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September 2013

CAT 2013CAT 2013CAT 2013CAT 2013One month to goOne month to go

16October

D-Day

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Advanc’edge MBA October 2012 3

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With just over a month left to go for the CAT, I’m sure you’re being attacked by a gamut of questions, probably the most common among them being, “How’s your preparation coming along?”

I admit, it might appear to be a silly question, but if you stop and think for a moment, it’s one of the most pertinent questions you can ask yourself at this stage. How IS your preparation going? You’ve been taking mock tests — have you been analysing them? Have you identified your strengths and weaknesses? Have you mastered the trick of managing that limited time you’ve got to answer the questions? Have you figured out the strategy you will employ during the exam yet?

These are the queries contained in that one simple, all-important question. If you can answer them confidently, then, my friend, you’re on the right track. With a little care, cracking the acid test that is the CAT will be a breeze for you. On the other hand, if you find that you’re hesitating on any one of those queries, don’t fret. There is still ample time for you to get on the right track. After all, one might say that CAT is a mind game – keep calm under that pressure, and nobody will be able to stop you from getting your desired score.

In this issue, you’ll find a few things you would do well to keep in mind. We have analysed and presented to you a snapshot of the English verbal section, and in the next issue, we shall do the same for Quant. You will find some salient points in these articles, and you can refer to them for some last minute pointers, or simply as brief reminders of everything you’ve been learning to take on the CAT.

As before, read the Corporate World section carefully, as it will give you analyses of the key issues in the economic and business scenario in India and across the world. You will be able to apply these analyses to any issue; this should help enormously when you’re preparing for your group discussions, essay writing and personal interviews. Finally, some dollops of information on current affairs from our Snippets and quiz sections will keep you up to date on what’s happening around you.

Bear all these in mind as you prepare for the CAT. As they say, success comes to those who wait. I’d like to add to that — success comes easily to those who work towards it as well.

editor

Aditya Prakash IengarEditor

from the

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contents www.advancedge.comSeptember 2013

MBA BUZZ

10 CAT English: Certainly not a

JUGGERNAUT

14 ‘Have a target score, and work towards it’

16 Knowing what’s going on around you is vital

COUNTDOWN

19 What might Man’s future look like?

CORPORATE INTERVIEW

22 Digital marketing: Working with the world

DIRECTOR SPEAK

26 Dr. G.A. Kinhal, Director, IIFM, Bhopal

NEWS IN BRIEF

30 Interesting news snippets

MUST READS

32 Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free

Productivity

Now, Discover Your Strengths

Neverwhere

SUCCESS STREET

33 Interviews: What to keep in mind

37 SimCAT 4 winners

38 SimCAT 5 winners

39 SimCMAT Toppers

CORPORATE WORLD

40 Government’sfingerin the pie: Good or bad?

42 Jeff, not Amazon, buys The Washington Post

45 Economic indicators

48 Top 10: largest merger & acquisition deals of all time

STUDY HOUR

50 Word Dose The walnut tree

52 Globescan

54 SuDoKu

COVER STORY

06 Belling the CAT: One more month to go

COVERSTORY

www.advancedge.com 5Advanc’edge MBA September 2013

COVERSTORY

www.advancedge.com6 Advanc’edge MBA September 2013

}}}Advanc’edge Team

The time is almost here, when you finally go to the test centre, get into concentrated test mode and attack the questions in earnest. With just another month to go, this is your last lap to the CAT. Here are a few things to keep you going in this last stretch.

he CAT has always been designed to assess the ability of an individual to become

a successful MBA. One should therefore look to inculcate the following basic qualities that are required in an MBA: è Ability to identify strengths and

weaknesses, thereby building on one’s own strengths

è Ability to adapt to any situation è Ability to plan, strategise and

executeè Ability to manage timeè Ability to make quick and

correct decisionsè Ability to perform under

pressure

CAT 2013 will be much the same as the previous year, with CAT convenor Dr Rohit Kapur

confirming that there wouldn’t be nasty shocks or surprises. Therefore, you will have to contend with the two sections: a) Quantitative Ability and Data

Interpretation, and b) Verbal Ability and Logical

Reasoning Each section will have 30

questions, and the time given per section is 70 minutes. In those 70 minutes, you will be able to go back and forth within that section to review your answers. However, once the time ends for that section and you move on to the next, you will not be able to go back to the previous section. A 15 minute tutorial will be provided before the test starts.

By now, you would have evolved as a “test taker” with certain identified strengths and

weaknesses. With just over a month to go for the CAT, you need to manage both your strengths and weaknesses and ensure that your result is the desired one.

Let us first start with the strengths. The first thing you need to do is to understand whether you have consistently done well in these areas to label them as strengths, or if your performance purely incidental.

In case of the first eventuality, the next issue you need to address is whether these areas emerged as strengths in a fair distribution of time across all sections/areas of the test or due to significantly more time allocated to these areas. If it is the first case, then it is infallibly an area of strength; you simply

T

Belling the CAT:One more month to go

COVERSTORY


need to sustain the tempo and ensure that it stays a cash cow for you. If it is the second case, you need to ensure that the same performance is upheld in a certain desirable time frame. For example, a student getting 99 percentile in one section (because he has spent disproportionately more time preparing for this section) and faring abysmally poor in the other, cannot brand the first section as his/her strength. You need to sacredly anchor on to an instruction which requires you to be competent across all sections of the test.

In case of the second eventuality, that is, when your performance in the so called “strong areas” is a consequence of random flukes, you have to immediately stop cheating yourself, categorise it as a weakness and revamp your approach vis-à-vis these areas.

Now, let us consider the weaknesses. You need to understand the core reasons for not doing well in these areas, wherein the following have been identified as the most common ones, with their corresponding remedies:-l Inherent dislike for

these areas, due to which students start ignoring them. For example, most of the students have a natural antipathy towards “permutations and combinations” and they start shying away from questions on this topic; consequently, even the easier questions on this topic get overlooked on that day and this

adds to the “opportunity cost”. You need to prepare all topics/areas of the test—which ones you finally respond to or attempt will be a function of multiple variables.

l Not being able to spend adequate time on these areas, due to which your performance is marred. You need to apportion judicious time to all sections of the test. Placing the sections appropriately along the time curve is a skill you need to master. The sequence of attempting the different sections will vary from

one test taker to another and an equilibrium will evolve only over a period of time.

l Incorrect prioritisation and selection of questions due to which you end up picking “wrong” questions on that day. You need to be more vigilant and understand that wrong picks can unsettle even the best of students! While selecting questions, the following points need to be factored in:-

1. Do not choose questions only because they are shorter than their bulkier counterparts. Shorter questions are not necessarily easier and vice versa.

2. Do not pick up questions only because they are from apparently simpler topics; for example, students typically prefer questions on arithmetic and algebra as compared to geometry and modern math.

3. Please ensure that you exhaust all ends of the section while selecting questions. Starting off in a sequence and

not being able to reach the fag end of the section, because of dearth of time may keep you away from potential picks.l C o n c e p t u a l flaws and loopholes in these areas, whereby they assume the proportions of “weaknesses”. This requires an immediate attention to fundamentals and revisiting concepts. Unless the requisite conceptual clarity is there, application of these concepts would be a far fetched expression!

To summarise, “the one month to the CAT” requires you to leverage

With just over a month to go, you need to manage

your strengths and weaknesses and

ensure your result is the desired one.

COVERSTORY


your strengths, hone your weaknesses and formulate a smart strategy to approach the test. The most important thing is not to lose heart or feel that it’s just too late. There have been others in your position and they have made it to the top through sheer focus and pragmatic time management. As CAT aspirants, most of you would be dreaming of making it to one of the IIMs. So let us take inspiration from those who have already “been there and done that,” and see how they managed their entire preparation and addressed their weaknesses over the final month leading to the CAT.

When D-Day finally approaches, pressures, expectations and apprehensions will have built up phenomenally. The last few days before D-day will demand a greater depth of confidence, diligence and commitment from you. So here are a few aspects that will help you refine your thought process.

Reach the venue well in time and ensure that you take along a copy of the admit card, a valid ID proof and the necessary stationary. Ensconce yourself comfortably in front of the designated terminal, familiarise yourself yet again with the test dynamics through the prescribed 15 minutes tutorial and read the instructions carefully before graduating to the 140 minutes of the actual experience. While simulated tests would have helped you reach a certain equilibrium in different parameters of the test, this should not stop you from thinking on your feet and realigning to sudden changes in the difficulty level of the test.

Also, do not get emotionally attached to any question/section. Previous experiences

tell us that this has drastically marred the overall performance of students; even the ones who were expected to do well. Ensure a certain degree of speed as you graduate from one question/section to another.è Read the instructions given

on the test booklet. You will get about 10 minutes

to read and comprehend this page. This page will also tell you about the test structure. You have to now use your knowledge and plan your test.

è Carefully read the directions before you answer a question

Make sure you are answering the question that is being asked! Often, students know how to solve a problem, but they misread or misinterpret the question itself.

è Read through the sections first

By spending the first couple of minutes reading through the entire section you can learn what is expected of you. Prioritise items on the test, and pace yourself.

è Intelligent guessing You can attempt certain

questions when you test the alternatives one by one for correctness. This way, you are able to eliminate wrong alternatives. You may be first-

time lucky or you may be required to test all but one of the alternatives. Here are a few tips on how you can guess intelligently:

è Wrong choices usually don’t answer the question; that is, they may sound good, but they’re answering a different question.

è Sometimes, two answers are very close. Consider both of these for future consideration, because they both can’t be right, but both can be wrong. Answers that are very close are sometimes given to test your comprehension.

è Some wrong choices may just strike you as wrong when you first read them. Trust your instincts. If you have spent time preparing for these exams, you have probably learned more than you think.

è Don’t dilly-dally If you get stuck on a problem

move on and come back to it later. When you are finished, recheck all your work.

è Watching the clock When the test begins, check

your watch and write down the time you start and the time that you will finish. Knowing how much time is left helps you to pace yourself during the test and in turn helps you to attempt more questions in the given time.

è Keep a good attitude. Think positive!

The bottom line is that you have to be alert for the entire time while taking the test. In the end, it’s not just about Mathematics or English, attempts and accuracy levels. It is also about whether you followed these basic steps to ensure that you have taken the test in the most appropriate manner. A

Also, do not get emotionally attached

to any question/section. If you get

stuck on a problem move on and come

back to it later.

COVERSTORY


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MBA BUZZ

Advanc’edge MBA September 2013

With just over a month left for the CAT, it is beyond doubt that you have been preparing rigorously. Here, we give you a few things that you can refer to at the last minute to tackle the English verbal section of the test. In the next month, we

shall provide you with a same write up on the mathematics portion.

CAT English: Certainly not a JUGGERNAUT

L anguage is a measure of Man’s progress. If the caveman had not communicated his

thoughts and feelings by means of grunts first and language later, we would have been at the primate level. If Aryabhatta, Chanakya, Copernicus and Shakespeare had not employed language to disseminate their offerings to the world, all of us would have been poorer today in a substantive way. The lower order animals have a limited vocabulary because their lives revolve around specific sounds. Man is the only thinking reed who has advanced by means of language and you can see that the results are mind-blowing.

In the present context, the corporate world requires the manager to undertake rigorous study of disparate texts during report preparation, organisational overhaul or deciding marketing strategies. Hence, is it any wonder that the CAT examiners test your proficiency in English?

The English portion in the CAT

broadly consists of Verbal Ability and Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension. Of course, these are just names of sections but there could be overlaps. The verbal ability section could have questions on jumbled sentences and summary or analogies, which are aspects of reasoning. Even Reading Comprehension questions are reasoning-based or occasionally vocabulary-based ones. Thus the objective is the same – to see how good you are at understanding concepts and how strong your command over the language really is.

Usage-based questions Take a simple word like “hold”. It can mean any one of the following. } To have a belief or opinion

about something. Example: He held strong

views on capital punishment.} The telephonic context. Example: Hold the line, she

is coming.} To last through time. Example: The theory held

good for centuries.} To suppress real feelings. Example: I held back my fury

at this provocation.} To maintain interest. Example: The programme

did not hold the child’s attention.

} Signifying ownership. Example: The old man

holds fifty percent of the shareholding.

The catch is that you, as a test taker, should be aware of the varied usage to be able to crack any question type based on this quickly and correctly.

The objective of the verbal section is the same throughout all the questions — to

see how strong your command over the language really is.

}}}Advanc’edge Team


MBA BUZZ

Grammar-based questionsQ. “I am not conversant of all the rules.” Is the sentence correct or incorrect?If you have done your homework on prepositional usage, you will know that the sentence is incorrect because the word “conversant” always takes the preposition “with” after it.

Hence for sentence correction questions, you need to know the fundamental rules of grammar that govern sentence construction. There are some things you could do or follow that might help strengthen your grammar and English usage. } Refer to an advanced

learner’s dictionary like the one by Oxford, with at least 1,50,000 words to help you understand usage and build your word base. An online version of the Oxford Dictionary also serves as excellent reference.

} Maintain a ready-reckoner or a checklist with respect to grammar rules that will be of immense help in the sentence correction exercise.

} Whenever you come across an unfamiliar word, look up the meaning and write it down using it in a sentence of your own. Vocabulary cannot be built overnight.

Fill in the blanksIn the case of “Fill in the Blanks” type questions, a sentence has a single or double blank followed by four options. To tackle such questions, always form “shadow words” of your own based on your understanding before looking at the options. “Shadow words” mean words that you, as a reader, feel will contextually fit into the blank(s). You should look at the options only after you have deduced the contextual implication so that you are not misled by the options. Consider the following example. Q. After the sudden death of their leader, the revolutionaries thought it best to be _______ for a while before resuming their attacks on the reigning monarch. a) belligerent b) craven c) querulous d) quiescent

In the example above, the shadow word will be based on the phrase “for a while before resuming their attacks”. It means that “they lay low”.

“Belligerent” means “aggressive”; “craven” means “cowardly”; “querulous” implies a complaining tone. Hence, logically only “quiescent” can

fit. This does call for a

certain proficiency in vocabulary but then, if you read regularly and combine it with the shadow word technique, you will find that your job will become far easier.

Contextual usage Questions based on contextual usage could test your hold on vocabulary, although the CAT per se is not vocabulary-centric. For example, observe the question below.Q. Mark the option that is closest to the word in bold.

ComplicityThe soldier was arrested and tortured for his alleged complicity in the Boscoli conspiracy. a) reasonableness b) stature c) patience d) involvement

To crack questions of this sort, first determine the mood of the sentence. In the above sentence, it is decidedly negative because he was tortured and arrested. Nobody would have done that to him if he had been reasonable. “Patience” is out of range. “Stature” is a positive term. Hence, “involvement” is the right option.

Jumbled Sentences Questions based on jumbled sentences actually constitute an

aspect of verbal reasoning. You should quickly scan

the text, eliminate the options that

recur and then look for logical links. Here’s an interesting

example.Q. “However” is

a connective, you agree! Can it begin

a sequence? Observe the following.


MBA BUZZ


a) However, he was tired. b) However hard he tried,

Sam could not forget the incident.In sentence (b), we see that

we can begin the sequence with “However” because it introduces the topic. In sentence (a), we cannot begin the sequence because the comma placed after “However” indicates that some thought process has already gone before!

Summary questionsSummary questions too hark back to the good old précis concept of school days without the “one-third of the actual length” norm. Here’s an instance.

Q. A politics of sustainable globalisation needs more than just the correct picture of what is happening in the world. It also needs the right balance of policies. Specifically, it demands a new social bargain among workers, financiers and governments that will make for sustainable globalization. Give them their due – the Thatcherites and Reaganites helped to prepare their countries for this era of globalisation and were instrumental in bringing it about by offering an unadulterated free-market vision for globalisation. Their view was “Let the market rule everywhere as much as possible and things will all be OK”. But a pure market vision alone is not enough. It is too brutal and therefore politically unsustainable. The Left, meanwhile, or what’s left of the Left, has tried to hold on to the paternalism of the welfare state as much as possible. This is not economically sustainable.1. Sustainable globalisation calls

for a new balance of power between workers and financiers and governments after the Thatcherites and Reaganites have done their bit.

2. It is necessary to strike a balance between politics and policies to ensure sustainable globalisation. A pure free-market or welfare state vision is not politically and economically sustainable.

3. Thatcherites and Reaganites are usually at odds with the Left as they believe in pure market – driven economics.

4. Market – driven economies are most likely to succeed as opposed to welfare state economics.

Ans: [1] While the passage mentions this, it is not reflective of the whole essence of the

passage. [2] Is closest to the essence of the passage, which is talking about finding a mix of politics and economic policies that will enable sustainable globalisation. [3] This may be true but the passage is not a commentary on ideologies. [4] The passage does not conclude on either economic policy and, therefore, not true. Hence, the answer should be [2].

To tackle such questions, remember: l When you read the passage,

mark those words that are crucial to the essence of

the passage.l Negate those options which

are skewed or lack an essential component. The elimination this way will yield the right answer.

Critical reasoning questions Questions based on critical reasoning deal with assumptions, conclusions, premises and inferences and are important from the point of view of rational thinking. To tackle such questions, remember these following points.l Logical thinking means

doing away with emotional responses.

l Examine the evidence and arrive at the answer.

l Remember that an assumption is always implied and it must lead you to the conclusion.

l Go by the process of elimination, negating unwarranted generalisations.

SyllogismsAgain from the world of reasoning, syllogisms are based on a form of logic where the conclusion has to be derived from both the premises. Conditional syllogisms are based on the “fulfillment of the condition, occurrence of the consequence” rule. Consider the following example. “If I am hungry, I scream.”Do not waste time drawing a Venn diagram. First, understand the break-up. “When I am hungry” is the condition. “I scream” is the consequence.

There are only two valid placements. Condition and consequence. Negation of the consequence implies negation of the original condition. Therefore, this is what follows.“When I am hungry, I scream.”“I do not scream; I am not hungry.”

However, “I am not hungry; I do not scream” will not be a

When you read the passage, mark words

that are crucial to its essence. Negate

options that are skewed or lack an

essential component.


MBA BUZZ

valid placement as it negates the original condition first. The negation of the consequence must be placed first.

Now, let’s try this conditional syllogism with a twist. Consider this example.

“Either you are crazy or you are a genius.”

This is an example of an “either-or” syllogism (technically called disjunctive syllogism).

If you are crazy = x and you are a genius = y, then there are only four valid placements for this type: a) x, not y b) not y, x c) y, not x d) not x, y.

To prepare for this section, remember the following. l Chart out a detailed study

plan.l Work hard on all the concepts

of verbal ability as well as verbal reasoning constructs.

l Never hesitate to refer and make notes to facilitate recall.

l Practise regularly so that you learn to make optimum use of time.

Reading ComprehensionReading comprehension in the CAT straddles diverse subjects — psychology, religion, politics, business, philosophy, science, et al. The emphasis is on interpreting the text and answering the multiple-choice questions. Generally, the number of passages varies, and so may the number of questions per passage but essentially, a question may be direct, partially indirect or indirect. Traditionally, the percentage of direct questions has been lower than the other two types. Here’s a sample.

Since all knowledge is knowledge of sense-objects, truth is simply the correspondence of

our impressions to things. How are we to know whether our ideas are correct copies of things? How do we distinguish between reality and imagination, dreams or illusions? What is the criterion of truth? It cannot lie in concepts, since they are of our own making. Nothing is true save sense impressions and, therefore, the criterion of truth must lie in sensation itself. It cannot be in thought, but must be in feeling. Real objects, said the Stoics, produce in us an intense feeling, or conviction, of their reality. The strength and vividness of the image distinguish these real perceptions from a dream or

fancy. Hence, the sole criterion of truth is this striking conviction, whereby the real forces itself upon our consciousness and will not be denied. There is, thus, no universally grounded criterion of truth. It is based not on reason but on feeling.

After reading the above extract, answer the following without going back to the text:a) Truth cannot be based on

reason. True/false?b) Knowledge is synonymous with

knowledge of sense objects. True/false?

Ans: Both the statements are true.

Now you can gauge how attentive and proactive a reader you were and what the gap in understanding that you have to bridge is.

If this passage has scared the wits out of you and you start to despair, then here’s a word of assurance: all is not lost. First read the passage slowly, understand it and then gradually, over a period of ten days or so, increase your speed. Timed reading will work best for subjects that you love and then you can introduce it to include all topics.

Here are a few golden rules for tackling the RC component.l Everything is contextual.

No external knowledge is expected or required.

l You should view this as a functional process and not as a literary attempt.

l Learn to read in thought units and not word after word. Remember, concentration is the key.

l Mark the important elements mentally that you come across while reading.

l Ensure accuracy in your attempts because negative marking is a reality.

l If you have a reading speed of 300-350 words per minute, it is ideal. But you can develop speed by gradually reducing the time taken to read the same length of text.

l Ensure exposure to rigorous non-fiction by reading editorials, research studies and read on a regular basis, beginning with subjects you like and moving on to topics that are new or unfamiliar.

l Spending a couple of minutes in determining the order of attempt will prevent you from getting stuck in a passage that is abstruse or has very close, difficult options.

l If there is a question on selection of an apt title, opt for one that encompasses the gist of the passage than going for generic or out-of-range ones. A

First read the passage slowly, understand it and then gradually, over a period of ten days or so, increase

your speed.


MBA BUZZ


There is just over a month left for CAT 2013. What should be the strategy for

the aspirants at this point?For aspirants, success in the CAT can be defined as the achievement of the percentile required to get into their desired list of B-schools. The first step, therefore, would be to find out the cut-off percentiles of various institutes that you are interested in applying to. Based on past data, we have observed that while a 95+ overall percentile (with equal competence across sections) can get you into the IIMs, you would need at least a 75+ overall percentile to get into some of the top 100 B-schools. So it is imperative to define your success benchmark by shortlisting B-schools you aspire to.

After this, you should follow an effective and efficient study plan to ensure that you meet your target CAT percentile. Based on the data collected from past CATs and IMS SimCATs, we have an analysis of the number of questions students must attempt and get correct to achieve certain percentiles:

The objective is to reach your target percentiles in a stepwise manner by achieving the benchmark attempts and number of correct answers at each stage as per the above table.

Please share a section-wise strategy for CAT.The CAT has two sections:

Section 1: Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, Section 2: Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.

For Section 1, first target questions that lie in your areas of strength. Give priority to solving the standalone questions and do not devote more than 2.5 minutes for a question, even if you do not get the solution. Do not have a mind block on a particular topic, as there might be some very easy questions from that topic. Read all questions and identify these questions to ensure high scores. One must ensure that all the questions are read by the end of the section.

For Section 2, attempt the vocabulary and usage questions first. They are the least time consuming, as either you know the answer or you do not. Then devote

‘Have a target score,

and work towards it’

In this article, Yudhir Agrawal, CAT Product Manager, IMS, gives some advice for

you at this stage of your preparation for CAT 2013, which is just over a month away.

Q

Q

Per-centile

Sectional benchmarksNo of

questionsNo of

attemptsNo of correct

attemptsMinutes

per questionStage 1 75%ile 30 12 10 5.4Stage 2 85%ile 30 15 13 4.3Stage 3 95%ile 30 18 15 3.6Stage 4 99%ile 30 24 20 2.7


MBA BUZZ

time to your strength areas from among Reading Comprehension, Logical Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning. Ensure all questions are read by the end of the section in the stipulated time. Read all RC questions, as there might be an easy question alongside an apparently difficult RC passage.

CAT candidates generally belong to one of two categories — working

professionals and students. Should there be a separate preparation strategy for them?Ideally, you shouldn’t spend more than four hours a day on studying for the CAT. The manner in which those four hours are utilised depends on the individual student’s strengths and weaknesses. Some may prefer to spend more time on the verbal portion, while others might prefer the DI portion. Ultimately, you must ensure that your progress in each section is equal. This holds greater relevance if you are aiming only for the IIMs, because at these institutes, sectional cut-offs matter. Organise your day in such a way that the hours spent studying are those when your brain is most alert. Working professionals, for example, shouldn’t study at night after a hard day’s work. Preparing for this test is not like preparing for school and college, where you need to spend long hours memorising.

Candidates who take CAT generally also take other different management entrance exams like XAT, SNAP, CMAT,

etc. How should the preparation strategies differ between these exams?Actually, one of the most repeated queries B-school aspirants is “What is the additional preparation that I need to do to crack tests like the IIFT, XAT, SNAP, etc?”

It is interesting to note that most of the tests such as those mentioned above assess more or less the same concepts that are tested on the CAT. Hence, you will find that there is really not much of a difference when it comes to concept building for any of these tests. However, the various tests differ in terms of the test structure, question types and overall difficulty level of the test. Therefore, we only need to understand the test structure, get acclimatised to the different question types and develop specific strategies to crack these tests. More often than not,

if you have prepared well enough for the CAT, then there is a high chance that you will perform well in the other tests.

The XAT, for example, additionally assesses Decision Making and General Awareness types of questions. The preparation for the XAT will, therefore, require the student to get oriented to these question types. Additionally, one should take four to five mock tests for the XAT and analyse the same, similar to what is done for the CAT,

to thoroughly get acquainted to the test structure and the types of questions.

Since exams like the CAT are time-bound tests, what is the best way to manage the time given?

Time bound sections check the student’s section-wise strengths. If one has prepared the basics for all concepts and is confident of his application skills, time management should not be a difficult issue. One must follow the basics and strictly follow the section-wise strategies to ensure optimum usage of time and ensuring completion of the section in the allotted time. Do not spend more than 2.5 minutes on a question, solve set-based questions in the middle and always keep an eye on the timer. Do not resort to guessing or answering questions in a hurry, as it may cost heavily due to the negative marking scheme of the test.

Please state the importance of mock tests. To achieve your target percentile, you should

take one mock test per week (or a maximum of two tests per week), especially if you are a working professional. For every test you take, as per the above table, you will attempt only the specified number of questions to ascertain your performance. Now, in the post-test analysis and the process of improvement, work on the questions that you got wrong. This is very important since you had more time per question and still got them wrong. It either means either an error of comprehension or a conceptual issue. Next, pick the questions you did not attempt and solve these questions without a time limit. Once again, this exercise will point out your areas of improvement. Doing this process for each test will definitely improve your performance in the next. A

Q

Q

Don’t spend more than 4 hours a day in

study. The manner in which you use those four hours depends

on your strengths and weaknesses.

Q Q


MBA BUZZ


t is generally seen that MBA aspirants’ main focus is on securing high scores in their

CAT, XAT, MAT and CMAT exams, and consequently they spend a large part of their time in preparing for these exams. While this is certainly advisable and worthwhile, it is a bit unclear as to how much time they invest in building an overall awareness and deeper understanding of the current business and economic issues! Having sat through interviews during the admission process at several top ranked B-schools, I have seen that very little effort is generally put into gaining a deeper understanding of the business and economic issues. This is definitely something on which every aspirant needs to introspect.

Awareness in the business

and economics domain, especially demonstrating that awareness, is of paramount importance. If possible, some critical analysis of what is happening around us will also go a long way in a successful performance in the interview and group discussion process. Having spent time in carefully preparing on the key business and economic issues, MBA candidates need to develop the capability to proactively steer the interviewer, at an appropriate juncture of course, in a direction where he has carefully prepared and gained insights that gives him an enormous “comfort factor”.

Awareness and understanding of issuesIgnorance regarding major business and economic issues,

Knowing what’s going on around you is vital

An unfortunate reality of most MBA aspirants is that they concentrate fully on the MBA entrance exams, and to a certain extent ignore the developments in the world of business, corporates and economies. It is very important that you pay attention to these areas too. Since you’re sure to be tested on them during your group discussion and interviews later, it is best to stay up to

date all the time, instead of at the last minute.

I

}}}Dr Suresh Srinivasan


MBA BUZZ

both domestic and international situations that are currently unfolding, does not portray a very good picture of the candidate — in fact, it positions him rather poorly in the mind of the interview panel. On the other hand, even a very broad understanding that can be demonstrated on the rationale of some of the key domestic and international business and economic developments can go a long way in ensuring a successful interview, as well as a good performance in group discussions.

So what do we mean by “key business and economic issues”?

If you take the last few months, for instance, there have been a number of developments in the corporate world that have been extensively discussed in the business and management forums, newspapers and business news channels. Similarly, major domestic and international economic issues have had a major influence on the corporate and industry performance, which eventually shape and direct the country’s economic scenario. Some such issues are listed below, in order to serve as a sort of guideline for the benefit of MBA aspirants. You can choose topics of such magnitude and importance, to familiarise yourselves over the next six to eight months, as you prepare for your forthcoming B-school admissions.

Some of the developments that you need to keep a track ofThere were a number of major and significant business issues that gained prominence over the last few months, be it the return of N.R. Narayana Murthy at the helm of Infosys, or the major challenges facing Cyrus Mistry, who was taking over

from Ratan Tata as the head of Tata Group. These issues had major implications on the Indian corporate landscape. The developments relating to the leveraged buyout of Dell and the steady decline in the innovation quotient of once successful companies like Research in Motion (Blackberry) and HTC were, again, important issues that require deeper understanding.

Similarly, the future of successful companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon in the midst of extensive competitive rivalry is also important, as such developments will define the future of handheld devices, and

the communication and software industries in a very big way! There is very little doubt as to whether an MBA aspirant needs to gain deep understandings on these types of developments.

Many other issues that are important and need to be understood by MBA aspirants include linkages between business and environment, global warming and how companies need to responsibly integrate sustainability into their mainstream strategies in order to be successful in the long run. Then there are issues with respect to foreign investments

by global players like Etihad, Air Asia, IKEA, Starbucks and Wal-Mart into India, how social media complements today’s business, as well as the proposed issue of new banking licences to corporates. Demonstrating awareness of such issues is extremely important.

Awareness and analysis with respect to financial results of large Indian corporations and industry level performances is equally important. In other words, you must know which company has done well and those that have poorly performed, and why. Critically analysing and understanding the positives and negatives of major acquisitions of Indian and global companies brings out the business and strategic thinking of the MBA aspirant, and is an important yardstick based on which his candidature is assessed. After all, this is the corporate landscape that you will be a part of, and you should know how the companies are faring, not only for cracking the group discussion and interviews, but also later, when your placements are upon you.

Over the last few months, many economic matters had a significant impact on the business landscape, including the state of the American economy, its deficit and the much hyped “fiscal cliff”, and issues and challenges facing the Eurozone. Closer home are issues like the current state of the Indian economy, understanding the cause and effects of the high fiscal deficit and looming current account deficit, demystifying the behaviour of gold in terms of demand and price, the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy and the outlook on the interest rate regime, and the inflation status and various measures

Your ability to steer the interview panel

towards your comfort zone by dropping certain keywords

becomes critical for your success.


MBA BUZZ


taken by RBI to control that inflation. India’s energy policy, and understanding and critical analysis of the union Budget are also among the essentials that an MBA aspirant needs to be aware of and demonstrate a deeper level of understanding.

You will see that most of the above items were not only elaborately covered under the “Corporate World” section of Advanc’edge MBA, but were also debated and criticised from different perspectives in order to bring out different layers and sub-layers that were connected to the main issue. The economic indicator section of Advanc’edge closely monitors the global and Indian economic performance and is an important dashboard to keep a close watch on. Subsequent issues of Advanc’edge MBA will, of course, cover many such key business and economic issues that continue to unfold in India’s corporate, business and national landscape.

Moving beyond mere awarenessAs MBA aspirants, you will need to form a sort of loose framework in which you can focus on reading up on these key issues, along with their analyses, and in doing so,

you will reap the full benefits of that framework. Moving beyond mere awareness and gaining the ability to link two or more issues and to talk at a higher plane than the specific instance would require constantly following up on a particular set of topics over a period of time and to join the dots in order to demonstrate a deeper understanding.

Steering the interview towards your comfort zoneAwareness, understanding and criticism of key business and economic developments is only one side of the story. The ability of the candidate to steer the interview panel in the direction of his knowledge base or comfort zone by dropping certain keywords becomes critical for his success. Once that is done, the panel is tempted to probe the candidate sitting before them more on such keywords, and if this happens, you will have automatically secured an opportunity to demonstrate your awareness and knowledge. Remember, carefully drop in the key words when the interviewer asks you to describe yourself, your interests, your background, etc, all of which generally happens during the early part of the interview.

To illustrate t h i s

further, when the interviewer says, “Tell me about yourself,” you could start off explaining a bit about you and your interests and then say something along the lines of “I keenly follow major acquisitions and try to understand the strategic rationale of such acquisitions.” The next question that would generally follow is “Why don’t you tell us about any of the recent acquisitions that interested you?” And now, you can pick up the strategic rationale of any one acquisition, with which you are well versed, and take the panel through your points. Even if the interviewer is not coming straight to the areas of your comfort zone and probing something else, you could still possibly give one more try in meaningfully linking the issues which you have well prepared to the issue that is being probed.

Group discussionsEven during group discussions, holding a long “air time” and talking aimlessly will count as negative against you or any candidate. Contrarily, quickly setting a “four sentences” statement which has at least two or three different perspectives (without taking a one sided view of which is right or wrong) on the issue of discussion will serve the purpose of presenting you as aware, knowledgeable and balanced. This can be achieved only if you have focused on five or six big business and economic issues, such as some of those mentioned here.

So don’t worry, study hard for your entrance exams, but also keep a watchful and attentive eye on what’s happening around you. It will certainly help you, both now and in the long run. A


COUNTDOWN

What might Man’s future look like?

Today, we are standing on the cusp of a lot of things. From prophecies of doom and destruction, worrying realities like global warming and diminishing resources

of fuel, to exciting advances in technology in the fields of medicine, physics, communications, et al, there is a lot that the future holds.

here are thousands of ways in which Man can change himself and the world around

him. Most of it, as we see it today, is with the help of enormous developments in technology, and sometimes even in perception For instance, just a few decades ago, a 250MB storage space in a hard drive was the size of a small room, and it cost millions of dollars just to build it. Now, we hardly even think when we buy an 8GB micro-SD card, which is as small as the tip of our finger, and costs just a few hundred rupees.

Such advancements have come with their own costs of course. We have smarter cars today, but still use the same fossil fuel technology. More and more cities are being ultra-urbanised with every conceivable means of comfort and convenience, but these cities are getting crowded, and the forests are getting cut down. We need and use more energy intensive products, but we aren’t putting as much back into nature as we’re taking out of it. We have made enormous

progress in medicine, and identified previously unknown diseases, but we’re still to find the cure to cancer and AIDS.

So where is the human race headed? What world will our children and grandchildren be born into, and what will their lives be like? Will Man still be shackled on Earth a thousand years from now, or will he have moved on to other planets in search of a better life?

These are the kind of questions that are being asked, and which will ultimately shape

our future. And only a lot of creative and innovative thinking will get us there.

On the next page you will find some of the predictions that the world’s foremost futurists make, trying to figure out where Man will stand a few hundred years from now. Some of these are inevitable, some may never come to fruition, while some are still being debated. The fact remains that today’s managers and leaders will show the way forward, and lead us to the future.

T}}}The Advanc’edge Team


COUNTDOWN



COUNTDOWN


CORPORATEINTERVIEW


Digital marketing: Working with the world

Today, a lot of advertising and marketing is happening in the digital space, and digital marketing is the next big thing among the gamut of industries across the world. This is what UDAYAN BOSE, founder of NetElixir, tells Aditya Prakash Iengar, in an interview in which he shares his thoughts on digital marketing, the analytical potential of Indian students and his faith in that talent pool.

Q Please tell us a little about yourself.

I studied chemical engineering from IIT Delhi, and graduated in 1994. After that, to be

honest, I followed quite a traditional path – I worked for a year and then did my MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. I continued on that traditional path, as it was back then, and joined an FMCG company. At that time, a role in an FMCG company was the thing for a marketing fellow. So after my MBA, I joined Godrej. I was initially working for Godrej foods, and we launched the Blue Diamond almonds product, which actually turned out to be quite a success, surprisingly! After that, I moved to a company called ICI Paints, as a sales manager in Mumbai.

Then I got a call from a couple of my IIT batchmates, and they convinced me to join their start-up called iGlobalMedia, which was into online gaming. I spent around two years there, and started a new business line for them called Party Bingo, an online version of the popular game. So during my stint there, I got quite a good exposure to the online space, and I decided that the time was ripe for me to explore and start out on my own.

Q Why did you get into search marketing?At iGlobalMedia, search was a substantial part of our portfolio. Now I must tell you that

it might feel very easy to simply type something in Google’s search field and get the results, and then have relevant ads displayed along with them. But the actual search methodology can be a fairly complex thing.

It starts with your strategy, about what you’re actually hoping to achieve as a business. Then it’s a matter of breaking that strategy down to almost simplistic levels. For instance, you have to think “What are you, the reader, likely to type in that Google bar when you want to buy something, say books for instance?” At the same time, I can guarantee that what you will type into that search bar will be different from what your sister or brother or parent or friend might type. So if you look at the billions and billions of search queries going on, there’s your first opportunity, right there, in terms of using big data analytics. And this needed to be done by speaking to every one of those billion people, but just by analysing data.


CORPORATEINTERVIEW

Q So where would you find this talent pool of people who are good at analytics and quick thinking and

number crunching?Actually, this is something where India has always been good at. I am sure that at least 60 per cent of our children studying in the 10th and 12th standards in our schools are exceptional in this area, purely in terms of analytical skills, when compared to global standards. Now, the Indian education system is such that number crunching is never really a problem. The critical factor was finding people who could not only handle numbers and were good at analysing data, but who could also understand the business concepts surrounding that data and then apply them. This was where we thought we could provide training, and more importantly, exposure. This is something that I keep harping on whenever I visit IIT Delhi or any other business school — the biggest challenge that every Indian student constantly faces is a lack of exposure. It is sad, but true, that probably less one per cent of our students get to work in a global environment. This is why iGlobalMedia was an eye opener for me, because I got a chance to work in that global environment!

I think that as Indians, we have a number of advantages. One is the analytical acumen. Another is our disposition to be highly positive, and a third is that we have a very high level of adaptability. What we lack is exposure. Of course, this has changed in the last decade or so, but we still have a very long way to go.

Q How did NetElixir come about?I launched NetElixir in 2004, and frankly, when we started, it was with a very simplistic

concept. We knew that India has a phenomenal pool of talent in the field of analytics, and we thought of utilising that talent pool to make a mark on emerging markets, and on the emerging industry called digital marketing. Back in 2004, Google had still not done its IPO, and the whole

industry was in its nascent stages. I knew that a lot of mathematics was involved in

this industry; there would be a lot of analysis and number crunching going on, and it needed people who could really think fast. Somehow, probably based on my experience at IIT and then at NMIMS, I was confident that India had more than just a sufficient number of talented people who could fulfill service this requirement. And that’s how the entire concept of NetElixir started. It is a global search marketing agency that specialises in the application of mathematical models to deliver search

marketing results. Through our not-for-profit ventures like NetElixir University (a platform for sharing free practical digital

marketing knowledge) and LXRMarketplace.com (free

search marketing tools), we aspire to level the digital

marketing playing field for e-businesses

worldwide.

Q Earlier, you mentioned adaptability. What do you mean by that?

I shall have to cite my own example to explain this. One of our initial clients was an agency in Germany. Now I have

the highest regards for the Germans, and they are exceptionally smart and good people. But you have to get close to them first. So adaptability entails understanding

the culture, the nuances, and knowing what they would appreciate. It’s just that old saying, “When in Rome, do as Romans do.”

So I have found that this sort of adaptability comes easily to us Indians. After all, India is a combination of multiple cultures, and that helps us understand and appreciate different cultures!

Q How did iGlobalMedia help you on your way to starting NetElixir?You see, at all IITs, there is a culture of not

handholding you. You’re supposed to figure it out on your own. That’s what happened at iGlobalMedia for me too. I was handling an entire business line, and because I had the ability to be analytical thanks to our school education, and understood


CORPORATEINTERVIEW


Being in the digital marketing space

means you’re a business consultant, plus an advertising

agency, plus an analytics expert.

the basics of business due to my MBA, I could struggle, do multiple things, work hard and then figure out what to do and how to do it. The second thing that I feel I got from iGlobalMedia was exposure on how to handle a business. I went all over the world, from Canada to US to everywhere, and it gave me a lot of exposure.

Q How did your MBA from NMIMS help you?NMIMS helped me in a

number of ways. Firstly, we had an amazing batch, and that made a huge difference. Then there were a few classes such as online consumer behaviour, apart from the usual ones, that definitely helped me later as I was figuring out the online space. But I must reiterate that the peer group was superb, and frankly coming from IIT, I think I was quite dazzled initially!

In fact, this is something that every MBA aspirant should remember — your peer group is the biggest advantage you can get during your MBA course.

Q Please explain to us the concept of digital marketing. Well, the first obvious thing is that digital

marketing is in the digital space. It’s all about how much and what you can think of. There’s no limit at all, and your potential is limited only by your capacity to think. Honestly, this is the most fascinating aspect of digital marketing to me. So for people who are able to think of potentially

revolutionary things, and dream without any limitations, the online space is best for them.

Secondly, it comes back to exposure. Being in the digital marketing space means working on many different kinds of things at once. So you’re a business consultant, plus an advertising agency, plus an analytics expert. So I would say that the overall well-rounded exposure in this industry is nearly unmatched. And I think the best part about digital

marketing is that we are able to make a significant contribution to our client’s business, in a way that actually matters. So for some of our clients in the US, our team actually drives more than 50 per cent of their entire e-commerce sale.

Now think of someone who has just graduated from an MBA institute. For that individual, to be able to handle half of a 100 million dollar enterprise which is thousands of miles away is a huge experience!

Q How is digital marketing different from conventional marketing?Speaking from a very practical point of view,

for someone who has graduated in the marketing stream from an MBA institute in India would mostly be working in the marketing scenario in India itself. So conventional marketing is somewhat limited in the cultural and geographical sense. This is a shackle that digital marketing completely removes. Here, you can be working in the digital marketing space for a client that’s halfway across the world.

Secondly, in conventional marketing, you have tried and tested methods that work. In digital marketing, there is far more of analytics that goes on. Basically, you can track everything, and that means that if a person clicks on your ad and is taken to your website, there is a high probability that they might buy something based on your ad. I confess that I have my doubts whether someone seeing an ad in, say, a newspaper, would act upon that with as high a probability. Essentially, this means that you have a real connect with the revenue coming in.The ITM team that won NetElixir’s Clix 2013


CORPORATEINTERVIEW

I’d like to add another thing. Social marketing is just an aspect of digital marketing, in which you’re trying to motivate people to take an action and engage them while they’re browsing. So let’s say an individual is browsing the internet for a couple of hours, and spends around 30 minutes of that purchasing something. Now typically, he would first look for information on the product he wants to buy, then go to the portal and purchase it, and then he might also speak about the product on a social networking platform. Digital marketing is about keeping track of this path, and then monetising it in the form of ads, etc, so that the consumer also gets relevant information quickly, and the revenue is also generated. So it is all about understanding the customer’s intention to buy a product or service.

Q Tell us about Clix.NetElixir’s Clix 2013 is the first live digital marketing

case study contest among B-schools. It’s actually the first of its kind contest in India.

I have always had a huge faith in the analytical and creative talent that lies in India. They are looking for a job that will give them the satisfaction, apart from a good compensation. So the idea behind Clix is to provide them a good exposure in digital marketing. For instance, in Clix 2013 this time, we had Ajit Sivadasan, the global e-commerce head of Lenovo, Arijit Sarker, the head of India operations at Google on the panel of judges. This is the kind of exposure I’m talking about. In institutions like Harvard and Cornell, this kind of the exposure is considered of paramount importance, and that is what I’m trying to do in India with NetElixir and Clix. Another idea behind Clix is to provide real, live and relevant case studies in digital marketing and ecommerce to the students, instead of them studying case studies that are decades old. Working on the challenges of these live case-studies, the contesting students got an exposure to sophisticated digital marketing strategies at a global level.

This year, we held Clix in Hyderabad, and ISB,

ICFAI, GITAM, IMT and NMIMS were the participating colleges, and ITM

won Clix 2013. But we’ve seen a huge

response, and I have had emails from students

telling me that I should make it a pan-India event! So from next year, we’re contemplating making it a pan-India event, with colleges from across the country coming to Hyderabad for the contest.

Q India is not as connected on the

Internet as other parts of the world. So how do you see digital marketing

evolve in India?It is true that Internet connectivity is only just beginning to spread in India, but the growth opportunity is huge. You have people who are

already always online, which is probably a small number. That user group is a heavy Internet user. But most people aren’t as Internet savvy yet. Since this will change, and is already changing as a matter of fact, we are trying to get into India with digital marketing, and doing a lot of consumer research. This research is the first step, but to be honest, digital marketing is a force that cannot be stopped. It will eventually reach the market, and grow enormously. And that

trend has already started.

Q Do you think an MBA graduate is aware of this, beyond wanting a good company and compensation after their

course is over?I think that our society has played a large role in convincing our children that getting into the biggest MNC with the fattest salary is the most important thing. While I agree that it is indeed important, I believe that there are still other things that matter. For instance, it is a fact that the name of the company that you join just after your MBA course is not as important as the role you perform. What you do at your first company, and what you learn there, will prove to be far more important later on in life. A

Digital marketing is a force that cannot be stopped. It will

eventually reach the market, and grow enormously. That trend has started.


DIRECTOR SPEAK


‘Business must be a servant of nature’

Q You must have a first-hand view of the skills and perceptions required in the field of forestry/environment/natural

resource management. What are your views on the current state of education dedicated to this field in our country? Man has been living in harmony with nature for a long time. However, perhaps due to the industrial revolution leading to a faulty definition of development, human progress has moved away from our surroundings and started treating nature as subservient to human aspirations. Education in this sector is scattered, patchy and is evolving as a quick-fix response to calamities, disasters and legal compulsions. There are very few dedicated courses in this sector, and IIFM attempts to make a humble dent to this arena by having a four pronged approach of creating youth and middle level managers, enhancing the knowledge of the practising managers, and finally the researchers, through its MBA, Fellow Programme in Management, and M.Phil and Doctoral programmes.

The immediate requirement is to develop an integrated and comprehensive look at how we are using our natural resources and management issues, and develop scientific, long term plans for human endeavour for development.

Q How would you rate management education (in general and with regard to forestry management) in India today vis-

….believes DR. G.A. KINHAL, director of IIFM, Bhopal. He has 33 years work experience in the Forest Department and has spent a substantial part of his career working with national and international organisations in Natural Resource Management. He has published several papers and case studies related to his field and his article on Technical and Financial Evaluation of Green Equities was awarded the Brandis Memorial Prize in

1996. In an interview with Puja Shah, he shares his views on the current state of forestry education and the scope for students after studying forest management.

à-vis what is offered internationally? Do you think there is a need to revamp this education?Management education in India is an adoption of the western model. So as things stand currently, there is an urgent need to make this education more relevant to the Indian context. We, as Indians, are different. Our forests have much more bio-diversity than Western forests, and therefore, India has always had an advantage with regard to forestry education, since we have adapted our education to the need of our resources. International institutes, however, have more flexibility and a greater choice of combination of subjects from different streams. For instance, a civil engineer interested in pursuing an MBA in Urban Management can choose to study Urban Forestry, Drinking Water Supply, Landscape Planning, etc. Indian MBAs must adopt and enhance such course integration. We at IIFM have introduced this system of credits, so that our courses can be flexible.

I would not say that we need to revamp our natural resource education, but to refurbish and update it to make it more contemporary. But other than that, our foundations are quite good and there is no need to dismantle them to make new ones.

Q How aware do you think the current generation is when it comes to fields such as forestry management, energy/

natural resource management, environment management, etc, as compared to conventional


DIRECTOR SPEAK

fields such as finance, consulting, HR, etc? Our society is learning the hard way. In a manner of speaking, we needed Uttarakhand to happen to realise the importance of natural resources management in a scientific manner. Now, many premier management institutes have started offering environment and natural resources courses. Society tends to only look at the finished product and think about how to sell it, but right now, we need to focus on how the product is produced and how to manage our resources. Finance and other similar fields are applied to human elements for assimilating and spreading growth. There is an urgent need to apply knowledge of these for management of natural resources, environment management and so on to attain the badly needed sustainable development.

Q According to you, who would be the right fit for IIFM? Anybody from any stream would be fit for our

courses, as natural resource management requires expertise from all subject areas. For us, all study is equally important. What is more important is that the candidates must have a passion to study nature and devise mechanisms of management by following nature, not dictating it. Currently, such candidates are choosing IIFM, and this needs to increase.

Q What are the scopes and opportunities for students after their PGDFM at IIFM?PGDFM graduates of IIFM stand an excellent

chance now, as recent calamities and disasters (man made) have strongly hinted at the need for a knowledge base with integration of knowledge related to nature’s principles and resource management. While general management institutions have begun to adopt some such courses into their curricula, IIFM already has coherently integrated and blended curriculum for meeting these challenges. With corporate social responsibility becoming a legal requirement now, the scope for our graduates is going to increase, if only we quickly re-fashion and redesign our course delivery.

Q You have been working in the forest department, as well as teaching at IIFM, and know what is required of the

students. In this context, how do you find the students at your institute? How do they take the knowledge they gain at IIFM to the outside world in their jobs?Forestry and other resource management agencies in the country have been working in isolation with

very little adoption of the growth of knowledge in other fields. Students coming from different streams of graduation and basic knowledge are the best fit to integrate and sharpen resource management. However, there is a need for greater specialisation at the institute. They need to identify their niche and specialise in them. Due to the climate change phenomenon, management of nature (and its furies) is going to be more and more challenging, especially in the fields of River Management, Water Management, Mining and Forestry, monsoon and floods, Livelihoods and Non-Timber Forest Products, Agricultural Production, Green Energy and so on. Our course also has a field component, wherein our students work in actual forest environments. we have created a balance between practical work and theory.

Q What is your vision for IIFM, and what are the primary challenges you expect to face in achieving that vision?

My first ambition is to instill greater confidence in our graduates and build the conviction that they are the most contemporarily fit managers and that they need to exhibit this excellence in different fields. They need to shun comparison with others in terms of the money and placement offers, and they just need to seek and enrich the job they are created for. The challenges here relate to the mindset of the society, underrating the need for resource management under the pretext that Man is supreme and can play with nature.

Q How would you advise MBA aspirants to develop themselves during the years at B-school, so that they can be an asset to

the organisation that they join?My major suggestion to them is to question the current management principles and ethos and make them more and more contemporary. Adopt and nurture the principles of coexistence with greater empathy for the poor and underprivileged. Business must be a servant of nature, not the master of it. A

IIFM Bhopal


DIRECTOR SPEAK


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SNIPPETS


Newsin brief

Here are some

interesting

titbits from

over the last

month

India-born techies in Microsoft CEO position raceMicrosoft Corp has set up a special

committee to find a new chief executive after Steve Ballmer announced his retirement. The world’s largest software company has no anointed successor, and has had only two CEOs in its 38-year history — Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates.

Among the list that Microsoft might consider are two India-born tech executives: Satya Nadella (in pic) and Vic Gundotra. While Nadella heads Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group, Vic Gundotra, a former Microsoft executive, is now a high-flying Google Inc engineer. Other names include Tony Bates, Terry Myerson, Kevin Turner, Steven Sinofsky, Reed Hastings and Paul Maritz.

Coca-Cola to invest $5 billion in India by 2020Beverage maker Coca-Cola will invest $5 billion (about `32,500 crore at current rates) in India by 2020 as it had earlier planned, proving that the US-based company is not too perturbed about the economic downturn in the country. The company is going to inaugurate one of its biggest bottling plants set up by its leading franchise bottler Moon

Beverages in Greater Noida. Coca-Cola India started operations in India 20 years ago and operates 57

manufacturing plants in India, which is currently the seventh largest market for the company.

Unlisted firms on foreign exchanges soon? The government is looking to allow unlisted companies to list on foreign

exchanges as channel through which foreign capital can flow in to fund India’s current account deficit. The government feels there are good unlisted Indian companies with international business that will have appeal in overseas markets. Policy makers are keen that the scheme will help only if it is so drafted that companies are encouraged to bring back capital raised overseas and then list locally after a few years. The key concern or the argument against the proposal is that India will allow its capital market to be exported overseas. The proposal will benefit companies by getting better valuations and helping in attracting foreign capital.

Samsung now India’s biggest handset markerSouth Korean handset maker Samsung Electronics dethroned its Finnish counterpart Nokia as India’s largest mobile phone maker in the last fiscal year by cornering 31.5 per cent market share

compared with 27.2 per cent for the latter, a Voice & Data survey revealed. A surge in smartphone consumption in India spurred 14.7 per cent growth in mobile handset industry revenues to `35,946 crore for the financial year ended March 2013 from the year before value of `31,330 crore, as per the survey.


SNIPPETS

Facebook leads effort to slash mobile data charges in emerging nations

Facebook plans to announce an effort to drastically cut the cost of delivering basic Internet services on mobile phones, particularly in developing countries, where the social networking site and other technology companies need to find new users. Half a dozen of the world’s technology giants, including Samsung, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ericsson, have agreed to work with the company on the initiative, which they call Internet.org.

The companies intend to accomplish their goal in part by simplifying phone applications so that they run more efficiently and by improving the components of phones and networks so that they transmit more data while using less battery power.

The effort is also a reflection of how tech companies are trying to meet Wall Street’s demands for growth by attracting customers beyond saturated markets in the US and Europe, even if they have to help build services and some of the infrastructure in poorer, less digitally sophisticated parts of the world.

Indian cos see influx of interns from international B-schools

This April has seen a significant interest of students from international business schools to intern in Indian companies. These students, from top institutes such as Wharton School of Business, Insead, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan and Ivey Business School see India as an entrepreneurial destination and want to understand the dynamics of large local businesses, some of which are family-run.

For a foreign student in India, gaining a better understanding of how emerging markets develop and what it takes to succeed in these economies is being seen as one of the primary reasons. Furthermore, these interns see India as the next source of growth for several brands, and feel that a first-hand exposure to rural consumers and a developing market is necessary to understand of the challenges and opportunities.

This is a win-win formula for Indian companies too, as it presents them an opportunity to get fresh global perspectives on projects and plans.


MUSTREADS

Since you’re planning on doing your MBA, you need to be well read, and not just on current affairs. In this section, we offer you some choices of books that will

broaden your perspective, and you will find that you will never be at a loss in a discussion!

Productivity is one of those buzzwords that we all know. But one thing we don’t quite figure out is how to be more productive, or how much easier life would

be if we were. The fact is that most of us simply aren’t as efficient with our time and projects as we could or should be. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, written by management consultant, executive coach and “personal productivity guru” David Allen, is an excellent

book that shows us a way to be more productive. The idea behind the bestseller is that you need to move tasks out of your mind by recording them externally, so the mind is free from the job of remembering the tasks that need to be completed. Then you can concentrate on performing the tasks, instead of remembering what you have to do.

The book offers easy-to-follow tips, techniques and tricks to help you be more efficient. It has a proven system to getting things done in a concrete, can’t-miss way. This book is a must read for everyone, especially management students.

Getting Things Done: The Art

of Stress-Free Productivity

Author: David Allen

Price: `359

Publisher: Penguin

Genre: Self-help

Now, Discover Your Strengths offers only one fundamental piece of insight – Capitalise your strength. While most of the world is focused on

identifying and repairing flaws, the truly successful are doing virtually the opposite. Regardless of age, gender or nationality, successful people from all walks of life are focused on capitalising on their strengths and managing their weaknesses. Strengthening your talent sounds like

an obvious strategy when stated so bluntly, but society teaches us early on to focus on our weaknesses. The authors have created a revolutionary programme to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. With accessible insights on how to turn talents into strengths, this is one of the most useful business books ever written.

Now, Discover Your Strengths

Authors: Marcus Buckingham,

Donald O. Clifton

Price: `289

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre: Self-help

In London, a man named Richard Mayhew helps a small, wounded urchin girl. And it changes his world forever.There is a London that exists below the London we know,

inhabited by people who have fallen through the cracks of the world. Nobody in London Above knows of the world below, where time flows in pockets, earls, lords and barons rule, and rats are almost divine. Richard follows Door, the urchin girl, a

diabolical swashbuckler called the Marquis de Carabas and Door’s bodyguard Hunter, as they try to help the angel Islington while solving the mystery of Door’s family’s murder. All the while, they are hunted by two men, Mr Vandemar and Mr Croup, who have lived through eons and exist only to kill and make others suffer. In one of the most entertaining novels ever written, the author explores the fantasy genre in an uneasy truce with bleak darkness, with cracking wit and humour interspun into the narrative. So popular was Neverwhere, that BBC adapted the novel into a TV

series, and both book and TV show have a huge following. Certainly, a book that must be read, if not for its sheer “unputdownableness”, but for the questions it will make you ask about your own life.

Neverwhere

Author: Neil Gaiman

Price: `257

Publisher: Hachette Group

Genre: Fantasy


SUCCESS STREET

The culmination of the MBA journey is in the final placement. Right from the

struggles of CAT preparation days to the hectic and heady fun of college — all of it boils down to the job that one gets. Even here, market forces and the placement team of the institute play a brutal role in determining which companies line up during the placement process.

It is an unfortunate fact that luck is a significant factor that decides whether the CV gets shortlisted or not, although coaching can definitely increase your chances. Then come the group discussions, one after another, relentlessly testing the candidate’s capacity to speak sensibly on a variety of topics. Finally, after their hopes having been raised and squashed for the umpteenth time, one hears

that they have been chosen for the final round. Without any time to rejoice, one is immediately flanked by the placement coordinators, who thrust you into the interview room to face the panel. The flip side is that there might be a long, nail-biting, stretched period for your revision, by the end of which all thoughts appear convoluted and exaggerated!

The first few secondsAs an interview panellist, I see a variety of students come in for their interviews. Being calm and confident as one enters the room is important, as the initial moments create the first impression which lasts throughout the interview. A smile that is well worn is a useful trick to mask nervousness, and can help you too by clamping down

on the butterflies in the stomach.Usually, breaking the ice starts

with a personal introduction. There are some who detail out family background, educational qualifications, hobbies and interests in two minutes. There are others who choose to leave out family background, believing that one’s interests and skills ought to be highlighted. However, most Indian companies do prefer the former, as it can offer several clues about aspects like the candidate’s culture fit in the company or the long term aspirations of the candidate. Introductions should be brief, not longer than two to three minutes, as the interviewer can always seek more information if required. I often find statements such as “being optimistic”, “great with people”, “hard-working”, et al a

Interviews:What to keep in mind

}}}Sebati Iyengar

During your MBA, you will come across several interviews — summer placements, internships, and that all important final placement interview. That is the time when you put to the test everything you’ve learnt during your MBA

course. But what is it exactly that the companies are looking for?


SUCCESS STREET


little premature at this stage, since they have not been substantiated by any anecdotes yet.

Examples, not just theoryThe next important aspect the interviewer wants to understand is basic theoretical understanding of the core subjects. Be it finance, marketing, operations, HR, what have you, you should be very well versed with all the key concepts studied and imbibed in the first year and second year of the course. Any hesitation at this stage points to a lax attitude towards academics, which is rarely appreciated. Relevant and live examples can help you gain a positive impression in this section, since it demonstrates your ability to relate the theory you have learnt to the world around you. Having a repertoire of examples will certainly leave you even better equipped to address cross-questioning in this area.

Apart from these CV related questions, interview panellists often throw a few situational questions at the candidate. For example, in a Sales and Marketing interview, the panellist might tell the candidate, “Sell a pen to an illiterate farmer.” These test the ability of the candidate to think on the spot, and to test the creativity. These questions at times also test the ethical beliefs of a candidate, and his priorities when he is made to choose. Consider this example. You are working on a new launch with your manager. The launch is tomorrow, and your manager has gone away for an emergency at work, when your manager’s manager comes. He has a better idea for the launch. Given that your manager is unreachable, will you follow through with the better

idea and change the launch, or stick to the idea that has already been discussed, despite realising its inferiority?

Speaking of work experience...In case the candidate has worked in the past, he or she will most

definitely be asked to describe the role and key achievements. For the interviewer, this is important to understand the level of exposure in the past, and achievements you have made, as well as your potential to keep up this level of achievements in the future. It is important to share significant highlights of your work — key clients, any big or difficult deals, your own personal learning from

your job. The reason for leaving the job is also enquired into, and answers to questions of this sort should be linked with the actual experiences at work. Now, a generic answer of wanting to increase one’s understanding is often given to the interviewer at this stage. Be warned, however, that this may lead to a debate between learning on the job and learning in the MBA, and the relative merits and demerits of each.The linkage between education, prior experience and MBA specialisation also merits close enquiry. While engineering, followed by an MBA degree from a reputed institute is pretty much a national trend in our country today, it is useful to have a reason

why one chose, for instance, mechanical engineering, followed by testing in an IT company, followed by a specialisation in marketing. A good reason in such cases is especially necessary, since the skills and interests of these three areas are rather different. The interviewer will be interested to unearth if there is an underlying trend or preference of the kind of work you are interested in and good at. While we may all dream of becoming a jack of all trades, the practical reality is that it is virtually impossible to achieve.

Studies is not the “be all and end all”Extracurricular activities are definitely a differentiator in any interview. What works here is a consistent range of engagements in a specific area — music, dance, art, debate, local or social activities, cooking, gardening or anything else. Merely enumerating the variety of contests and competitions you participated in

A smile that is well worn is a useful trick

to mask nervousness, and can help you

too by clamping down on the butterflies in

the stomach.


SUCCESS STREET

competitions you participated in at school, or your work in various committees in college, do not earn as many brownie points with the interviewer as you might like to think. However, it does help to highlight what a particular extracurricular activity has taught you, and how it has influenced your thoughts or habits. In many cases, a successful activity demonstrated in a group is a positive indication of your ability to collaborate in a team.

Questions for the interviewersAny company is invariably pleased to know that the candidate has done their homework and researched about their company before appearing for the interview. This is checked in the form of questions invited from the candidate — “why do you want to join our company?”. Asking questions on matters that are already available in the public domain will certainly leave the panellists acutely unimpressed. The website of the company and recent news about the company are common sources, after all. In case anyone you know has done a project in the company, or if you can reach out to your seniors who have been placed

in the company, try your best to glean some information that is unavailable in the public domain — that’s far better. This demonstrates genuine interest to join the company, and definitely increases the chances of selection. Similarly, not knowing much about the company indicates complacence or disinterest on the part of the candidate.

The last question asked by most interviewers is, “Is there something you’d like to ask us?” This can be a good opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and curiosity about the company. Questions about the strategy of the company or culture or recent news are appreciated. If no question has been prepared,

it is unadvisable to generate an average question at the moment, since this is rather obvious.

Practise, and be genuineInterviews are like theatre in some ways — you have to practise well to ensure that you appear genuine. If you are not prepared, it may easily show during the interview. At the same time, nothing is more disconcerting to a panellist than a candidate who seems to have memorised the potential list of questions and answers! It is very important to appear genuine while answering. Most interview panellists meet many candidates over their careers and are usually adept at identifying when a candidate is genuinely interested in their organisation, or merely faking it.

Every single answer in the interview counts, and no interviewer would mind if you take a couple of minutes to think and then reply to a tricky question. Practise answers that you already know — it will help you make your reply crisper and shorter for better impact. Otherwise, there’s always the risk of missing out on that key achievement at your previous organisation, as you take a long time to explain your role!

In short, practise well, know what you want clearly in your mind, and do your background research before coming to an interview, be it for a job or even admission to a B-school. Be honest, show that you can think and have the potential to act beyond the theory, and you are sure to crack any interview with ease. A

Any company is pleased to know that

the candidate has researched about

their company before appearing for the interview

The author is an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and has worked with companies like Deutsche Bank and Wipro. She is currently an HR manager who handles a recruitment role at Asian Paints.


SUCCESS STREET



SUCCESS STREET

4 WINNERS

Name Rank Centre Qualification Percentile RewardTiyas Ghosh Roy All India Rank 4 Kolkata - Gariahat BE/BTech/ - Engineering/

Technology99.97 2,000

Prateek Giria All India Rank 5 Kolkata - Gariahat BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

99.96 2,000

Vibhor Agarwal All India Rank 5 Lucknow BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

99.96 2,000

Ashay Shah All India Rank 7 Pune - Deccan BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

99.94 2,000

Gopal Zavar All India Rank 8 Mumbai - Dadar BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

99.94 2,000

Rishi Karthik T All India Rank 9 Chennai - Annanagar

BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

99.94 2,000

Anand Madhav All India Rank 10 Patna BDS/BOptom - Medical Courses

99.92 2,000

Ankita Agarwal Girl Topper 1 Kolkata - Gariahat BSc - Science 99.90 2,000Debaparna Kundu

Girl Topper 2 Mumbai - Thane BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

98.77 2,000

Narottam Garg Non-Engg Topper 1

Delhi NCR - Pitampura

BBA/BBE/BBM/BMS/BBS - Management

99.92 2,000

Sagar Sarkar SC Topper 1 Kolkata - Hungerford


92.35 2,000

Manil Punware SC Topper 2 Chennai - Adyar BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

86.99 2,000

Ajay Merugu Krishna

ST Topper 1 Vijayawada BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

98.05 2,000

Gulsar Ahamed OBC Topper 1 Chennai - Annanagar


99.78 2,000

Baji Mohammad OBC Topper 2 Vijayawada BE/BTech/ - Engineering/Technology

98.94 2,000

All-India RankNitesh GoyalCentre: Delhi NCR-DwarkaQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology Percentile: 100.00Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

1All-India RankAmod SardesaiCentre: Pune-DeccanQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/TechnologyPercentile: 99.99Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

2 All-India RankAmandeep SinghCentre: Delhi NCR - Connaught PlaceQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology Percentile: 99.98Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

3


SUCCESS STREET


5 WINNERS

Name Rank Centre Qualification Percentile RewardAnkita Agarwal All India Rank 4 Kolkata-Gariahat BSc - Science 99.97 2,000

Chandan Kumar Jha

All India Rank 5 Hyderabad-Madhapur

BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology

99.97 2,000

Varun Manghwani All India Rank 5 Pune-Pimpri BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology

99.96 2,000

Gulsar Ahamed All India Rank 7 Chennai-Annanagar


99.95 2,000

Soumya Patel All India Rank 8 Delhi NCR-Gurgaon


99.93 2,000

Nikhil Nayak All India Rank 8 Mumbai-Dadar BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology

99.93 2,000

Iyer Abhiram Ramgopal

All India Rank 8 Chennai-Annanagar


99.93 2,000

Sharini Sen Girl Topper 1 Kolkata-Hungerford

BSc/BHSc - Science / Home Science

99.6 2,000

Narottam Garg Non-Engg Topper 1

Delhi NCR-Pitampura

BBA/BBE/BBM/BMS/BBS - Management

99.89 2,000

Sagar Sarkar SC Topper 1 Kolkata-Hungerford


95.87 2,000

Priyotosh Das SC Topper 2 Bangalore-Koramangala


95.74 2,000

Ajay Merugu Krishna

ST Topper 1 Vijaywada BSc/BHSc - Science / Home Science

99.33 2,000

Baji Mohammad OBC Topper 1 Vijaywada BSc/BHSc - Science / Home Science

99.51 2,000

All-India RankAmod SardesaiCentre: Pune-DeccanQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/TechnologyPercentile: 99.99Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

1All-India RankAshay ShahCentre: Pune-DeccanQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology Percentile: 99.99Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

2 All-India RankNitesh GoyalCentre: Delhi NCR-DwarkaQualification: BE/BTech - Engineering/Technology Percentile: 99.98Reward: Rs. 5,000/-

3

38


SUCCESS STREET

MAT is conducted twice a year, once in Sep and again in Feb. CMAT 2014-15 (First test) will be held from the 26th to 30th Sep. IMS is conducting 3 proctored SimCMATs targeted at CMAT aspirants taking the Sep exam. These SimCMATs are created by experts who have taken the test before and are therefore well versed with the paper pattern. The test interface is also exactly like the actual

CMAT. Ex Students of IMS vouch for these SimCMATs. Those who have scored well in SimCMATs have also cracked the actual exam. Schedule for SimCMATs (targeted at Sep CMAT)} SimCMAT 1 was conducted from the 17th to 20th Sep. } SimCMAT 2 – 6th to 8th Sep} SimCMAT 3 – 20th to 22nd Sep} 5 CMATs will be conducted closer to the Feb CMAT

IMS offer every student to take one SimCMAT FREE. A student can avail the free SimCMAT by registering online on the IMS website or visiting an IMS center.

Overall ToppersCategory All India Rank 1 All India Rank 2 All India Rank 3 Girl Topper SC/ST/OBC

TopperPIN 6AA01738 03A17896 70A13634 03A17308 07A18369Student Name Gopal Zavar Gaurav Sawant Maulik Gandhi Nilkancha

BadhiyeKshitish

DeshmukhCenter Mumbai - Dadar Mumbai - Vashi Mumbai - Andheri Mumbai - Vashi NagpurSpecialization Engineering /

TechnologyEngineering / Technology

Engineering / Technology



Overall 310 281 263 260 208QA 95 91 81 82 76LR 95 85 81 68 66LC 60 76 76 71 34GA 60 29 25 39 32Percentile 99.98 99.96 99.94 99.89 93.57

Sectional ToppersCategory Highest QA

ScoreHighest QA

ScoreHighest LR Score Highest LR

ScoreHighest LC

ScoreSectional Score

100 100 95 95 77

PIN 03A15759 3DA05235 6AA01738 70A12209 03A17745Student Name Avishkar Mhatre Girish Pai Gopal Zavar Nityae Verma Sharel

FernandesCenter Mumbai - Vashi Mumbai -

GhatkoparMumbai - Dadar Mumbai - Andheri Mumbai - Vashi

Specialization Engineering / Technology

Bachelors in Commerce




CCMAT TOPPERS

All-India RankGopal ZavarCentre: Mumbai - DadarQualification: Engineering / TechnologyPercentile: 99.981

All-India RankGaurav SawantCentre: Mumbai - VashiQualification: Engineering / Technology Percentile: 99.962 All-India Rank

Maulik GandhiCentre: Mumbai - AndheriQualification: Engineering/Technology Percentile: 99.943


CORPORATEWORLD


Government’s finger in the pie: Good or bad?

There have been times when the government has had to step in to run a business. However, it has been seen that the less involvement it has in “for profit” businesses,

the better they perform. So what’s the golden rule: To meddle or not to meddle?

T he Government of India holds majority shares as well as retains management control

in many “for profit” businesses, which include manufacturing, mining and metals, oil and gas, power generation, airline, banks, hotels and telecommunication. Still major business are invested and controlled by the government. 30 per cent of the largest Indian companies are government owned, like ONGC, Coal India, etc. While many efficient and well managed private sector players operate in all of the above industries, is there a need for the government to spend resources, in terms of financial capital and management time, in such ventures? Can governments run “for profit” companies, and do they have the capability to meet shareholder expectations?

Other areas like creating physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, ports, electricity and water) and soft infrastructure (education, healthcare) are the primary responsibilities of the government. So, should the government dilute its focus by getting into running “for profit” companies?

Government steps inIn the late 1960s, the government nationalised banking business, although it was not as efficient as private sector players. This was because private sector banks were catering to the needs of the elite, and the fruits were not percolating down to the lowest strata of the society. So the government stepped in and nationalised the banks.

Even today, sectors that directly intervene with the lives of the common man (where private players hesitate to invest in for want of required return on investments), there is a strong rationale for the government to step in. Operations like railways and micro-financing are still considered outside the realm of the “for profit” enterprises, justifying the government’s stepping in. However, businesses that emphasise on efficient and productive operations and global advancement, which require state-of-the-art management depth, must remain private, and government involvement destroys value!

Government involvement: Not always positive?This is because governments are

generally considered inferior in managing “for profit” businesses. Over extended periods, government-owned entities and public sector companies have been underperforming the private sector players across sectors, and have also been bleeding cash.

Consider Air India, a public sector company where the government has complete management control. The government nominates the managing director of Air India, who works under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It is well known that Air India is poorly managed and is bleeding cash, primarily as the Government has been unable to give focused management attention. Even if credible CEOs are appointed, the government’s interference has not allowed them to function independently. For example, Rohit Nandan is the fifth CMD of the company in the last five years! With Air India virtually bankrupt, infusing huge funds without empowered leadership, free from political interference, is a waste of the taxpayer’s resources.

Airlines are no doubt difficult business, but many countries

}}}Dr Suresh Srinivasan


CORPORATEWORLD

(Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand) have cautiously privatised the sector, or have appointed focused leadership teams and allowed them to function independently.

Apart from Air India, a number of public sector banks that were once fundamentally sound and well run are now in poor financial position due to large scale government policy and interventions that include loan waivers and debt write-offs. Today, they are fraught with non-collectible debtors (called Non Performing Assets). So, how can the government withdraw from such currently non value adding activities, and focus on hard and soft infrastructure creation?

The correct partner is the keyA focused long term strategy is essential to address the situation. The mantra should be to identify strategic partners that would suit each of the public sector companies, which would be capable of optimally running these businesses more efficiently. The government should steadily dilute its shareholding, but more importantly, also dilute management control and allow the experts to run the day to day business. This initiative will also free up the government’s time (and the time of the bureaucrats, politicians and advisors), which can be productively redirected.

The PPP modelWith regard to hard infrastructure, the public private partnership (PPP) has been the most preferred route the government has been taking over the last decade. There is a requirement to invest around eight lakh crore rupees every year, and it is virtually not possible for the government to invest all the monies. It hence creates joint ventures with private players, allows private sector experts to invest the majority

requirement (and also allow them to hold management control) with the government holding a minority stake (with very less financial investment), merely restricting itself to providing the regulatory support to the private players, wherever required. This is a successful model, and examples include the Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, and many sea ports in the country. However, the success of the model depends on the profile of the private sector partner that the government chooses; there should be no compromise and such selection should be purely based on merit!

The Government of India has cautiously tried a similar PPP model in the soft infrastructure space. It recently entered into a joint venture partnership with Tata Consultancy Services to set up Passport Seva Kendras (PSK). Its objective was to clear the mountainous backlog on the issue of pending passports. This PPP initiative turned out to be enormously successful, with a major backlog already being cleared. More importantly, customer experience has substantially improved. The whole process has become extremely transparent. This has been possible only because TCS has taken complete management control and the government’s role is restricted to areas where it can add value.

The main reason for the success of the PSKs has been the choice of TCS as the partner. TCS brings a number of strengths to table, which

include technology, IT automation, business processes, best practices and superior management depth. The government speeds up police verification initiatives and the post office in ensuring speedy and safe delivery of passports to residents. It is a “win-win” venture where the government ceded management control to experts. PPP: Not always a successThe government has not been consistent in its approach of choosing the right partner. The recent experience with the Aakash tablets is a case in point. The government publicised its intention of developing the world’s cheapest computing device, to be priced at around `2,400, to provide the poor and uneducated with internet access. While the objective was noble, the execution was flawed. All three versions of Aakash failed to meet even basic user expectations. The choice of the strategic partner, DataWind, a small Canadian company, is considered to be flawed and resulted in the failure.

The fundamental issue here is whether the government should focus on such initiatives, especially when there are global experts like Samsung bringing out superior products at more or less similar prices. Such initiatives should be left to experts in the business. The government also failed in a similar project in the mid 2000s that promised one laptop per child, at an ambitious price of `500 per laptop.

To sum up, the government needs to focus on infrastructure

building and stay away from “for profit” businesses (giving control to appropriate strategic partners) that requires management

depth and domain knowledge, unless there is a compelling need where private investors are hesitant to invest! A


CORPORATEWORLD


ecently, the prestigious American daily newspaper The Washington Post

announced that it had being bought over by the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, for US$250 million. Jeff Bezos will acquire the newspaper in his personal capacity, and not through Amazon. The Graham family has been the owner of The Washington Post for more than 80 years.

The core values of The Washington Post rest on its unbiased reporting of American politics. Compared to its competitors, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, The Washington Post has distinguished itself through relentless political reporting on the workings of the government, the President’s office and the Congress. In 1974, the news

paper was the first to break the story on the Watergate scandal, which resulted in the resignation of the then President Richard Nixon. The newspaper is famous for its daredevil reporters, who have won a number of prestigious awards for investigative journalism.

Newspapers not doing well?Of late, technological advancements and change in socio-cultural behaviour has seriously dented the circulation and advertisement revenue of the newspaper; profitability has been dwindling and investors have been forced to inject funds to keep the paper going. It has also failed to reorient itself from print to the digital media.

Print newspapers used to be an extremely profitable business in the US. Newspaper companies earned revenue from both

advertisers as well as readers. Over the years, with the popularity and usage of the Internet growing, news papers have lost readership and ad revenue. Readership among the younger generation, who do not understand the “prestige” value of The Post was also steadily dwindling. The circulation eventually was reduced by half to around four lakhs within a period of 10 years. Newspapers in general, and The Washington Post in particular, have been extremely slow in adopting the technological changes and bringing in the risk taking attitude that would be required to successfully navigate such huge disrupters emerging in this industry.

Rising input costs of paper and newsprint ink have further eroded the profitability of newspaper companies. More importantly, costs of The Washington Post is

Jeff, not Amazon, buys

The founder of Amazon’s acquisition of The Washington Post came as a surprise to many, with no clear understanding behind the move. While some view it as a philanthropic gesture to save an iconic newspaper that has been floundering,

others believe he may later find a way to incorporate the paper into Amazon itself.

R}}}Dr Suresh Srinivasan


CORPORATEWORLD

significantly higher than its peers, as the value proposition it offers is centered around providing sensational breaking news driven by investigative journalism, which comes at a very high cost. Reporters are dedicated to investigate stories, some of which take a long time to fructify; as a policy the Graham family believed this is the price they had to pay for the key “differentiator” in the business of investigative journalism.

Print newspaper companies are being subject to a number of recent acquisitions and mergers; The Boston Globe owned by The New York Times was recently sold at a miniscule price. In 2010, The Washington Post sold Newsweek. Warren Buffett continues to accumulate newspaper assets and the recent addition has been The Roanoke Times.

Jeff Bezos and The Washington PostJeff Bezos had founded Amazon 20 years before, and his company created the online retail revolution. Bezos has remained at

the forefront, c h a l l e n g i n g the traditional “brick and mortar” retail store format. Bezos has become the symbol of i n n o v a t i o n through his extraordinary focus on the customers and their needs, t h e r e b y creating a ‘ b u s i n e s s model’ that provides a

unique value proposition to his customers, as compared to the competition.

Some experts argue that, since Bezos’ acquisition is through his personal wealth, which is pegged at more than $25 billion, investing less than 1 per cent of such wealth into The Washington Post may not necessarily have any large strategic foresights or intent. It could just be an act of philanthropy, going to save one of the iconic American institutions. But this view is debatable!

If we go back and take a look at Amazon’s core philosophy, it began by distributing books and content through the Internet.

Slowly, Amazon was positioned as an online platform for retail; in addition to books, Amazon ventured into retailing of general merchandise, which involved setting up of large warehouses and employing a complex logistics network for physical delivery of merchandise across the globe. Amazon has also ventured into hardware devices (Kindle) that allow one to read books and content on the digital format.

What next?The question now in the minds of experts is this: Will Jeff Bezos do anything with the The Washington Post immediately, i.e., would he try to integrate the newspaper with Amazon and try to extract synergies? Since content lies at the core of Amazon’s business model, does integrating The Washington Post within Amazon provide a strategic fit?

In Bezos’s acquiring history, it is evident that he generally pursues companies that have built certain types of technologies and capabilities which may or may not be very relevant for Bezos, or Amazon, immediately. But his foresight and focus has always been seen to be for the long term, where his belief that such capabilities would well integrate with the future business model that he is constantly trying to evolve in his mind!

There is a great deal of consistency, over long periods of time, within the type of companies and capabilities he is acquiring, all of which some how has a general pattern and their relatedness to his core competencies. If one sees the pattern in which he has moved from online retailing to the Kindle to cloud computing and offering

Rising input costs of paper and newsprint ink have

kept eroding away the profitability

of newspaper companies.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon


CORPORATEWORLD


various innovative solutions relating to internet commerce, the point being made becomes clear!

All of these go to underpin the fact that, by taking a moderate risk, he predicts the future and builds a set of capabilities with which he would be able exploit the emerging opportunities. He also seems to strongly believe that it takes long term to convert incremental and piecemeal capabilities into a well integrated business model, capable of providing a satisfying return on capital employed for the investors. Bezos’s philosophy can be compared to planting rows of plants and nurturing them closely over the long term; even though most plants may not see the light of the day, at least a small portion will blossom into well grown trees yielding satisfactory returns on the cumulative investments.

Is Bezos after the content?Amazon has always dealt with distribution of content on the

Internet, and this is the first time Bezos has acquired a company that has content creation capability. One can expect that The Washington Post acquisition is also like one of his plants, which will potentially integrate into his larger business model, as days go by.

Our assessment of Bezos’s intention can be confirmed through his recent statements where he highlights that the Internet has been transforming news business across the world, especially as the news cycle

and news value are significantly shortened. More importantly, with the ability of the Internet to collect and distribute content at a much lesser cost, an altogether new business model is required for survival of the print media! Although Bezos has clarified that he would not lead the paper’s day-to-day operations, he has placed a strong emphasis that there will be a need for innovation and experiment in going forward. Such statements show that he will, in some form or the other, look for long term synergies in the meaningful integration of Amazon and The Washington Post .

It’s not all clear watersThe single biggest challenge in Bezos’s acquisition of The Washington Post stems from his reputation of being a control freak. His strategies are generally very secretive and not very transparent to investors and shareholders. Furthermore, with his general “hands on” approach, there is a potential possibility that he could interfere with the working of the editors and reports, who are pillars of investigative journalism. If this happens, Bezos could be playing around with the very core philosophy of the newspaper, and it could quickly lose its uniqueness vis-à-vis its competitors. Also, would Bezos be tolerant and be prepared to sink in more funds to keep the investigative spirit of its reporters alive, in spite of not being able to secure short term synergies and gains with his other businesses? Time only will tell. It would also be interesting to see how he will preserve the uniqueness of the The Washington Post and grow it, both in print and digital formats! A

Amazon has dealt with distribution of content. This is the first time Bezos has

acquired a company that has content

creation capability.


CORPORATEWORLD

Global economic update The US Federal reserve has confirmed that the US Economy is in fact improving. Latest economic data confirms picking up in growth. GDP growth is still miniscule. Unemployment rate decreased from 8.2% a year ago to 7.4% which is a positive. The interest rates have been kept close to zero in order to boost industrial activity, which has definitely helped the industry in more than one ways! This has had a profound impact on manufacturing activity which has significantly improved to a two-year high in July 2013.

As a result of improved signs of picking up in the US economy there is likely to be a reduction in its ambitious bond buying program (economic stimulus). It is now expected that the Fed would start the process of winding down the bond buying program from as early as September 2013 and the magnitude of such reduction is expected to be as high as $15 billion in Sep. The Fed further states that such reduction in the bond purchase program may not have adverse impact on the US economy as it is expected to be resilient enough to withstand such a shock.

The Chinese economy showed moderate improvement; China’s manufacturing index increased from a eleven month low showing the picking up of the manufacturing activity. This seems to indicate that the economy which was sagging over the last few months is now showing signs of picking up. There is also a vast improvement in the consumer sentiments. Analysts expect china to record a more robust growth in the coming months

The European economic activity has reached the highest level in more than two years; the Euro zone is finally pulling out of recession, it seems. Manufacturing activity improved, sales and employment increased recording the highest level in three years. An improved US economy, recovering European economy, stable Japanese economy and improving Chinese economy seems to provide the necessary boost to global sentiments, for now.

Indian economic updateThe weakening of the Indian rupee has been the biggest worry for the Indian economy. It has

also been the case of substantially pulling down the Sensex to levels under 20000. Unfortunately there is no short term solution for the falling rupee. Although the government is demonstrating that a number of steps are being taken to arrest the free fall of the Indian rupee against the US$ and all major currencies of the world, it is unreasonable to expect any immediate relief in the value of the Rupee. Curbs on import of gold, restriction on outflows from companies and individuals are showing absolutely no impact. Duty free imports of ‘flat screen’ TV sets have also now been banned. It is in fact being debated as to whether the government is serious about the initiatives it is taking! The value of the Indian rupee is more driven by other fundamental aspects like the high Current Account Deficit, which can only be improved over the ‘long term’ through increasing exports and controlling imports, primarily securing a control on the crude oil imports; 70% of India’s crude oil consumption is currently being imported. There are no quick fixes for this problem.

International rating agencies Moody’s have stated that the Indian rupee will continue to remain under pressure for the coming months until the current account deficit is appropriately addressed or growth picks up in the international markets. The government is also passing a significant amount of fuel subsidy burden to the oil marketing companies which could negatively impact their financial position. Due to weak economic situation, high interest rates, lack of liquidity, the “non performing assets (NPA)” of many public sector banks has sharply increased. Corporate have also been sub-optimally performing, already having high levels of debt. With eroding profitability, many companies have approached RBI for Debt Restructure which has also proved to be a strain on banking resources.

Economic indicators


CORPORATEWORLD


Global Markets, American, European and Japanese Markets:The American markets (NYSE) improved by close to 1% during the review period; showing signs of improved corporate activity. The European Markets (FTSE) remained more or less flat though there are signs of recovery. Japanese markets (Nikkei) and Indian markets (Sensex) slid by more than 3%, while the Chinese markets substantially rebounded with China Shanghai index and Hang Seng improving by more than 5% . Overall there seems to be positive sentiments in the global economy including US and Europe. The Indian economy, and for that matter, all emerging economies, have pressure in terms of vital economic indicators.

Key knowledge for aspiring managers


CORPORATEWORLD

Key knowledge for aspiring managersAsian Markets: There unabated fiscal and current account deficit in the Indian economy has manifested in the Indian rupee weakening to unprecedented levels. While the government of India and Reserve Bank of India have done all what they could do to arrest the fall of the Indian rupee, all of these initiatives have tuned out to be mere ‘short term’ fixes which will not go to control the free fall of the Rupee. Contrarily, The Chinese economy has shown signs of stabilization.

Global Currencies: Euro strengthened by more than 2% against the US$. The Japanese Yen steeply depreciated to get back to levels more than Yen 100 a US$, which is bad news for Japanese exporters. This has manifested in the Nikkei 225 index dropping by more than 3% during the review period. The biggest casualty is the Indian rupee which has steeply depreciated; although currencies of other brick countries like Brazil and Russia have also depreciated, Rupee has lost higher ground. India’s foreign exchange reserves reduced by more than $3 billion during the review period to close at $277 billion.


CORPORATEWORLD


Top 10

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tru

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me.


CORPORATEWORLD

Top 10

larges

t merger & acq

uisitio

n deals of a

ll tim

e

Voda

fone

Air

Touc

h's

acq

uisi

tion

of M

anne

sman

n A

G in

199

9V

oda

fone

pur

sued

Ger

man

mob

ile n

etw

ork

prov

ider

Man

nesm

ann

in w

hat

was

se

en a

s a

host

ile ta

keov

er, p

rovo

king

str

ong

prot

est f

rom

the

Ger

man

s, w

ho w

ere

unha

ppy

abou

t a U

K c

omp

any

taki

ng a

dom

inan

t rol

e in

its

dom

estic

mar

ket.

Lat

er

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cong

lom

erat

e w

as b

roke

n up

and

all

man

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turi

ng re

late

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sol

d of

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02

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bill

ion

Dea

l V

alue

Cur

rent

Val

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17

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illi

on

Am

eri

ca O

nlin

e (A

OL)'

s ac

quis

itio

n of

Tim

e W

arne

r in

2000

At t

he ti

me,

the

deal

was

des

crib

ed a

s th

e “d

eal o

f the

mill

enni

um”.

The

com

pani

es

hope

d to

be

com

e th

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rges

t m

edia

co

mpa

ny

in

the

wor

ld.

How

ever

, th

e pa

rtne

rshi

p w

as h

it h

ard

and

brok

e up

whe

n th

e do

tcom

bub

ble

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t.$

16

4.7

bi

llio

n

Dea

l V

alue

Cur

rent

Val

ue

Me

rge

r b

roke

n

Sha

reho

lder

s' a

cquis

itio

n of

Phi

lip

Mor

ris

Inte

rnat

iona

l in

2008

Unt

il a

spin

-off

in M

arch

200

8, U

S c

igar

ette

com

pany

Phi

lip M

orri

s In

tern

atio

nal

was

an

ope

ratin

g co

mpa

ny o

f Altr

ia G

roup

. Altr

ia s

aid

in 2

008

that

PM

I wou

ld h

ave

mor

e “f

reed

om”

outs

ide

the

cons

trai

nts

of U

S c

orpo

rate

ow

ners

hip

to d

evel

op

sale

s in

em

ergi

ng m

arke

ts.

The

mov

e sa

w s

hare

hold

ers

in A

ltria

giv

en s

hare

s in

P

MI,

whi

ch w

as li

sted

on

the

Lond

on S

tock

Exc

hang

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d ot

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arke

ts.

$1

07

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bill

ion

Dea

l V

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Cur

rent

Val

ue

$ bil

lio

n7

6.3

4

RB

S' a

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itio

n o

f AB

N-A

MR

O in

200

7Le

adin

g a

cons

ortiu

m w

hic

h in

clud

ed B

elgi

um's

For

tis b

ank

and

Spa

in's

Ban

co

San

tand

er,

RB

S e

dged

out

riv

al B

arcl

ays

who

had

als

o be

en e

yein

g up

AB

N.

How

ever

, the

take

over

turn

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r lat

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s th

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edit

crun

ch h

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me

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S

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K ta

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STUDYHOUR

The walnut tree

M AT C H T H E W O R D S W I T H T H E I R M E A N I N G Sa. - discharge or be

discharged slowly and steadily

b. - nearness in space

c - enclosed or covered in a case or close-fitting surround

d. - the state of being close to someone or something; proximity

e. - countless or extremely great in number

f. - a substance used for grinding, polishing, or cleaning a hard surface

g. - die

h. - a gentle sheen or soft glow

i. - very plentiful; abundant

j. - (of a task or responsibility) involving a great deal of effort, trouble, or difficulty

k. - make a gap in and break through

l. - roomy and comfortable

m. - attractive

1. Myriad – (mir-ee-uhd) (adj)

2. Lustre – (luhs-ter) (n)

3. Fetching – (fech-ing) (adj)

4. Commodious – (kuh-moh-dee-uhs) (adj)

5. Encased – (en-keysd) (v)

6. Profuse – (proh-fyoos) (adj)

7. Breach – (breech) (v)

8. Onerous – (on-er-uhs) (adj)

9. Abrasive – (uh-brey-siv) (n)

10. Exude – (eg-zyood) (v)

11. Proximity – (prok-sim-i-tee) (n)

12. Perish – (per-ish) (v)

13. Propinquity – (proh-ping-kwi-tee) – (n)

The walnut tree produces wood that is used for myriad purposes, and is considered the

finest wood in the world. The wood is easy to work with, yet it is very hard and durable — and

when it is polished, it produces a rich, dark lustre. Apart from being very fetching,

it also shrinks and swells less than any other wood, which makes it especially desirable

for fine commodious furniture, flooring, and even gun stocks.

In fact, just about every part of the walnut is unusually hard and strong. The nut of the tree is

encased inside a very hard shell, which itself is enclosed in a leathery outer covering called a husk.

It requires profuse effort to breach those layers to get at the tasty meat inside.

Yet every part of the walnut is useful to people. The outer husk produces a dark reddish stain

that is onerous to remove from the hands of the person who opens the nut, and this pigment

is widely used in dyes and wood stains. The inner shell is used as an abrasive to clean jet engines.

And the meat of the nut is extensively used in cooking, ice cream, flavourings—and just eaten raw.

Walnut trees exude a chemical into the soil in proximity to their roots which can be poisonous

to some trees and shrubs. Fruit trees, for example, will perish if planted too close to a walnut.

Many other plants, such as maple trees or ivy, are not affected by the walnut’s propinquity,

and are well-suited to grow in its vicinity.


STUDYHOUR

th

Va

lid till 3

0S

ep

t 20

13

A+

MB

A S

ept 2013

Communication Skills Builder + Quantitative Skills Builder + Enhance Your English Proficiency

Fill in the form send it along with your DD to : IMS Publications, a division of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises,Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. Tel. No. : 022-66680005 / 33017777

Communication Skills Builder +Quantitative Skills Builder +

Enhance Your English Proficiency

Sept 2013


STUDYHOUR

1. Which of the following films has been awarded the Best Film at the Amsterdam Film Festival 2013?

a) Policegiri b) Dabba c) Burfi d) None of these

2. Ecological Debt Day, also known as Earth Overshoot Day, is the day on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year. From this day till the end of the year, every bit of resource used is considered to be borrowed from future generations. Earth Overshoot Day 2013 was observed on which day?

a) August 14 b) August 16 c) August 20 d) August 22

3. The late Desh Prem Azad, who passed away recently, was known to have coached which cricketing personality?

a) Sachin Tendulkar b) Kapil Dev c) Sunil Gavaskar d) Vinod Kambli

4. Which of the following cities in India is known as the “Dollar City”?

a) Tirupur b) Ahmedabad c) Mumbai d) New Delhi

5. The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. Chairmanship of the Council rotates every two years, with the current country being _______

a) Canada b) Denmark c) Russia d) USA

6. Recently, scientists have claimed that the heat from the Earth’s core is also responsible for which of the following?

a) Tsunami b) Melting of ice cap c) Depletion of ozone layer d) Extinction of arctic species

7. Bhartiya Mahila Bank, India’s first all women bank, plans to set up 25 branches across the country by 2014. Where will it be headquartered?

a) Mumbai b) Ahmedabad c) New Delhi d) Tamil Nadu

8. The Centre on August 13 gave its approval to the proposal for establishing the International Centre for Drinking Water Quality in which of the following cities?

a) New Delhi b) Kolkata c) Kochi d) Bhopal

9. Which tennis player won the Women’s Singles title at the Rogers Cup 2013?

a) Marion Bartoli b) Venus Williams c) Martina Hingis d) Serena Williams

10. Name the research station base that India has in the Arctic.

a) Gangotri b) Himadri c) Agni d) Mayitreyi

11. In the interests of political peace and stability in the south Asia region, which of the following countries will sell 145 towed Howitzers to India?

a) UK b) Russia c) USA d) France

12. NASA’s next planned mission to Mars is to test the planet’s atmospheric conditions. What is the mission called?

a) MAVEN b) ROVER c) HAVEN d) MEM

13. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, has decided to acquire which of the following news publications?

a) The Huffington Post b) The Washington Post c) The Bengal Post d) The New York Times

A quiz to boost your General Knowledge


STUDYHOUR

14. Currently, the Falkland Islands is a disputed territory, with the two countries with the dispute being United Kingdom and ___________.

a) Paraguay b) Chile c) Uruguay d) Argentina

15. The Indian government recently cleared the earlier-beleaguered deal between Jet Airways and Etihad Airlines. As per the deal, how much stake in Jet Airways will be owned by Etihad?

a) 20% b) 24% c) 49% d) 51%

16. Which of the following is a mountain pass between India and China?

a) Karakoram Pass b) Jelep La c) Rohtang Pass d) Malshej Ghat

17. Which of the following courts has recently introduced a system of e-filing in an effort to go completely digital?

a) Delhi High Court b) Gujarat High Court c) Bombay High Court d) Madras High Court

18. Name the telescope that is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

a) Hubble 2.0 Space Telescope

b) James Webb Space Telescope

c) Armstrong Space Telescope

d) Tesla Space Telescope

19. Recently, a bad mid-day meal tragedy resulted in the deaths of 23 school children. The incident occurred in which state?

a) Uttarakhand b) Jharkhand c) Bihar d) Uttar Pradesh

20. Which Bengali film directed by Kaushik Ganguly recently won the National Award?

a) Shabdo b) Pother Daabi c) Goynar Baksho d) Meghe Dhaka Tara

21. International Tiger Day, observed to bring about awareness about the need for conservation of tigers, is on ________.

a) August 1 b) August 15 c) July 29 d) July 25

22. As per data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, the most number of cyber crimes are seen in which state?

a) Hyderabad b) Bengaluru c) Maharashtra d) Haryana

23. “Impossible is nothing” is the tagline of which sports brand?

a) Adidas b) Nike c) Reebok d) Puma

24. The inaugural World Test Cricket Championship is slated to take place in 2017 in which of the following countries?

a) Australia and New Zealand

b) England and Wales

c) India and Sri Lanka d) South Africa

25. Who has been recently appointed as the head and director of the National School of Drama?

a) Alyque Padamsee b) Waman Kendre c) Nasiruddin Shah d) Girish Karnad

26. Between 1992 and 2007, the population of _________ in Asia dropped by 99 per cent due to the veterinary medicine diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug given to cattle.

a) Vultures b) Hyenas c) Eagles d) Rats

27. The first thermal desalination plant in the world, designed to convert sea water into potable water, is located in __________.

a) British Columbia, Canada

b) The Isle of Wight, UK c) Hawaii, USA d) Lakshadweep, India

28. Which of the following states has seen the highest number of foreign tourist footfalls in 2012?

a) Kerala b) New Delhi c) Maharashtra d) Rajasthan

29. Which of the following awards is given specifically for excellence in sports and athletics?

a) Padma Bhushan b) Padmashree c) Jnanpith d) Arjuna


STUDYHOUR

How to PlayFill in the grid so that every horizontal row, every vertical column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating the numbers in the same row, column or box. You can’t change the digits already given in the grid. Every puzzle has one solution.Hint: Don’t fill in numbers at random. While filling a particular square, write numbers 1-9 on a pad and start eliminating those numbers that already appear in the same row, column or 3x3 box.

SuDoKu

Solution, tips and computer programme at www.sudoku.com

ANSWERSGLOBESCAN

1.(b) 2.(c) 3.(b) 4.(a) 5.(a)

6.(b) 7.(c) 8.(b) 9.(d) 10.(b)

11.(c) 12.(a) 13.(b) 14.(d) 15.(b)

16.(a) 17.(c) 18.(b) 19.(c) 20.(a)

21.(c) 22.(d) 23.(a) 24.(b) 25.(b)

26.(a) 27.(d) 28.(c) 29.(d) 30.(a)

31.(a) 32.(b) 33.(d) 34.(c) 35.(a)

30. Name the individual who has been recently appointed as the new governor of the RBI.

a) Raghuram Rajan b) D. Subbarao c) C Rangarajan d) Ramalingam Raju

31. Which is the world’s largest bank by market capitalisation?

a) Wells Fargo b) JP Morgan c) Citigroup d) Royal Bank of Scotland

32. Recently, it has been made compulsory by the Indian government to provide photo identification to purchase _________.

a) Alcohol b) Acid c) Lead d) CNG

33. The Hugo award is given to exceptional books and works of writing in which category?

a) Mystery/suspense/ thrillers

b) Romance c) Children’s novels d) Sci-fi and fantasy

34. According to a report published by Strategy Analytics, which of the following has become the world’s most profitable mobile handset vendor?

a) Nokia b) Apple c) Samsung d) LG

35. Constructed language is one where the phonology, grammar and vocabulary has been consciously devised, instead of developing naturally. The three constructed languages considered to be the most widely used are Esperanto, Interlingua and

__________. a) Klingon, from Star Trek b) J.R.R. Tolkien’s languages

of Middle Earth

c) Valyrian languages, from Game of Thrones

d) Mandalorian language from Star Wars

WORD DOSE1. e 2. h 3. m 4. l 5. c 6. i 7. k 8. j 9. f 10. a 11. b 12. g 13. d

Registered with Registrar of Newspapers under RNI No. MAHENG / 03 / 11493Postal Registration No.: MH / MR / WEST / 14 / 2012-2014, Published on 28th of every previous monthPosted at Patrika Channel Sorting office, Mumbai-400 001. Posting date : 1st and 2nd of every month. Total pages 56

9 789382 717058

ISBN No. – 978-93-82717-05-8

Date post:	12-Mar-2016
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