Diary of a Rural Manager!

What is unofficial tagline of Brand Rural Management Programme at XIMB : “We Try Harder” A quick question is fired by an aspirant, “Why does anybody ever want XIMB-RM as first choice in admission ?” Yes, we all know that “XIMB-RM is only No. 2.” Yet the reply is simple: “ We try harder in nurturing our budding rural manager because we have to make a point. It's always the second ranker who works harder and learns a lot more in the process.” The origination of the answer is not to create a cute, gimmick, but instead it was – and is -- a business philosophy that every XIMB-RM students holds true. Each and every student of rural management knows that he must work harder and learn extensively than their counterparts. XIMB - RM focus on frank and truthful statements about our ranks and education philosophy. This institution is a Sangam (confluence) where we seek to find balance between mainstream business and development of people on margins. As I write this, I'm enj...

On Monday, March 25, 2013 at 6.00 P.M. we had our 22nd Convocation. Shri Jaspal Singh Bindra, Executive Director and CEO-Asia, Standard Chartered PLC of Standard Chartered Bank Ltd. came as the Chief Guest. I finally convocated from the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB). The degree of rural manager was awarded not only in letters but also in spirit. It will be impossible to say when so many of us will gather at the same place again. May be in upcoming 10- 15 years ! This could not have been achieved without emotional support and confidence by my parents, Prem bhaiya, Chandan, Shreyash, Abhishek and college friends like Gaurish, Gautam, Anshumani, Partha, Abhijeet etc. As an overpriced assets, we all are out of the walls of the college campus. I suddenly understand why values like humility, sincerity and honesty are more important than qualities like intelligence and achievements. A person's most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge but a heart full of l...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 6... : 1- In economics, the Dutch disease is a concept that explains the apparent relationship between the increase in exploitation of natural res...

90th Week@XIMB - 24th February to 2nd March 2013 24th February - It's not about good grades. It's about surviving the last trimester...!! 25th February - Abhijit Sen Committee was setup once to examine whether and to what extent futures trading has contributed to price rise in agricultural commodities. I couldn’t find the report on any of the government website but found the report on Mint’s website ( Draft Report of the Expert Committee on Commodity Futures Trading ). There was no evidence to suggest that futures trading stoked inflation. 26th February - The line between recklessness and overconfidence can be difficult to find. I crossed that line in CMD end term paper and find bamboozled by the question paper. That came as a shocking eye opener for the last trimester. Batch 2011- 2013 at XIMB gets grand farewell with recalling success, achievements and memories over the last two years. People will be missed but never forgotten. 27th February - Milestone...

88th Week@XIMB - 10th February to 16th February 2013 10th February - A person's essential fair-mindedness is perhaps its most striking and skillful feature that can won him over adversaries. That was my assumption until I came at XIMB. Here, the bias decision will win you more friends and build a reputation of caretaker. I hoped that such scenario changes in coming times in vain. The lobbies, peer pressure and affiliation became stronger with each passing day. I read a quote by Warren Buffett that cleared the fog in the mind: "If they don't have integrity, they never will. The chains of habit are sometimes too heavy to be broken." 11th February - George Orwell had said long time back: " Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." This holds so true for each batch of engineering or management that I have been part of. 12th February - I read a wonderful stateme...

86th Week@XIMB - 27th January to 2nd February, 2013 I am away from the laptop, internet and XIMB for a complete week on a trip to home. I was becoming stoic calm proof against vicissitude of academic pressure. The power of "rural": A special on rural marketing

83rd Week@XIMB - 6th January to 12th January, 2012 6th January - ' Theory of maximising shareholder value has done great harm to businesses ': Meet Philip Kotler, the SC Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago, and, in the words of Management Centre Europe, “the world’s foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing”. 7th January - I was feeling quite low and listening to this song. Hausla Buland - Haywards 5000 Anthem Theme Song 8th January - I started preparing for AIDMI, Srijan and OLM with keeping in mind that risk of unemployment reduces slowly and at great cost. 9th January - I applied in Ujjivan Microfinance today but withdrew my application later. Yet, I attended talk of CEO, Ujjivan MFI given by Mr. Samit Ghosh. Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Ujjivan Financial Service (Ujjivan) , a micro finance institution which provides financi...

82nd Week@XIMB - 30th December to 5th January, 2012 30th December - I stayed true to myself and started preparation for the development sector. 31st December - Why MBA in Rural Management and Engineering? The most cliche and funny answer given these days is 'competitive advantage'. 1st January - I went out to Chilika Lake for a vacationer tour. 2nd January - I missed classes to study for placement purpose. I had a surprise quiz in 3rd January - I was not selected in BRLPS (Jeevika). I studies from the website only but find this document(pdf) quite useful. 4th January - I was not selected in AISECT. I studied and prepared from a compendium on Mission mode projects under NeGP. 5th January - I am posting here the websites that will be useful for exploring data. FAOSTAT , World Bank Data Center , OECD Statistics & Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, India ( National Data Warehouse of Official Statistics )

81st Week@XIMB - 23rd December to 29th December, 2012 23rd December - XIMB stops accepting IRMA scores for rural management program , will now only accept CAT, XAT or CMAT. That is the news rolling over at pagalguy. I don't know its implications. XIMB-RM may succeeds tactically in the eyes of AICTE, but fails strategically in the eyes of applicants in term of its reputation. Rather than trying to be a person I cannot be - to do this or do that - I went back to reconstruct my own strengths. I had come here for development hence will not go for a high paying (sales/marketing) job. 24th December - CMD, GID and SER class. It was quite nice to study sociology in GID lecture. Even today, after years of education and modernity, women didn't get the respect that they are entitled to. Yes, low enrollment of girls in this course is quite dramatically low. May be these girls either know everything or just don't want to discuss these issues. 25th December - Christmas is in ...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 5... : I didn't come down to XIMB to oversleep. I've worked below what I am capable of. Here in 5 points what I learnt in last 3 months: ...

80th Week@XIMB - 16th December to 22nd December 2012 16th December - STM book reading session started today. Prof Deepak Malhotra - HBS - 2012 Speech to Graduating Harvard MBA Students 17th December - STM reading session continues. 18th December -   “Complacency is a part of Indian psyche and you can’t do much about it. Every time an Indian tries to be ambitious he is pulled down and that’s one of the reasons why Indians don’t have the killer mentality,” Sunil Gavaskar once observed. The fees are submitted. Yet I didn't find enough motivation to attend classes next trimester. Without a dream to chase, the soul stagnates. This has happened to many individuals here at this place. I once wanted to change the brawn environment of RM but failed miserably. This place has the capacity to pull down in an institutionalized way. Neither are we great in knowledge nor have sufficient human capital in the alumni database. 19th December - STM exams were over. I started stud...

79th Week@XIMB - 9th December to 15th December, 2012 9th December - There was an interesting collaboration that XIMB has had with the University of Minnesota this trimester. We had (almost) simultaneous courses running on "Social entrepreneurship" (XIMB) and UMN-Acara's "Design for Sustainable Development" ( syllabus ). Nine students of SE paired with four teams of UMN and after initial facilitation from both sides the students have been working on joint problems with regular discussions over skype. The teams had their live presentations on Dec 7th which was conducted on an open platform with students here able to add and listen to their counterparts. This low (no) cost experiment has happened with good learning on both sides. While positioning some of the advantages of XIMB, the noteworthy was the ability of RM students to be more awake when Americans are! The manner in which successive batches of RM students have participated and created a conducive e...

78th Week@XIMB - 2nd December to 8th December, 2012 2nd December - I was back in Bhubaneswar from Raipur. I was rejected in Manipal Process after playing simulation game round. People don't remember why they even join this course. 3rd December - Its Institute day i.e. Holiday. Fr. Paul Fernandes, S.J., Ph.D is appointed as the Director of XIMB by its Board of Governors with effect from December 4, 2012. 4th December - I wasted another precious day of my life. 5th December - In a closed and localized market, increased productivity only resulted in surplus goods and falling prices. That may happen to Amul and directly affect to the prices paid to producers. Indian government must start exporting milk and milk products to avoid such condition. And we are also self sufficient in milk production. 6th December - I qualified for the written test but rejected again in interview. I observed that beyond a solid knowledge of subject, it is temperament in stressful situatio...

77th Week@XIMB - 25th November to 1st December, 2012 25th November - I was busy in preparing CV for off campus. I attended last three lectures of CRM. 26th November - IRP meeting is going on. I need to acknowledge their past errors in order to avoid them in the future. I will be more regular in updating my seniors. I Couldn't attend a talk on PDS due to excessive drinking at night. This the lowest point of the college life. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt. There are amazing speakers who have worked and achieved fame across various sectors give talks every other day at XIMB. I could have attended if I wanted to. When it becomes a daily occurrence, one start to take it for granted. Don’t. If one want to be great, one has got to learn what’s made great people great. That was their sheer consistency to learn with limited opportunities. 27th November - KM quiz was over today. I loved and hate the feeling of being pushed to the wall. Without that one never apprecia...

76th Week@XIMB - 18th November to 24th November, 2012 18th November - Immersion course of Agri Branding was in full flow. We covered - 4. Steps in brand decision process 5. Types of decision processes 6. Modifying the brand decision process to create Brand "A product can be quickly outdated, but a successful brand is timeless." - Stephen King 19th November - Played Beer Game. I have successfully completed online course of Principles of E-Government issued by 'United Nations Public Administration Network ( UNPAN )'. E-Government Index of India is 0.383 in comparison to average score of 0.497. 20th November - Strategic quiz. 21st November - We learned about competitive advantage of nations over other. Mr.R.S.Sodhi, MD, GCMMF (AMUL) delivered a talk on Synchronizing Management Theories with Business Practices I visited to warehouse of CWC office for SCM presentation. 22nd November - The poor attendance in CEO talks in-spite of the multitude of...

75th Week@XIMB - 11th November to 17th November, 2012 11th November - I recalled a good session on role, commonalities and differences between Entrepreneur and Manager given by EDI Director Dinesh Awasthi. One is the creator of the organization while managers join the organization. Entrepreneur is looking for future plans and involved in creative destruction while Manager looks for past achievement and maintaining status quo. In the end, its the basic difference between puppet and puppeteer between them. It's not the critic who counts, nor the observer who watches from a safe distance. Wealth is created only by doers in the arena who are marred with dirt, dust, blood, and sweat. These are producers who strike out on their own, who know high highs and low lows, great devotions, an who overextend themselves for worthwhile causes. Without exception, they fail more than they succeed and appreciate this reality even before venturing out on their own. But when these producers of we...

74th Week@XIMB - 4th November to 10th November, 2012 4th November - Nothing great is ever accomplished without passion. But, I am feeling rusted or even surrender type of attitude is flowing in my vein. In-spite of such burnout feeling in recent days, I am trying to boom back. Only positive of this rustiness is that I am feeling more calm and less numb. The net value of a great idea unless invested at ground is zero. Possessing talent roots for a strong launch but about having the discipline to summon that talent whenever needed makes one among greats. That is the trick of discipline missed by me. There are always few boys/girls even more talented but, it is determination and eagerness to take up any challenge for a prolong period sets one apart. Hard work and talent are rewarded but they need guidance in this low moral points. Hoping to boost energy within through some movies and long phases of sleep. When a person fail to attain a dream, that is the beginning of a realistic pr...

73rd Week@XIMB - 28th October to 03rd November, 2012 28th October - See a heart moving documentary Dilli'. It is a multiple-award winning documentary that has played in over 80 international film festivals across North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. 29th October - Mid term has been taking place in this span of time. Cracking the rural code and Rural consumption boom are two articles for an insight of rural markets. 30th October - SCM quiz was there. 31st October - There was case discussion on Barilla Spa . While learning about pasta in case study, I reached a conclusion that consumption pattern of essential commodities like wheat and rice can't change but only purchase pattern. I learnt that in long run, stability in sales figure can be offered without giving any short term promotions. Promotion and marketing is tow different activity as per prof in supply chain class. To see the effect of promotion, check the sales data of two quarters be...

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 orga...

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? H...