Festivals and Entrepreneurship
EMPRESSARIO …An Entrepreneurial Insight
OCT-NOV ‘2012 Vol. IV Iss. 1
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CONTENTS Prarambh Speaks……………………………………………….1 ENTRESPEAK…………………………………………................2 Monthly Features Corruption Economics...............................................................4 Are loyalty programs really loyal to your business?.......6 BIG DATA: The next BIG THING………………………………….8 Economics Showcase@ IMT HYDERABAD………………….11 FOOD FIESTA @ IMT HYDERABAD……………………………13
Add-ons Readers’ Corner………………………………………………...14 Team Prarambh……………………………………………....……15
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Prarambh Speaks “If you have a goal, be relentless in your pursuit.� -
Keith J. Davis Jr.
Autumn heralds the season of festivals when the entire nation is in festive mood and rejoicing with their friends and families. Durga Puja, Diwali, Bakri Id, Bhai Duj, every household has a candle lit to welcome the gods and goddesses and pray for the wellness of their near and dear ones. Prarambh presents you the fourth volume of its issue with articles related to entrepreneurship booming during the festive season and opportunities in data analytics. As IMT gears up for its placements and internship season, so are the students engrossed in their preparation for the same keeping a synergy with the extracurricular activities. E-Cell has organized the much awaited Food Fest in October where 6 teams had taken part and each one making a considerable profit. The concept of a college radio named IMT Broadcasting Corporation, powered by E-Cell is all set to go on air in the first week of December running for an hour at night. Contributions and articles from enthusiastic students have been pouring in for the monthly newsletter making it more and more competitive to select the best to be published out of them. We hope you have a pleasant time reading and give us your feedback on improvement so that we can make this more attractive and addictive product.
Happy reading.
Team Prarambh
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ENTRESPEAK (By Kaustubh Tandon)
For any aspirant to kick start his/her corporate career, it is imperative to understand the nitigrities of the trade he/she wants to head in. There are two ways to achieve the desired result, former being taking work experience and understanding the things from the scratch, latter being exposed to the intricacies by the domain experts themselves that impart vital information about the sector. At IMT Hyderabad, similar approach is being practiced where we witness Industry Leaders approximately from all the business sectors trying to prepare aspirants for the opportunity and the challenges ahead. Witnessing such an idea was marked by the inception of the ‘Business Orientation Program‘ at the campus from 6th Nov. to 17th Nov in which many top echelon officers of the various companies shared their exclusive views. There were experts from RIM, Deloitte LLP , ITC etc . to name a few .
Sunil Dutt: I think it is important to have an industry and institution participation and a participatory approach. It is always important for young minds to learn what is happening out in there in the real world. I would say more such interactions should take place. My recommendation is that these interactions should also happen after the students are done with their internships so that, then the level of participation and questions will be a lot different.
Some of the views shared by the RIM’s MD Mr Sunil Dutt are as follows:
The recently concluded BOP at IMT Hyderabad brought out ideas not only from existing market leaders but also from new gen entrepreneurs. College’s pedagogy to help and explore students their own ventures formed the bedrock of the idea. Students went on to gain firsthand account of the problems about a start-up. Young and successful entrepreneur like Mr. Phaninder Sama, CEO, RedBus, interacted with the students and made them aware of the ‘eentrepreneurship’, the skillset required
PRARAMBH: What are your views on Business Orientation Program as a pedagogic initiative? IMT-H|Prarambh
PRARAMBH: What skill-sets are you looking for in the potential interns at your organisation? Sunil Dutt: We look, primarily, for the attitude, the ability, openness to learn new things and how much hard work one is ready to put in with all the passion. Basically, it is the qualities we are looking for, skill-sets can be developed over time. *****
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and took questions on the gestation period for the business. Apart from Mr. Sama , the students also got a chance to interact with another entrepreneur , this time with one with more experience in form of Mr. J A Chowdhary , ex MD of Nvidia India and Co-founder & Executive Chairman at Talent Sprint Private Limited . Excerpts of his views shared by Mr Chowdhary were:
PRARAMBH: What are your views on Business Orientation Program as a pedagogic initiative? J A Chowdhary: This kind of pedagogy is great. Particularly for a management student, unless he is not exposed to real time complex problems, he won’t be able to find optimal solution. PRARAMBH: What skill-sets are you looking for in the potential interns at your organisation?
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J A Chowdhary: I am looking for individuals who not only have the knowledge of the subject but someone who are 360° professionals. He should have good values, ethics and killer instincts. If a job is given, no matter how complex it is, he should have the ability fulfil the requirements. PRARAMBH: What are your thoughts on management as a career? J A Chowdhary: Management is a very good career. It is all about managing people/process. Even at home, you need a manager. My wife is a manager at home. She manages the kitchen, the guests etc. Even the politicians require the management skills to manage parties; the central government needs these skills to take care of the state. So, everywhere management is the common thread. It is not just by the degree that you get the management expertise. I do not have a management degree. You learn how to manage the organization, the customers, and the processes. It is a required component for you to succeed as an entrepreneur, as an individual or as a housewife. It is required everywhere to succeed.
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Monthly Features Corruption Economics (By Rohit Seth) In this highly uncertain political environment where no politician seems trustworthy because of the number and the quantum of damage caused by the scams unveiled in the recent history, business sentiment is dented because entrepreneurs are left in a dilemma as to which side should they be on. Do what the latent system requires them to do and fear discovery or stick their neck out and suffer directly. Policy paralysis in any case is like a ridge that they have to cross for getting licences, clearances, permissions and other synonyms of the red-tapist system. And that is why we see India down at the 132nd spot on the ‘ease of doing business’ index. Yes it is still shining.
India has been ranked down at the 132nd spot on the ‘ease of doing business’ index.
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According to a popular research, every 1 trillion rupees of scam leads to a 2.2% hike in inflation.
The two largest scams in the country i.e. the 2G and the Coalgate, according to the figures quoted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, have caused a loss of 1.76 and 1.86 trillion rupees respectively, to the exchequer. This money was lost by the state because of corruption, an undesirable form of public private partnership in which neither of the parties can be entirely blamed. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), in the last fiscal ending this august, India Inc. has shelved investments worth 5.45 trillion rupees, money that should have been fuelling a multiplier effect in the economy but is kept locked in the bank accounts of people either in India or abroad. The direct revenue for the government out of this increase in income would have been 2.2 trillion rupees. Adding up the three we get a loss of 5.8 trillion rupees.
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because of the unproductive nature of the spending which causes inflation.
We are an economy worth 100 trillion rupees approx. (after adjusting exchange rate differences) with a fiscal deficit of about 5.8% (considering latest economic estimates), arriving to a figure of 5.8 trillion rupees. This may be a coincidence and I am not taking political sides to redundantly blame the government for the ills of the economy, but trying to drive the point about how just the few largest glitches on the corruption picture are single handedly responsible for it. This deficit is one of the prime reasons for the rupee to depreciate against the US Dollar. The depreciation leads to expensive imports of the two largest components of current account deficit, oil and gold, leading to an even higher fiscal deficit. This deficit is recouped by the government by two methods of borrowings from the public and of the CRR from the RBI. Due to the unproductive nature of the deficit, it leads to even higher inflation because the money is ultimately directed towards people who will raise their demand. Now this debt of the government will have to be serviced by an interest which again forms a part of the expenditure and hence fuels the already soaring deficit. All these factors and a few more combine to form what I would call a ‘Deficit Trap’, where a certain amount of deficit leads to even more of it. This also leads to a ‘Debt Trap’ because debt keeps on increasing as a result of deficits and growth does not and not because of the potential to grow but IMT-H|Prarambh
India currently is experiencing cost-push inflation and the policies applied by the RBI are to control demand and push demand down to balance prices. Such monetary tightening ultimately leads to counter intuitive policies, which curb growth instead of cutting off the excesses people have, where the government should ideally try to control input costs. According to a popular research, every 1 trillion rupees of scam leads to a 2.2% hike in inflation. This scammed money flows in the system in the form of untaxed income and under-priced assets both of which increase the disposable income of large businesses and politicians instead of being a part of the public expenditure and hence productive money supply. Therefore the inflation caused is devoid of growth, again, leading to an even gloomier picture. The political establishment is ultimately at fault and as they have famously said, “India is growing despite the government and not because it”. Though the entrepreneurial spirit is high, the pocket to carry it through the initial stages is easy (India ranks 23rd on the ease of getting credit index), until the idea is capable of blowing the roof, there is likelihood that it will fail. This is unlike the United States where according to Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”, success of a business depends primarily on factors like management and discipline rather than innovation and ideation. Trial Entrepreneurs therefore are the worst hit and so is the spirit of the economy because the chances that a small plant reaching sunlight are dependent on the crowding-out effect of not its competitors but corruption. Empressario
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Are loyalty programs really loyal to your business? (By Meenakshi Nilakantan, 2nd year, MMS Marketing KJ SIMSR, Mumbai)
Salary. Pocket money. Summer Internship. Stipend. . . . . They lead us to embark on our next trip - our shopping trip. Your wallet has some interesting stuff – those oh-so-important loyalty cards. You can now shop for your favourites and also earn some (brownie) points. But you have a gold card from one store, a platinum card from another and hey, don’t you remember that you just got a new card from the store next door? So what do people want from loyalty programs? Many people would prefer discounts, special offers and access to certain special products which are otherwise not available. Some feel that every third customer has a loyalty card. So too much of anything is bad. As on 2009, there were 20 million loyalty program members in India. It is 5 times costlier acquiring a new customer than retaining old customers. Good products, perfect ambience, competent offers and an excellent overall shopping experience are indicators of repurchase. Loyalty programs form a part of it.
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Keeping in touch with customers via their preferred media is just the beginning. A form, few details, sometimes a little money and voila! You have got yourself a potential loyal customer. Because every time they look at the card, they remember your store, your service and even have a glimpse of your products in their mind. This leads to word-of-mouth marketing. Referral schemes are used for the same. Customers have transitioned from being product-seekers to experience-seekers. Loyalty programs themselves might not be enough if you start to randomly up-sell and cross-sell your products and bombard the customers with information. Better sense and increased profits will prevail if you send reminders and updates about related products without being pushy. Imagine doing all this again for a new customer. Wouldn’t it be easier to convince your existing customers about your company now that they have started becoming familiar with it?
It is 5 times costlier acquiring a new customer than retaining old customers.
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Some customers having hundreds of loyalty cards end up using only 1 or 2. What influences the use of certain cards? Try explaining why you go to the same restaurant quite frequently. Is it just because of affordability and good food or is there something special about the service? It’s a combination of all these aspects. Likewise, handling a loyalty program just because everyone in the business is doing so won’t get you anywhere. A good product and customer service will.
Ease of implementation for the company and ease of use from the customer’s point of view. Recently, I was at a cash counter. Having forgotten my card, I had to spend 10 minutes giving my details. But my name and number were both not found in the database. I then got my card number from my sister. Finally, I got to know that I had gained only 20 points for the huge sum that I had spent. So much for my loyalty! Sometimes, technical glitches and a not-so-clear policy of redeeming the points lead to frustration. But now, most systems are automated and loyalty programs are doing away with the need for a physical card. Loyalty programs give a better idea about customer preferences, lead to improved customer relationships, footfalls, and topof-the-mind-recall, faster inventory turnaround and increased sales. But an overdose can lead to diluted brand value, customer stalking, increased expectations from customers to have round-the-clock offers, a temptation to shell out more money and misuse of personal information. So, success depends upon how a company is able to balance the pros with the cons and build and nurture a profitable and long-lasting relationship with customers via loyalty programs, or even otherwise.
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BIG DATA: The next BIG THING (By Snehlata, 2 nd year, PGDITM, NITIE, Mumbai) Has the era of Big Data arrived? Is ‘Big Data’ a big deal for business or just a big hype? Does it provide competitive advantage? How to manage the next big data revolution? Questions galore as Big Data remains one of the most talked about topics across industries.
The three dimensions of Big Data are: 1. Volume 2. Velocity 3. Variety.
What is Big Data? According to IBM, everyday 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created and 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. In the last decade, organisations had data warehouses of maximum of a Terabyte size. Today, firms such as Netflix and Facebook have data warehouses with petabytes of data and are growing at a very fast rate. The data is so complex and dynamic that the conventional data tools cannot capture, manage, store or analyse it. There are data with huge volumes, created in real-time with a very high velocity, in the form of updates on social networks, readings from sensors, GPS signals from cell phones etc. This is Big Data. Big data refers to a commercial opportunity to analyse and find insights in emerging types of data and identify patterns to help your enterprise make smarter decisions. IMT-H|Prarambh
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For example, predicting future consumer behaviour from Wal-Mart’s 2.5 petabytes of customer transactions data collected every day.
Why is it important? Using Big Data, large volumes of data can be consolidated and analysed to create value and innovations at a much faster rate than conventional methods. Companies can get niche insight into customers’ buying habits and identify patterns that will help them predict future consumer behaviour. It would form the basis for competition and growth for firms and help increase productivity. It would also contribute significantly to overall global economy by improving the quality of products and reducing waste.
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How does it bring competitive advantage?
Courtesy: www.wipro.com
Big Data has become the new competitive advantage for leading companies to perform better than their peers. It can be leveraged to innovate and add value and help outperform competitors. In the healthcare sector, a large volume of data about the results of popularly prescribed medicines is being analysed. This helps in discovering benefits and risks of these pharmaceuticals which cannot be identified in a few clinical trials.
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The sophisticated analytics can improve decision-making, reduce risks, and bring to the fore hidden valuable insights. Big Data helps in achieving better segmentation of customers and hence deliver more precisely tailored products and services. It is time forward-thinking managers start building their companies’ Big Data capabilities to harness all the information they have about buyers, suppliers, consumers, products, services.
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What are the management challenges? Leadership: There is a need for leaders with vision who can identify the great opportunity Big Data presents and the changing business scenario. They have the challenging role of persuading people to accept Big Data. A good leader will create an organization flexible enough to maximize cross-functional cooperation.
Talent Management: There is a shortage of workers with the right skill set required to handle Big Data. The major challenge is finding the right people at the right price as there is a sudden surge in the demand for these skills.
Organisation’s Culture: This is one of the major barriers of success. Instead of working in silos, companies need to understand how to bring together domain expertise and Big Data to make better decisions.
Future Given the scale and scope of Big Data, harnessing its potential to the fullest poses many managerial challenges. Nonetheless, there is an increasing consensus, across the industries that Big Data is here to stay and organisations should take the right steps to seize this opportunity. While the concept is getting a lot of attention, the most important thing is to understand the basics of Big Data.
References: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/ http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/mgi/research/technology_and_innovation/big_data_the_n ext_frontier_for_innovation http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=113&sid=7d4c2a20-a5c0-422b-a7ec84129d255dce%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=b75d4ec6-d5a5-401a-96ffb8925b5ec631%40sessionmgr4&vid=4&hid=8&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d %3d#db=bth&AN=78946511
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Economics Showcase @ IMT HYDERABAD (By Avinash K) During times of rapid transformations with respect to technology and living, it becomes utmost necessary that the tools, on which we rely for various works, evolve at the same pace. In these times, knowledge is one those essential factors which acts as a multiplier for the advancement in the technology and living. So, again, it becomes very important for us to focus on the proper impartation of knowledge using the latest techniques, i.e. either using latest IT tools or various innovative ways which makes students learn not just by studying but also by doing. Because as budding managers and entrepreneurs, it is not only the theory which is going to help us but a practical exposure is also required to think and act like successful managers and entrepreneurs. Keeping in sync with the same thought, IMT Hyderabad’s Economics department organised Economics Showcase on 11th & 12th October 2012. The aim of the event was to make the students to work in a team, think and learn the concepts of economics in a practical manner. To start off with, the topics were allotted on the basis of draw which made sure that the allocation is random. The topics included books like The Accidental Theorist, SuperFreakonomics, Free Lunch, Globalization and its Discontents, etc. and movies like The Insider, Blood Diamond, A Beautiful Mind, etc. For any movie or book, the important task was to identify the concepts portrayed in book/movie and show some kind of application in the real life. Mode of showcase adopted by each team was different from every other. Some used videos, IMT-H|Prarambh
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some used animations and some used totally unique ideas of games like crosswords, quizzes and board games. Concepts by economists like Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and John Nash were displayed by teams explaining the concepts to not only the professors and judges, but also the students, who were totally unaware about the various concepts not regularly used or taught. Since the event was a part of the curriculum, carrying credits to the Macroeconomic course, so the teams were judged by a panel of jury, who graded them. To standout as a team from others, everybody put in their full efforts to do things differently. Students’ in-depth research on the topics inter-mingled with the fun element when the teams used the various modes of learning. The important thing here was to understand how to proceed with the analysis of the topics and how to apply the concepts to real-life situation while including the fun-factor in making others understand in a lucid way. Another lesson involved was the team-work under pressure, which is very much required for being a part of such team-bound activities and work in future. All in all it was a great display of talent and knowledge by all the teams. The economic concepts that the students learnt in a practical way will stay with them for a long period. For implementing such practical pedagogical methods, the faculty team mentored them whenever and wherever required. It was a great learning experience for the students through the vast number of books/movies and concepts to work on. It’s a useful and wonderful way to learn and grow in changing times. And as Thomas Carruthers once said, “A
teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary". Empressario
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Economics Showcase: Snapshots
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FOOD FIESTA @ IMT HYDERABAD (By Prateek Mukherji)
“What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing” – Aristotle And that is what we believe in at IMT Hyderabad. It is this thought that runs through all the activities we do. So, keeping in mind the spirit of the thought, along with its vision to encourage entrepreneurial activities, Prarambh, the E-cell of IMT Hyderabad organised Fiesta 2012, an entrepreneurial event for the students to show their prowess or at least try their hands at cooking, pricing, marketing and selling food items. A first of its kind event in IMT Hyderabad, it also provided the students, a break from the “wonderful” mess food. The event was held on 12th October 2012, the day being a Friday was a perfect day to have a food festival on campus, after all the hard work done over the week. But the participants had started their work much before the day of the event, as they had to conform to certain rules of participation. They had to submit their menu list, the pricing of each item and their anticipated profit margins to the organising committee. A faculty team was in-charge of judging the teams for their effort.
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The event began with the teams putting up their stalls, complete with all sorts of fanfare and promotional activities. The teams started inviting the spectators to their stalls to buy from them or just to taste the samples. Some teams concentrated on their previous and on-spot marketing skills, some on their variety and some on its pricing. The menu included snacks like Kababs, on-the-go food like Shawarmas, desserts like cakes and ladoos, Masala Coke and Dosas. The teams were judged on different aspects like Hygiene, Pricing, Cost-effectiveness, Profits, Resourcefulness, etc. After the grade-sheets of each team were submitted by the judges, the costs and profits were verified by the organising team and the winners were declared a few days later. As per the teams, irrespective of the winner, it was a learning experience for them, as they were able to gain hands-on experience in price, market and sell their products while being an entrepreneur for an evening. For the rest of us, it was pure satisfaction - a win-win situation for all of us!
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Add-ons Readers’ Corner Got any comments? Would you like to contribute to the newsletter? Get back to us at: ecellprarambh@gmail.com. Your comments/views and articles would be published from the next issue. A few things to be kept in mind: Articles/comments should not be demeaning / damaging in nature. Articles should be to the point and of around 500 words. The decision of selecting the articles to be featured and the number of such articles rests with the faculty mentor and editor of the newsletter. So put on your thinking caps and show us your intellect side.
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Team Prarambh
Faculty Mentor Dr. Archana Pillai Core Members: Arjun Chaudhuri Udit Luthur Divya Vuppala Vaibhav Chabra Manish Vishnu M. Designing, Compiling & Tech support: Pankaj Kumar Gaurav Prateek Mukherji Editing team: Anshika Rai Ridhima Kumar Ameya Lingaraju
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Vol. IV Iss. 1 | Empressario | Oct-Nov 2012 | Prarambh | IMT-H