21st Week @ XIMB

21st Week - 30th October to 5th November

30th October: The Mid-term exam is over and the whole day has passed in watching movies and roaming around. I read a good quote today from C K Prahalad that states: Executives are constrained not by resources, but by their imagination.

All Aboard The Slave Ship: An open letter to Young India, callous and comfy in its cocoon.

31st October: Winters and studies post mid-term have started. I have been allotted Meghalaya for RLLE (Rural living and learning experience) and hoping to see the true picture of BHARAT vis a vis India.

My CV was also not shortlisted for a summer internship at TERI, hence, I was quite disappointed today. Hoping for a new start. Gaurish, Partha, and AP give much moral support to overcome this grief.

An old Interview with students of PGDM-RM students (Future Rural Managers)

1st November: Apple's Think Different advertising campaign. 1997-2002 re-consolidated my conclusion that thinking differently and independently is the ultimate path of growth.

There was mention of noble laureates Elinor Ostrom and Paul Krugman in marketing class. Elinor Ostrom's speech and Paul Krugman's speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony are linked to the common good . As a budding rural manager, one should know a little about the works of Elinor Ostrom.

She was awarded the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson, for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons." Ostrom is considered one of the leading scholars in the study of common pool resources (CPR). In particular, Ostrom's work emphasizes how humans interact with ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields.

As per the advice of faculty teaching ADM course, two types of abilities are needed to get a premium over others. One is our ability to relate and learn, other is our ability to forecast the future.

2nd November: I missed MEARS lecture for SRM assignment.

Our Human Behavior can be predicted by laws of Mathematics. It was a revelation for me despite having an engineering background. Heard about Sheikh Maktoum and Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (Phantom of Bombay House) in ITM class for the first time.

3rd November: Learned much from below two study materials and one short video.

McKinsey & Company - The 'bird of gold': The rise of India's consumer market: If India continues on its current high growth path, incomes will almost triple over the next two decades, and the country will climb from its position as the 12th-largest consumer market today to become the world's 5th-largest consumer market by 2025.

McKinsey & Company - India's urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth : India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend. But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created by 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a nearly fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation.

Food and You:

This animated story journeys through the broken food system and then looks at the transformation that is already underway to bring about change. It brings it back to you, the individual at the root level, and invites you to be part of the movement to grow a better future.

To learn more about Oxfam International Youth Partnerships, visit the website here: http://oiyp.oxfam.org.au/

4th November: Today, the Programme coordinator of PGDRM proposed to send students next year to understand farmers' crisis in different places (In 16 years, farm suicides crossed a quarter million). He also encourages all students to understand local issues in great detail, irrespective of the given location. This step is inspired by IIM students to study ‘crop holiday’ villages. (The much discussed ‘crop holiday,’ declared by the farmers in East and West Godavari districts has drawn the attention of IIM Ahmadabad agri-business management students.)

Milton Friedman on Libertarianism and Humility: Human freedom is inextricably bound with tolerance. As Milton Friedman argued (see the video), the foundation of libertarianism is tolerance. (Fantastic 43 minutes long talk especially for the critics of Ayn Rand).

5th November: It was a day that lasted with 5 lectures. The most happening discussion was done in ITM class on Snacko India Limited: Leveraging Trade. Promotions for Competitive Advantage by Sajjan Raj Singhvi, Rajat Gera.

There was also a brief discussion on the case study of SEWA Union: Organising Bidi-workers. Book Download Link. Ela Ramesh Bhatt is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA).

20th Week @ XIMB

20th Week- 23rd October to 29th October

23rd October: Learned about TSCR (Trend, Seasonality, Cyclicity and Random)

24th October: An Introduction to Livelihood Promotion : Traditionally the solution to the problems of poverty was conceived as an increase in income levels through the generation of employment. However this vision has changed in the last two decades. This publication shows how it is possible to promote livelihoods as a means for poverty reduction.

One cannot feed the hungry on statistics - David Lloyd George

MEARS- 85 % of savings accounts and 60 % of current accounts act as fixed deposit.

RPLS- Muhammad Yunus : Poverty was not created by the poor. There is nothing wrong with these people. They are just as capable and inventive and have as much potential as others. The system simply never gave them a chance to grow. If you really want to solve poverty you should enable people to take matters into their own hands.



25th October: Didn't recall events of today. I read an interesting statement by Gopal Vittal, Executive director for home and personal care at Hindustan Unilever on Indian market - Don’t Bet Your Money on India, Bet on its States. Only states that excel in the quality of human capital and infrastructure, rate of private investment and have a smaller government will attract more business.

26th October: Diwali Holiday ! Celebrated with harmony, joy and lot of fun. Students were looking more like human than machines after a long time.

27th October: I was told about Toolkit Break-Even Analysis tool in Marketing class. HBS (Harvard Business School) Toolkit Break-Even Analysis :Marketers studying the launch of a new product or service use break-even analysis to help determine at what point the product or service can be expected to be profitable. This downloadable interactive workbook, one of several workbooks/ tutorials from the HBS Toolkit used by Harvard Business School students, is designed to help calculate a break-even point or target-profit level based on the fixed costs, variable costs, and unit price of the product or service being analyzed.

28th October: MEARS mid term exam.

29th October: FSA mid term exam.

19th Week @ XIMB

19th Week- 16th October to 22nd October

16th October : One fine day is Sunday. Still post Gramotsava, there was 2 hour session on EQ & Leadership. I learned that there is always lack in abundance.

17th October : The whole day just passed away. I did't think any productive work was done today. Still I was able to read one good article :- Ph.D. Thesis Research: Where do I Start? Notes by Don Davis, Columbia University.

18th October : FSA quiz was a disaster. Missed Kuru meeting and slept quite early at night. Since, I was roaming out in the morning, soft skill training session was also missed.

Rediscovered Facebook Page of India - Rural Livelihoods.  For implementing the inclusive growth agenda, it is crucial to prop up agriculture, the soft underbelly of our economy. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) should take charge of dry-land farming now by Ramesh S Arunachalam.

19th October : Alumni Talk was given by Mr.Patnaik. He is a rural management program pass-out of first batch. He has expertise in banking, insurance and micro-finance sector.

1- XIMB started one year Post Graduate Diploma Program in Rural Management for the graduates and NGO members in 1995 which was upgraded to the two year PGDM (Rural Management) programme from 1999.

2- Before entering in the corporate sector, one must ask -: How am I going to build my career ? Package of the placement offer is not necessary but selection of right sector. Work in the organization for atleast 2 years is necessary to build a robust professional network inside the company. This time duration helps in getting an overall picture of the company and sector. Hence, One should do cost benefit analysis before switching over to another company.

Catch : Its easy to switch from corporate sector to development sector rather than reverse phenomenon.

3- And there was once a lot of RM-XIMB versus IRMA debate but it has now cooled down.

Last but not least, customer retention is more important than customer service in banking sector. Huge investment is needed in human resource for any company to sustain and grow in the long term.

Case study Analysis:

Harvard Business School: "Inside the Case Method" -1




Harvard Business School: "Inside the Case Method" -2



20th October : There was case discussion on TI cycles whose diagnosis were done by four different professors in this paper at Vikalpa, The Journal for Decision Makers that is a quarterly publication of the IIM-A. It ends with the profound quote by Thomas Edison : I am more of a sponge than an inventor. I absorb ideas from every source. My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant but misdirected ideas of others.

When India marketeres in trouble, they pray to rural markets - Prof. Mithileshwar Jha, Marketing IIMB . I learned about dumping and tariff  in ITM class and quoted brilliantly in PROJM class to Gaurish - Things are interesting when you take interest in it.

At a lot of times, economics and formal education is not everything. I found one more evidence in support of this. In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men -- many of them illiterate -- to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It's called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works. Sustenance with existing resources is the crux of his talk.

Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement


There was soft skill training conducted by Placecom today. I attained mock interview session & it was quite effective. Lesson learnt but not sure about it :- One has to build/fake success stories while presenting in MBA interview.

21st October : Day was passed in academic activities. One good case study was done in Prof Peepin's first class about MEADOW and Titan Industry. This case study can be found in (Page 75-86) of Livelihood Manual Book [Download in PDF Format] . An alternate reading material :- Corporate Non Profit partnerships - Case Study of MEADOW is good source for details. In 1995, Titan began working with local NGO Myrada. Al Fernandez, the promotor of MYRADA, one of the leading NGOs in the country used to say this :'We (those associated with MF work) need poor for our survival. But the poor have survived generations after generations even without any of these institutions.' Following early successes the initiative was converted into a privately held company run and owned by the women themselves, supported by further technical training and expertise from Titan. The company was called MEADOW (Management of Enterprise and Development of Women). “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business but is in fact the very purpose of its existence” Mr. Jamsetji N Tata, (Founder, Tata Group)

 22nd October : Complete Day was passed in finalizing PROJM and FSA assignments. Evening time was occupied by Finomics'11. XFin hosted Finomics'11, a national level panel discussion. The theme for Finomics'11 is 'Emerging trends in Risk management'. The eminent speakers for the panel discussion were: Mr. C. S. Mohapatra, Director, Capital markets, Finance Ministry, GoI Prof. Girish V S, Group Editorat BFSI NexT & CFO NexT Dr. K. C. Mishra, Vice Chancellor, Sri Sri University, Orissa Mr. K. C. Samal, Executive Director (Finance), NALCO.

Notes Undertaken -: 1) Every risk has return period. The vulnerability to risk (like effect of hurricane on GDP at Bangladesh vs USA) varies. It also determines the opportunities and threat. Each visionary converts possible risk into the development. 2) "It will not happen to me " is the basic assumption of the people to avoid any investment in the risk management. 3) Even Basel II is not implemented fully in Indian banks. 4) There are three type of people everywhere - EITHER "My Way", "Know it All" and "Let it Go" OR "Taker", "Owner" and "Manager" of risk. 5) What I avoid is 'Let it Go' attitude and record all mine memorable experiences for the benefit of others in the long run. 6) Lot of complicated mathematical models require lot of knowledge that is possessed by only few. All CEO are dependent on the complex mathematical models but unable to understand them. 7) Public Secto company like NALCO gives more emphasis on risk caused by production and environment issues rather than financial matters. 8) Regulator is not the risk operator but only facilitator in mitigating the risk. This was said in the reference for banking sector. But,I found it true for each path of the life and business. 9) Operational risk comes in the term of fraud. Lot of study has been done on this in the field of behavioral economics. 10) Indian bureaucracy has tendency to save its skin by talking/consulting with everybody. Sub Prime crisis at wall street has opened eyes for many to stay alert and engaged in lot of confidence building efforts. [News Link] The Central Government on Thursday constituted the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) under the chairmanship of former Justice B. N. Srikrishna to rewrite and harmonise financial sector legislations, rules and regulations. --- In many industry, Demand forecasting is done through TSCR model (Trend, Seasonality, Cyclicality and Random).

18th Week @ XIMB

18th Week- 9th October to 15th October

9th October: I returned to the hostel yesterday. This week is mostly dedicated to Gramotsava 2011. Today, I checked a newspaper article on Gramotsava 2011 today. XIMB reaches out to masses through fair - Rural management students create a marketing base in nearly 50 villages.

Gramotsava-2011, a rural marketing fair, is organised every year by the Rural Managers' Association of XIMB (RMAX). Thus, rural management students who engage in on-field marketing and data collection supplement theoretical lessons with practical experience. The uniqueness of the event in the rural management course offered in any college

Gramotsava 2011 fair UPDATE

Venue I: Mandarbasta, Khurda, Friday,14th Oct.

Venue II: Chasakhanda, Cuttack, Saturday,15th Oct

10th October: On request of Shruti Thomas, I liked "Sustainable Housing". Suddenly, a moral dilemma arose inside me. Do I like/support the product/service/community because it was made by Jhaberite? If there is an idea branded by an affiliated college and its arch-rival, what will be my choice? Will my decision be based on merit or loyalty?

In the MEARS lecture, SP Das commented: "Every TDH (It's not Tall Dark Handsome !) wants to do MBA without knowing what it offers. Bhubaneswar Development Authority has 9 B schools 5-6 years back and now there are 38 B schools under BDA! This is called the expansion phase of the economy". I find a harsh truth in his words. I am now finding a method in his madness.

In the FSA lecture, PK Mohanty lamented the poor quality of our performance in FR end term. He insisted that wherever possible marks are given for few candidates. I assume each of us is close-minded when it comes to knowledge receiving. And lack of application and reading is the prime cause behind it.

In RPLS, it was the last lecture of Niraj Kumar. 10 lectures of this course helped me to understand the approach towards development. What I observed is that you can't expect a first grader to begin learning arithmetic by tackling differential calculus. Similarly, our batch needs many hours of lectures and field visit to really embrace the spirit of rural managers.

11th October :

There was only one class in a whole day. A day went by reading a thriller novel. I also read The Base of Pyramid distribution challenge: Evaluating alternate distribution models of energy products for rural Base of Pyramid in India; This paper from the Centre for Development Finance (CDF) – IFMR analyzes the product distribution choices available in rural BoP markets to help enterprises evaluate the key drivers of distribution for successful go-to-market strategies.

12th October: There was lively discussion and participation in the class. It was good to see so many people speaking and cross-questioning with the teacher.  

13th October: A day busy in the preparation of Gramotsava. I was busy with a 'live project'. Have taken initiative for becoming POC of 1st years for 'live project'.

Gramotsava launch was too good. Dance and photo sessions were adding charm to the show. There was a temporary DJ session after the launch.

14th October and 15th October: Under the banner of the Rural Managers’ Association of XIMB (RMAX), about 150 students from the first and second-year batches visited two villages — Mandarbasta in Khurda district and Chasakhanda in Cuttack district. The fair was to promote the latest products and concepts of business and social organisations among the village folk. As a flagship event of rural management, Gramotasava is quite unique as through it we examine the mindset of rural consumers.

Hindustan Unilever is the title sponsor for the Gramotsava 2011 with Mahindra & Mahindra as the associate sponsor and Tata Motors the cosponsor. The Telegraph was the media partner for this year’s Gramotsava, which was formally launched last Thursday. Bonnie Bhaina, an olive ridley turtle, was the mascot for the fair.

Travelling on the bus with the complete RM batch was a pleasurable experience. This Gramotasava would be a part of the sweet memories of my XIMB days.

17th Week @ XIMB

17th Week- 2nd October to 8th October

It was a week that I spent completely at home. I was on the offline mode regarding XIMB. Hence, I will put down some videos for learning purpose for rural managers.

Rural Development - The Challenge of Livelihood and Poverty

Although there appears to be an enduring concern with India's poor within the policy circle and in public discourse, is this debate leading to new and innovative ideas on how to pull millions of Indians out of grinding poverty? What is the way forward? Should the emphasis be on skills development, agricultural development, microfinance, market access etc? What other models of rural development do we need to examine?



How to avoid the pitfalls of rural marketing?

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