. Kerala b. West Bengal c. Tamil Nadu d. Telangana 17. In memory of 13/11 terror attack in France, the government of this state has planned to construct a 55-metre replica of Eiffel Tower. It will take three years to complete the structure. Which Indian state are we talking about? a. Andhra Pradesh b. Karnataka c. West Bengal d. Delhi 18. Name the country that has planned to build the world’s first salt lake data centre. This centre will serve domestic

resource planning and provide technical support to other countries. a. China b. Japan c. Australia d. United States of America 19. Indian-origin Antonio Costa is the Prime Minister of which country? a. Sweden b. Portugal c. Spain d. Italy 20. Who among the following has unveiled a stationary bicycle that can generate electricity in India? a. Manoj Bhargava b. Thomas Kailath c. CR Rao d. Bharat Desai 21. Name the cricketer who has been suspended from bowling in international cricket by ICC. a. Sunil Narine b. Lasith Malinga c. Taskin Ahmed d. Imran Tahir 22. This writer is one of the six authors of Indian-origin who have been shortlisted for this year’s DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. This person has written the book The Book of Gold Leaves. Name the author. a. Neel Mukherjee b. Mirza Waheed c. Akhil Sharma d. Anuradha Roy 23. Anirban Lahiri is connected with which form of sports? a. Swimming b. Badminton c. Golf d. Athletics 24. This Colombian movie has been adjudged the best cinema of the

46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Name it. a. The Measure of a Man b. Mustang c. Embrace of the Serpent d. Eisentein 25. What per cent of FDI is allowed in the e-commerce sector in India? a. 25% b. 50% c. 75% d. 100% 26. This passenger car manufacturer has launched ‘Safe Move-Traffic Safety Campaign’ under its CSR initiative. Name the company. a. TVS Motor b. Ashok Leyland c. Hyundai Motor India d. Mahindra & Mahindra 27. Vanessa and Her Sister has been named by New York Times in its annual list of 100 most notable books of 2015. The novel is about acclaimed painter Vanessa Bell and her more famous sister English writer Virginia Woolf. Name the author of the book. a. Neel Mukherjee b. Priya Parmar c. Raj Kamal Jha d. Akhil Sharma 28. The world’s oldest man recently died in Japan. How old was he when he died? a. 112 years b. 113 years c. 114 years d. 115 years 29. Lady Wigram Trophy motor race is one of New Zealand’s most prestigious events. Who won this race in 2016? a. Pedro Piquet b. Jackie Stewart c. Jehan Daruvala d. Jack Brabham

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Advanc’edge MBA February 2016 61

study hour 30. Padma Bhushan awardee, Mrinalini Sarabhai recently passed away at the age of 97 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She was the wife of renowned Indian scientist and the father of India’s space programme Vikram Sarabhai. She herself was well-known as...? a. Classical Dancer b. Actress c. Politician d. Badminton Player

a. Kiran Desai b. Easterine Kire

c. Amitav Ghosh d. Siddharth Sanghvi

31. Name the country that declared a state of economic emergency recently. a. Sweden b. Denmark c. Germany d. France 32. The veteran Kannada filmmaker and lyricist, Lakshman Rao Mohite, was better known by his pen-name ‘Geethapriya’. Recently, at the age of 84 he passed away. Name the state from which he hailed. a. Andhra Pradesh b. Telangana c. Karnataka d. Kerala

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33. Margi Sathi recently passed away at the age of 50. She was most renowned as what? a. Magician b. Historian c. Theatre Personality d. Social Activist 34. Name the state where the theatre festival ‘Nandi Natakotsavam’ is celebrated. a. Uttar Pradesh b. Himachal Pradesh c. Arunachal Pradesh d. Andhra Pradesh 35. Name the writer who has won The Hindu Literary Prize 2015.

62 Advanc’edge MBA February 2016

How to Play Fill in the grid so that every horizontal row, every vertical column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating the numbers in the same row, column or box. You can’t change the digits already given in the grid. Every puzzle has one solution. Hint: Don’t fill in numbers at random. While filling a particular square, write numbers 1-9 on a pad and start eliminating those numbers that already appear in the same row, column or 3x3 box.

ANSWERS SuDoKu

GLOBESCAN 1. c

2. b

3. a

4. c

5. b

6. a

7. d

8. c

9. a

10. b

11. a

12. c

13. a

14. a

15. d

16. a

17. c

18. a

19. b

20. a

21. a

22. b

23. c

24. c

25. d

26. c

27. b

28. a

29. c

30. a

31. d

32. c

33. c

34. d

35. b

WORD DOSE

1. o 6. m 11. g 16. s

For more similar puzzles, visit: www.sudoku.com

2. a 7. c 12. e 17. r

3. f 8. h 13. l 18. p

4. b 9. k 14. i 19. q

5. d 10. j 15. n