72nd Week@XIMB

72nd Week@XIMB - 21st October to 27th October, 2012

21st October - “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” ― Peter F. Drucker

I never fully understood importance of leadership until landed here in XIMB. Any university that does not offer its student this freedom and opportunity will fail to develop promising leaders and managers. I am lucky to have ITBHU and XIMB as institute of higher education. I guess any student needs to do study about something he/she is truly passionate about – if he/she is sitting in classes merely for the sake of grades/ – he’s just missed the point! There are some courses that may be no practical use in desk job, field service or even research, there is most certainly value. If you want to be a leader, there has to be irrationality in your setting up of the dreams. As Nelson Mandela rightly said "There is no passion to be found playing small."

Any institute or organization don't just need firefighters, they need architects too; Leadership is not just about solving problems but exploring opportunities. Leadership at the organization often becomes confusing and uninspiring. Top talent leave an organization when they’re badly managed. And generally immediate supervisors are the prime reason. People are always ready to work hard in the conducive environment and can even compromise salaries for a stability. But when senior management don’t hear the voice of the employee below, the plot of disaster creeps in the team. “People leave managers not companies.” This is highly cited quote in corporate world and I agree with this statement. What are leadership traits ? There is no hardcore and strict signs but the motivation and innovation will come high in my list.

22nd October - Kolkata tour is on.

23rd October - Kolkata tour ends today.

24th October - Back to Bhubaneswar and sleeping with luxury.

25th October - I am down with fever, cold, headache and body pain. The winters have arrived in this part of the world.

26th October - There was discussion on Balance Scorecard, Bench Marking and Scenario Analysis in KMSDS class.

27th October - With experiencing so many upheavals, I am more mature now. You are obviously wiser at 27 than when you are 21-22. I have understood my abilities and weak points. Passion is still there [though] faded due to academic burden.

71st Week@XIMB

71st Week@XIMB - 14th October to 20th October, 2012

14th October - Binayak Acharya & Gaurish Manerkar won 1st Prize at B-plan competition in KIIT. That is a one more positive news for XIMB.

15th October - In SCM, we discussed about basics of network design in supply chain.

We were taught in CBRM lecture about attitude formation that is explained through tri component model of Cognition, Affective and Conative process. (Source; Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004). I was suggested to read about The Stanford Prison Experiment.We were told about tom sawyer effect where sometimes a very unattractive thing can also be made very attractive. There is a webpage for more study.

16th October - There was case study on Timex corporation in strategy class.

There was discussion on Daniel Kanheman in CBRM lecture and his Dual process theory where System 1 is Automatic & unconscious and System 2 is Slow and sequential thinking. I read a good article on discounts- Paying more in a sale? How to spot a real bargain from sneaky retail tricks.

The symbols are powerful instrument in touching the chords of the customer. When Gandhi broke the salt laws, he was expressing pent up emotions among Indians. The salt tax charged the Indian people for a basic human necessity and prevented them making their own salt. Hence, Indians were forced to look for the meaning of freedom in their daily life affected by British Rule.

17th October - There is an urgent need to learn linear programming model for going through basic of distribution network design.

We all learned something about Power Chemical companies through the case - Creating Fertile Ground for Knowledge at Monsanto. In power chemical sector, life of patent is 7 years while that is 16 -20 years for pharma sector. We were given insight about core competence through example of Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

18th October - In STM, there was focus on growth, stability and other strategies followed by companies. In this CBRM lecture, I learned about different type of heuristic : Anchoring, Availability, Naive Diversification, Affect, Social Proof and Effort.

19th October - The classes are closed leading to Puja Holiday.

20th October - I should interact with persons from different social strata to understand the aspirations, source of strength and fears of individual. TV, Social Media and Internet is not reality, go outside, travel, talk to different people and live. There are places where people have never seen a proper doctor. Mike Horn, the adventurer has aptly put importance of living life full of new experiences: "If you don't have any challenges, you don't have experience and if you don't have experience you haven't lived life."

70th Week@XIMB

70th Week@XIMB - 7th October to 13th October, 2012

7th October - Sunday : BASF field visit.

8th October - I learned about CST, VAT and upcoming GST in SCM lecture. Under the CST Act, the tax is collected at one stage of purchase or sale of goods. Therefore, the burden of the full tax bond is borne by only one dealer, either the first or the last dealer. However, under the VAT system, the tax burden would be shared by all the dealers from first to last. Then, such tax would be passed upon the final consumers. There was brief discussion on FDI in retail that is a hot topic these days .

9th October - There were no classes. There was very important batch meet regarding placement. We all are heading towards the future determined by the placement, there is an uncertainty in the even calm minds also. As Keynes has said, we have, as a rule, only the vaguest idea of any but the most direct consequence of our acts. In our decisions, the pull of reality is greater than pull of dreams. I don't know where I will flow!

10th October - In this SCM lecture, there was study on transportation and inventory cost.

11th October -Fr. Sirinus Topno, S.J. left for his heavenly abode yesterday evening due to cardiac arrest. Fr. Sirinus served the Institute in various capacities such as Administrator of CENDERET and MDC since 2010.

Gramotsava launch. Gramotsava, an event conceptualised by students of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar is done to promote products and business concepts among rural masses, got underway from Thursday. The event, organised by Rural Managers’ Association of XIMB (RMAX), saw the unveiling of the official banner for Gramotsava 2012 with the theme ‘Back to the Roots’ here.

There was a talk given our alumni Parul from CMF -IFMR. This talk revolved around impact assessment of the project. Her work profile was more a policy based action research that requires good knowledge of statistics & econometrics with software's like SPSS, STATA.

12th October - The launch will be followed by a two-day fair in the rural haats of Tangi and Begunia in the districts of Cuttack and Khurda, respectively. Daily Pioneer newspaper has covered the item in detail.

13th October - I was absent from the 2nd day of Gramotsava. Better said than done, guys (Binayak Acharya, Kshitij Gupta & Gaurish Manerkar) from batch had won 1st Prize in a debate competition held at KIIT.

69th Week@XIMB

69th Week@XIMB - 30th September to 6th October, 2012

30th September - I was busy whole day in field visit of live project.

I over viewed a World Bank page that summarizes Doing Business 2012 data for India. Also, Power of Ideas 2012: NASE, a new voice to boost India's social ventures and Power of Ideas 2012: Quipper Research, an all-women startup, dedicated specifically to qualitative marketing research.

1st October - There was discussion on facilities, capacity design and inventory in SCM lecture.

2nd October - A holiday gone in watching movies and reading pile of newspaper.

3rd October - There was discussion on Supply Chain Design at Jaguar: Bringing 'Nirvana' to Halewood case.(Full Pdf) There is one more complementary case that was not even mentioned in the class - Jaguar Comes to Halewood: The Story of a Turnaround.

Registration of IRP is over and yet exact topic of IRP is still undecided.

4th October - There was discussion on Lifebuoy - Leviathan or Legend case in STM lecture. I learned that a market leader should be ready with a fighting brand but should not introduce unless competition is stiff as it can led to cannibalism of its own premium brand.

5th October - There was only one lecture of KMSDS revolving around a case discussion. Chaos Theory: Harness Knowledge to Benefit Front-Line Service Delivery Teams, Staff, Customers, Clients and Health-Care Providers. I learned about organization life cycle.

6th October - I volunteered with group of SE students to visit Milk Mantra Plant. I was able to see the procurement and processing part of the complete business model. Milk Mantra facility at Gop, Puri district - Ethical Milk Sourcing programme creates a sustainable impact on the lives of more than 5000 milk suppliers on fair pricing policy. And, the network of farmers also get access a variety of extension services aimed to