Diary of a Rural Manager!

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...

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....

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 - Levia...

68th Week@XIMB - 23rd September to 29th September, 2012 23rd September - There was an alumnus visiting the campus who was working with Dow Agro Sciences (Dow Chemicals). I decided first not to attend his lecture because he may be endorsing and promoting Dow Chemicals. Its not the fault of individual but one has to take ethical stand on the corporate misdeeds. The viewpoint of my college differ from me but that is a sort of independence and freedom of speech one is looking for in the college. Then, I reconsidered my decision and attended the lecture to understand his point of view. It is difficult to resist the winds of change and lucrative job offers; nevertheless conviction is all that one needs to withstand the same. Industry Talk of Mr. Amiya Kumar Bartia , National Market Development Leader, Dow Agro Sciences (Dow Chemicals) Career Planning : There is strong need for 4-5 years of investment in field to understand the ground level working of industry. There are five stages...