65th Week@XIMB

65th Week@XIMB - 2nd September to 8th September 2012

2nd September - I submitted a team project report on Asian Paints in SDM. The whole process of data mining, compilation, editing, and printing with the team was good learning.

There was a scheduled industry talk of SREI Sahaj CEO on Sunday afternoon. The topic of the Talk was 'challenges in the service delivery channel and route to market strategies in rural India'. It began late on time but went quite fantastic overall. The Key learning - 'Positive dissatisfaction' is a good start for a young professional like us. There are more standard operating procedures and compliance in a big company, hence it is not a good option for fresher to start their work there.

Guest : Mr. Sanjay Panigrahi , CEO of SREI Sahaj

No rural people will pay for information on weather and government schemes. So business for information directly to the end consumer is not a viable option currently. Delivery and Management should be the key focus for a good business model in rural India. Most companies in India have a strong urban model while only Agri-input companies can claim to have a dent in the rural market. Few companies like Unilever, Dabur, and CavinKare have partial success in this rural arena. People who had worked in rural branches of SBI and RRB's have also knowledge of the rural mindset. Amul is like any other MNC in the front end while rural in the back end.

How to identify and define rural areas? This is a bigger question in front of companies. (I agree with this questioning as one sure way to get the wrong answer is by not framing the right questions). LG has defined an area below the population of 1 lakh as rural. That is an absurd definition. The worst criteria are population as consumer behavior differs due to cultural aspects in different parts of India. Assam and Bengal are more outgoing for education than Bihar and Orissa. One of the good methods employed by companies to classify rural pockets was the distance from highways.

The largest expenditure incurred by companies on advertisement is taken by DD due to its outreach. Local broadcasting channels like Mahua TV and Sarang TV are a good way to reach a rural audience of particular regions. Government has credibility in the rural areas that are lacked by private players. There are nearly 77,000 branches of banks and 1,36,000 Post offices (data not exact) in India. Yet, that number is quite low. Along with high operational cost, due to this trust factor, local MFI's and banking correspondent were used by leading banks for lending in rural India. This shows the importance of trust in making transactions with the rural customer segment.

There is more need for micromanagement in India. Everything is okay, not great at the policy level but implementation is bad at the panchayat/block level. The private player has also to manage and engage daily with governance complexities and lack of infrastructure. Three critical steps changed India in the last decade: First, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and The Golden Quadrilateral. This made rural areas more accessible for product/service delivery. Second, increase in funding through various social welfare schemes. And third, rural laborers were paid remittance through a safety net like NREGA.

There is a huge generation of data that requires intelligent MIS and data analyst. There is more need for knowledge before investing time and money in rural India. There is a need to understand the domestic market more than ever in recessing market example tolerance level is more in rural customers. In this quest for understanding rural consumer, answers can be dramatically different and contrary to the popular belief.

3rd September - A very hectic day amid regular classes. I gossiped a lot in the night for mental relaxation. Last class of SDM. It ended overall on a high note with a surprisingly good TED talk video.

Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation

4th September - There was a group presentation in ESM on Organic Farming in Cuba. I wanted to raise several statements of protest in front of Professor. I rather restrained myself in the end.

5th September - There was the last class of QRM that lasted for 45 minutes. I had talked with our Professor. She told us few things about rural management education and pedagogy in India. There is a dearth of teaching cases in the area of rural management. This shows a lack of research and funding in this field.

Key Learning: Writing up field notes immediately is one of the sacred obligations of fieldwork. Sometimes maintaining this diary becomes both boring and painful. I repeat the same behavior every day and expected to churn out a new insight. There are confront unpleasant facts, including lack of acceptance, ambiguity about a question, and gaping holes in the analysis. Believe Everything and Trust Nothing is the mantra of the observation to see clearly through the ideological maze.

While Managers are prepared for risk aversion and to achieve profits, an entrepreneur is a risk-taker. In the rural setting, business development and community mobilization become a key tasks for anyone. Trust is something on which business works in rural areas.

6th September - A great news for XIMB RM 2011-2013 batch. Our batchmate Sreevidya Gowda (India) was chosen among the TOP 50 INDIAFRICA BUSINESS VENTURE Winners. Nirmal purifier has been designed to provide access to iron-free safe drinking water at a low cost. The design was a semifinalist at the Dell Social innovation challenge and a finalist at the Acara Challenge conducted by the University of Minnesota.

Listening to the New Amul Manthan Song

The Manthan music video has a unique emotional appeal. The lines like 'khush rahe tera beta beti' in the new music video show how it is because of the efforts of a rural milk producer that nutritional requirements of a child to an urban mother are taken care of.

7th September - HRM paper over. Do you know who is Amanda Ammann? I was also not knowing about her details till now. I meet her few times but she never revealed her real identity and just enacted as a normal exchange student.

8th September - MFM paper is over. The tragic story of making mistakes in the balance sheet went on this time also.

64th Week@XIMB

64th Week@XIMB - 26th August to 1st September, 2012

26th August Past performance are not an accurate predictor of future outcomes. Yet they can give a reference line about the academic career of the person. So much can be said in reference to the academics grades. Are we the student more than the CV and grades?

There was also a lot of thinking gone over the news item - Placement reportage: How the DMS, IIT Delhi 2012 placement report is designed to mislead you?. This shoddy practices of fudging placement report without having a real-world experience of running a values-driven company possess a serious ethical challenge. It is actually a less known but well performed malpractice in most of the B-School!

While army officers go beyond the call of duty sacrificing life for the country, investment bankers do exactly opposite. I can understand root cause of such problems in our education system only that never punishes plagiarism and other such activities. This makes me deeply critical, but am trying hard not to become cynical. As thy folklore wisdom persist that MBA is hyped but post MBA life is over hyped.

27th August There was talk given by Mr.Roy Prosterman, Founder of Rural Development Institute (RDI). He has twice been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

There was exhaustive discussion on Spectrum Brands, Inc.--The Sales Force Dilemma in SDM class.

28th August There was virtually not much substantial gain in attending MFM, CM and HRM lecture today.

29th August - A huge discussion on the future of RM program in QRM class. RM program has currently ambi dextrous nature. With its position, it is difficult to find any College to do bench-marking for academic curicula. To understand crux of the debate, one need to use right nomenclature either development or management. Any college should have these aspects for growth: Creation of knowledge through research, Application of knowledge within the industry through commercialization and dissemination of knowledge through classroom lectures. There is a huge gap in research area that needed major thrust .

Any college is built around three pillars: administration , faculty and alumni. At the moment, all of them are not clear about their own vision of XIMB and the third we don't listen any about. There is a practical joke in XIMB that those few who raise the slogan of RM in the loudest voices have nothing to do with the vision of this program. Testosterone and allegiance-driven student community has no place to stop and think over vision of the programme.

Not a single memorial exists today for Fr. Bogaert. What a shameful state of XIMB RM that can't even honor its own pioneering professor and patron. Father Bogaert was the first co-ordinator who facilitated in setting up of CENDERET in 1989. He was the driving force for this Rural Development(RD) program that later evolved in to Rural Management(RM).

30th August - The last class of ESM was on corporation and sustainability. The transition to sustainable capitalism will be one of the most complex our species has ever had to negotiate. Traditional accounting methodas never takes in account natural assets.Current financial tool like NPV or IRR can't easily account for intangible benefits. Sustainability is a parameter of long term impacts and we have to look in the economics with more timeless way, for next generation rather only as discounted cash flows. There was an article on sustainable practices of ABB ltd. on same day worth looking.

One of our Alumnus Mr. Nikhar Gyanesh (2005-07 Batch) currently working with CEAT Tyres as Senior Product Manager visited campus. His talk revolved around Tyre industry and importance of academics in the industry for 'gyaan'. Tractor companies were major clients of Tyre Industry. M&M has a share of 41.4 per cent in the tractor market, followed by TAFE at 23.4 per cent and Escorts at 11.4 per cent. John Deere accounts for a market share of only 7.5 per cent.

31st August - I visited to the C&FA office of Dulux paint today. This visit was done for understanding sales and distribution network of Dulux paint. The discussion was very small due to last day of the month. AkzoNobel is the parent company of this brand. We were given additional 'gyaan' that AkzoNobel has been ranked as the most sustainable chemical company in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DSJI).

1st September - I have heard and seen a lot of XIMB-RM social group’s view of reality. A lot of talks with fellow rural managers became an important data source on ecosystem of the college, private thoughts, and feelings about after-school jobs and future possibilities.

63rd Week@XIMB

63rd Week@XIMB - 19th August to 25th August, 2012

20th August - Since 1997 Dr Debal Deb has been conserving 700 varieties of native rice that seed companies are trying to drive out. He works for biodiversity conservation, knowledge transfer and non-commercial seed exchange within and beyond India's indigenous communities.

Folk Rice Dr Debal Deb



21st August - Today is my birthday. I will only quote Benjamin Franklin on life :"Content to live, content to die unknown, Lord of myself, accountable to none."

21st August I participated in Kurukshetra and Spardha Launch. There was a good Harvard Business review article uploaded by SDM faculty : Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing by Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham, Suj Krishnaswamy (Complete Reading)

22nd August - There was presentation on OSCARD by our group in CM. We cam ro know about: Narasimham Committee on Banking Sector Reforms (1998). There was discussion on MFI Andhra Crisis in MFM class.What's wrong with microfinance? edited by Thomas Dichter and Malcolm Harper is a good book that must be studied in detail for academic knowledge. Ticket size of loan given by ACCION International is between 200-300 $ at Latin America in comparison to average loan size of Rs 5000 -1000 in Indian Micro-finance Industry. Hence, the cost of regulation is much higher in Indian context. So we require more patient not passive capital for revival of Indian Micro-finance Industry.

23rd August - Triple Bottom Line was discussed in detail. The phrase “the triple bottom line” was first coined in 1994 by John Elkington, the founder of a British consultancy called SustainAbility. Now companies are looking for businesses to bring value to their societies. There were not much classes this week. Hence, quite and relax week was coming to the end.

24th August - XIMB organized a ‘Business Conclave Week’. Top executives across the industry would be visiting our campus from 24th to 26th August, 2012. Everyone put up a good show.

I missed preparation as well as functioning of ENVISION 2012 program that was part of this business conclave. That is not what me to be as a professional. Clive Lloyd’s team returned WestIndies with 5-1 pounding at the end of the 1975-76 series in Australia. Clive Llyod said: ‘never again’. They searched some fierce fast bowlers and nurtured young batsman, and turned the table against Australian. I also declare today that this laziness will never happen again.

25th August - Last class of HRM was a guest lecture.

Guest Talk: Mr Saroj Mohapatra, HR JSPL Orissa Unit.

Saroj Mohapatra stressed on the quality is more important than the package of the job. Management education has been born out of school of economics and industrial sociology. In colleges, subjects are taught in compartment wise while its chaos and mixture in the reality.

He told us a story of vision. Revenue source of Dubai was coming only from oil resource. Prince of Dubai planned for non -oil revenue in future. So he set up the most unusual target : making Dubai a tourist destination. That was achieved through engineering and good management. This is what we lacking in India. The task of government is governance and regulation not running business. When there was no investment, there was worried about utilization of mineral resources. Now, with investment coming, government has been worrying about people. There is a structural problem at policy level.

There is a rent seeking mindset embedded in Indian people. When government displaces for road or irrigation project, there is not much talk about compensation package. But, when private parties do this for like steel plant, there is always talk of rehabilitation and justified compensation package. JSPL is paying 5 times package yet there is demand for the job guarantee for grandsons. There must be peaceful co existence of under-developed, developing and developed. Unless there is provision of social mobility, this can't be achieved.

62nd Week@XIMB

62nd Week@XIMB - 12th August to 19th August, 2012

12th August - There is a policy paralysis in India. There are concerns over contraction in industrial output and drought need to be addressed soon. India's economic growth could fall below 5 per cent in the the first quarter of current fiscal.

13th August - Mr. K. Ramkumar, Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank is responsible for Human Resources, Customer Service & Operations. Are top business schools losing sight of what hirers want? is a probing article by him with a countering answer from N. Ravichandran, Director IIM Indore - Institutions need time to mature made by day.

RBI had released long ago Malegam Committee Report on micro-finance. Report of the RBI Sub-Committee of its Central Board of Directors to study Issues and concerns in the micro finance institutions (MFI) Sector.

14th August - I had taken an interesting question for the research while doing later assignment of QRM. How students of PDGM-RM in XIMB identify effective (and ineffective) areas of the curriculum offered to them ? The parameters were field work, demand in market, relevance in development field or attributes like value addition of knowledge etc.

15th August - On the occasion of the 65th Anniversary of India's Independence Day, I have to say nothing. Facebook pages are colored with the heart of patriots.

16th August - ‎"Start Your Venture" not floating this year 'due to some last minute procedural problems' ... a step back for RM program.

TALK DELIVERED BY MR. AJIT KANITKAR AND MR. DINESH AWASTHI

As part of the Livelihood sharing series a special talk by Ajit Kanitkar (Program Officer, Ford Foundation and former Professor, IRMA) and Dinesh Awasthi (Director EDII) was organized on 16th August, 2012. Livelihoods MANTHAN is a collaborative effort to envision the participation of management and higher educational institutions as an important part of the livelihoods ecosystem int the county. The distinguished speakers spoke on the theme “Grassroots Entrepreneurship and livelihoods” and interacted with the XIMB, Rural Management students at length. The talk was coordinated by Prof. C. Shambu Prasad and a few representatives from NGOs and professionals working in the livelihood sector also attended the session.

Ajit Kanitkar reminded the audience that agriculture itself is an enterprise, albeit a very risky one. Uncertainty about the monsoon, price fluctuations, spurious seeds, storage and transportation, pest attacks and so on makes agriculture the riskiest enterprise. Under these circumstances the speaker argued that there has to be a multipronged strategy to generate enough livelihood options for the people and it should specifically address three major areas of concern. First, there can be no substitute for agriculture in a country like India where 60-70 crores of people are still dependent on it. We have to find ways and means to make agriculture a profitable enterprise. Secondly people have to start respecting vocational education. Time and resources has to be allocated for training a large number of young people for skill development. Thirdly, Mr. Kanitkar mentioned about the need to promote social enterprises.

“Economy of scale and scope is the most important factor for successful running of any social enterprise” - Dinesh N. Awasthi.

Dinesh N. Awasthi firmly believes that until unless all the people are economically empowered it will be impossible for them to get social and political empowerment. According to him Social Entrepreneurship is all about making products and services available to people which are accessible as well as affordable. He explained the three different views about social entrepreneurship.

a) Ashoka Foundation view:- It believes that whosoever is doing social innovation and trying to fix social issues, irrespective of the facts like whether it is getting grants and funds or not, its earning profits or not and whether it is self-sustainable or not it should continue doing the work.

b) Muhammad Yunus view:- His view is opposite to Ashoka foundation’s view. According to him a social entrepreneur must be self-sufficient; its activities should be self-sustainable and must make profits. People, organizations who are investing in a social enterprise should re-invest the profits in these activities only. They should not take away any part of the profits that are being generated.

c) Any enterprise should address the need of bottom of the pyramid following the principles Availability, Accessibility, Affordability.

17th August - There was a group presentation on Individual lending in MFI. That passed quite well. I learnt the difference between asset based and collateral based lending.

There was career counselling Session with Prof. Govindrajan. I expressed my interest in either consulting or development sector. Market research will be my third option. I am looking forward for off campus amid weak economy that may affect placement.

Vijay Mahajan: Rebuilding a Stronger Microfinance Sector in India - Vijay Mahajan, the president of the Microfinance Institutions Network of India and also the founder and chairman of the Basix social enterprise group talked to India Knowledge@Wharton about the implications of the new bill and the way ahead for the sector.

Why research that establishes causality is better than just correlation? by Krishnamurthy V Subramanian, Assistant Professor (Finance), ISB. Correlation is the basis for superstition while causation forms the basis for science.

18th August - I visited office of The Odisha State Cooperative Agricultural & Rural Development (OSCARD) Bank. That was followed by brief discussion between our team and one of the staff member of OSCARD bank. They were not so reluctant to share financial data but it looked more like white elephant of the government.

Mechai Viravaidya: How Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place