Monday, March 30, 2009

anil ambani







Anil Ambani (born June 4, 1959) is an Indian businessman and Chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.


Ambani joined Reliance, the company founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer and is credited with having pioneered many financial innovations in the Indian capital

markets. For example, he led India's first forays into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. He directed Reliance in its efforts to raise, since 1991, around US$2 billion from overseas financial markets; with a 100-year Yankee bond issue in January 1997 being the high point, after which people regarded him as a financial wizard[citation needed]. He along with his brother, Mukesh Ambani, has steered the Reliance Group to its current status as India's leading textiles, petroleum, petrochemicals, power, and telecom company.

Anil was the member of Uttar Pradesh Development Council (this council has now been scrapped). He is also the Chairman of Board of Governors of DA-IICT, Gandhinagar and a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is member of the Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is also a member of the Central Advisory Committee, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. In June 2004, Anil was elected as an Independent Member of the Rajya Sabha - Upper House, Parliament of India with the support of the Samajwadi Party. In March 2006, he resigned. In 2007 his name was added to the list of Indian Trillionaires (in terms of Indian Rupee).

He has been linked with several starlets in his long career including his current wife of more than 15 years. He is a close friend of movie star Amitabh Bachchan. One of his major achievements in the entertainment industry is the takeover of Adlabs, the movie production to distribution to multiplex company that owns Mumbai's only dome theatre.

He recently topped Business Sheet's "biggest loser" list of business leaders who lost money in the Late 2000s recession [2], losing $32 billion in 2008, which brought him out of the top ten list to number 34 in 2009.

Awards and Recognition

* Voted the 3rd most powerful person in India in the 2009 India Today Power List, in March.
* Voted Businessman of the Year 2006 by Times of India-TNS poll [2]
* Adjudged as the CEO of the Year at the prestigious Platts Global Energy Awards for 2004.
* Voted as 'MTV Youth Icon of the Year for 2003' in September 2003.
* Conferred 'The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award' by the Bombay Management Association, October 2002.
* Awarded the First Wharton Indian Alumni Award by the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) in recognition of his contribution to the establishment of Reliance as a global leader in many of its business areas, December 2001.
* Conferred the ' Businessman of the Year 1997' award by India's leading business magazine Business India, December 1997.

is the domain focused mba trend coming to an end?


While the global economic slowdown has severely affected campus placements at even the crème de la crème of India’s business schools, it appears that institutes offering sector specific or focused MBA programs may choose to bite the bullet in a different way. Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai may have marked a new direction for such institutes by merging individual management programs for retail, capital markets, banking, actuarial sciences, services and global businesses with its flagship MBA program.

The institute is now offering the domain subjects as electives in the second year of the MBA program.

Dr Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor – NMIMS University , “Schools will have challenges in offering these specializations as stand-alone programs. We will see more integration of programs with specialization offered in the second year of the MBA program.”

“In general, some colleges are considering the option of closing sector specific MBA programs because of lack of job opportunities,” added Prasanna Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Indian Business Academy - Bangalore which also offers a retail management course.

The Retailers Association of India (RAI) which represents the interests of organized retailers in India has announced that organized retail in India will grow by 15 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2009, down from the 30 percent growth seen in recent years. "The growth in India's organised retailing will be hit due to weak consumer sentiments and the slowdown in fresh investment. Retailers are quite cautious in opening new stores since property prices are falling and are waiting for more viable deals," said Kumar Rajagopalan, RAI Chief Executive in a recent statement to Economic Times.

Industry sources confirmed the retail sector’s somber mood. Reliance Retail, which operates close to 1,000 stores, has not visited any MBA college this year for recruitments and has in fact laid off large numbers in select divisions. “We had hired 21 MBAs as interns about five months back and have absorbed eight of them as full time employees. This year we do not plan on recruiting from any Indian b-school,” said BVM Rao, HR Head, Shopper’s Stop. Sanjay Jog, head of Future Group's HR, declined to comment on the issue. It is well known that Subhiksha Trading Services has over 1,600 outlets and the majority of these have currently shut down. Further, this one time poster boy of the retail revolution in India has been unable to pay salaries and statutory dues for the past few months.

Interestingly enough, the NMIMS official website’s programs webpage (link: http://nmims.edu/programmes/sbm_ft.htm) still displays information about all the sector specific MBA programs in their entirety and also includes these programs in the list of full time MBA programs present at NMIMS. A visitor to the webpage might well miss a statement written in small sized font present below the list of full time MBA programs: “The MBA Focus Programmes in Actuarial Science, Banking, Capital Markets, Global Business, Retail Management and Services Management are being restructured and merged with the Flagship MBA Programme from 2009-11. All students joining the MBA Programme in 2009 will have the option to take functional specialization elective courses and at the same time have option of domain focus in areas of such as actuarial science, banking, capital markets, global business, retail and services in the second year of the MBA Programme.”

Dr Rajan Saxena said that the primary reason for integration was "general management specialization in functional areas becoming critical for domain specific specialization."

He added, “Given industry changes and challenges, MBA programs will continue to provide general management inputs with focused specializations in various domains. The difference is only in terms of whether institutes offer each focused specialization as a stand-alone program or integrate these specializations with the flagship MBA program.”

NMIMS chose to not issue admission notifications for sector specific or MBA programs for the 2009-11 admissions and after merging these programs with the flagship MBA program has increased student intake for the MBA program from 240 seats to 360 seats and the annual tuition fee from Rs 1.15 lakh to Rs 2.35 lakh.

Mumbai based business schools such as KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research and Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research run retail management programs in association with Pantaloon Retail while Bangalore located b-schools such as Indian Business Academy and Bangalore Management Academy operate such courses as academic partners of the RAI. Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, Welingkar Institute of Management said, “The association with Pantaloons is not purely from a placement angle but for providing live learning experiences to students and involving industry professionals in shaping future talent.”

“The RAI is a certificate partner for the retail management course and provides assistance in placements and summer internships in exchange for fee on a per student basis. An institute operating a retail management course may do so without partnering the RAI or a corporate such as Pantaloons but its success would hinge on industry linkages,” said Prasanna Venkatesh, assistant professor at Indian Business Academy, Bangalore.

The retail management program at NMIMS, Mumbai was in partnership with Pantaloons Retail (India) Ltd from 2005 to 2007 but since then the partnership has been terminated. The institute had not associated the retail MBA course with the RAI at any level.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

IIM 2009 100% placements still looks like a dream



While it has been the worst placement season yet for the IIMs, the situation is dismal in top non-IIM institutes compared to last year. Many MBA students at b-schools such as XLRI Jamshedpur, IIFT Delhi, NMIMS Mumbai and IMT Ghaziabad have started looking for jobs on their own. Finding themselves in the driving seat, companies are making students visit their offices for interviews. While salaries are getting cut heavily across the board, the phrase '100 pc placements' may not be in the lexicon of many b-schools this year.

Rolling, but not quite on a roll

With most traditional b-school recruiters freezing hiring or reducing intake substantially, placement committees across b-schools are having to contact newer companies that until now have been out of sight and out of mind of top b-schools. These companies are in sectors such as pharma, publishing, small and medium scale manufacturing, public sector and the startup landscape.

"We have sent SOS emails to our alumni seeking their help. Approximately, out of every 15 companies we contact, two agree to come to campus but take only 2-3 students among them," said the MBA student of a prominent Pune-based business school requesting anonymity. With the stream of companies a mere trickle, b-schools have moved to an extended rolling process wherein recruiters visit the campus over a period of 2-3 months, and not 5-6 days as it used to be until last year.

"The students know that they have to make compromises this year. Students who still have high expectations are being told to voluntarily opt out of the placements process so that this nightmare ends. After a point, members of the student placement committee too will lose their enthusiasm and call off the institute-supported placements, since most of them have anyway gotten their jobs," the student added.

According to a help-seeking email circulating between Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur alumni last week, 60 of the 120 students in Business Management and 15 students of the 60 students from the Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PM&IR) batches had not been placed.

About 75 pc of the 160-strong batch at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi has been placed, as compared to last year when the entire batch had been placed by February 8. "With all exams and classes being over, most of us are leaving the campus for good now, with or without jobs," said a student at the institute.

Like at a lot of institutes, students at Narsee Monjee - Mumbai have been asked not to reveal anything about the progress of placements. A student however admitted that the situation was 'far from good'. At the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode and IIM Indore too, the placements process is on but the institutes have refused to disclose any data about the students placed until now.

As we reported earlier, schools with small batch sizes are probably having it easier. MBA institutes such as Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi University, Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJM SoM) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) have placed 70-90 pc of their batches by now. They are mostly in the last mile of placements, when the only students remaining without jobs are those with lower grades or weak pre-MBA profiles, and find few takers in companies.

If b-schools claim 100 pc placements this year, one may have to take in account that the base of students on which the 100 pc has been calculated would not include students who opted out or were forced to opt out of the placements.

Salaries plunge

The average salary at IIM Ahmedabad placements dropped 31 pc over last year. If that is a sign, it doesn't augur too well for business schools lower in the pyramid.

"Companies are being very clear about the non-negotiability of salaries. Having a job in hand is more important for us than a great salary in such a bleak economy," said a student at National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai.

Companies on their part are doing their best to make the job proposition sound best to talent they wish to hire. A compensation package of Rs 15 lakh for example, could translate to a monthly salary of Rs 55,000. "Companies are promising perks such as a loyalty bonus, which they will pay if you stick around in the job for three years. There are many other variable components which will be paid to the employees after one year in the job and subject to a lot of conditions," said the student.

"The reduction in the in-hand monthly salary may be anywhere between 30 to 50 percent this year," he added.

Companies on dictating terms

With MBA students being the needy ones this year, companies are extracting the most of the recruiting opportunity by conducting interviews in multiple stages spread across weeks.

Mahindra & Mahindra for example, is conducting three rounds consisting of multiple group discussions and presentations at the IIFT Delhi campus. Students shortlisted in the third stage have to visit Mumbai.

At times, companies ask students to travel to another city on their own travel and stay expenses for the final round.

Similarly, Unicon India (Investment Solutions) is conducting two interview rounds at its own office.

Out of sheer compulsion, a lot of students are having to join startups or smaller companies with the promise of meatier roles than those that would be on offer in a large company. "People join b-school for jobs in companies with a brand name and good salary. But it's just bad timing for everyone and we have to settle with what we have," said a student at NITIE Mumbai.

Added later: Sharath N from XLRI Jamshedpur's External Linkages Committee just issued a clarification refuting the figures about XLRI placements in the article. Sharath said, "The email quoted above must have been written a lot earlier, because our placement figures are way ahead now. Everybody knows that b-schools are facing the pressure of the economic slowdown, but we are doing much better than has been written in the article." He however refused to reveal the current status of placements.

On general trends at XLRI placements, he said, "The salaries offered are definitely lesser than last year, The top recruiters are visiting, but they are making fewer offers. The number of companies on campus has increased."

top mba colleges in mumbai

  1. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai
    Address : Jamnalal Bajaj Institue of Management StudiesBackbay Reclamation, Mumbai, India. Pin - 400020
    Contact No : +91 - 022 - 22024133 / 22024118 / 22025153
    Website : http://www.jbims.edu/

  2. Somaiya Institute of Management studies and Research , Mumbai
    Address : Vidyanagar , Vidyavihar Mumbai - 400077.
    Contact No :022- 6644 9304
    Website : http://simsr.somaiya.edu/simsr/programs/prism.asp

  3. The Institute of Technology & Management, Mumbai
    Address : # 601, 6th Floor, CentrePoint Building,18th Road, Near Ambedkar Garden,Chembur (East), Mumbai - 400 071
    Contact No: (022) 2526 0063 Tele Fax : (022) 2524 0406
    Website : http://www.itm.edu/

  4. B.V. Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai
    Address : Sector-8, C.B.D., Opp. Konkan Bhawan, New Mumbai, District- Thane Maharashtra

  5. Lala Lajpat Rai College of Communication & Economic, Mumbai
    Address : Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai – 400 034.
    Contact No : 91-22-24925750
    Website : http://www.lalacollege.com/

  6. Rizvi Institute Of Management and Research , Mumbai
    Address : Rizvi Educational Complex,Off. Carter Road, Bandra (W),Mumbai - 400 050.
    Contact No : 2604 2180 / 2604 0924
    Website : http://www.rimsr.com/

  7. National Institute of Technology and Industrial Engineering , Mumbai
    Address : NITIE Campus,Near Vihar Lake,Mumbai 400087, Maharashtra, India
    Contact No : 022 28575590
    Website : http://www.nitie.edu/

  8. NL Dalmiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai
    Address : Sector 1, Srishti Complex, Opp. Bhaktivedanta Hospital, Mira Road (East), Mumbai - 401 104.
    Contact No : +91 22 2845 4949, +91 22 2845 3982
    Website : http://nldalmiamgmt.org/

  9. Chetana's Ramprasad Khandelwal Institute of Management and Research Address : Survey No. 341, Govt. Colony,Bandra - East, Mumbai - 400 051
    Contact No : (91 22) 26422827, 26516643
    Website : http://www.crkimr.in/

  10. S.I.E.S College of Management Studies
    Address
    : Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Vidyapuram, Plot 1-E, Sector V, Nerul, Navi Mumbai - 400706
    Contact No : 91-22 -2770 8376 / 77
    Website : http://www.siescoms.edu/

  11. Institute for Technology and Management (ITM),Mumbai
    Address: 25/26 Institutional Area, Sector 4, Kharghar(E), Navi Mumbai 410210 INDIA
    Contact No : (022) 2774 0903/04
    Website : http://www.itm.edu/

  12. Asian Institute of Management, Mumbai
    Address: 1116, Maker Chamber V, 11TH FloorNariman Point, Mumbai - 400021
    Contact No : ( 91 -22- ) 22815591/92/93
    Website : http://www.aim.edu

  13. The Bombay School of Business, Mumbai

  14. Mumbai Educational Trust's Institute of Management, Mumbai
    Address: MET Complex, Bandra Reclamation,Bandra (West), Mumbai - 400 050, Maharashtra, India
    Contact No : +91 22- 2644 0446
    Website : http://www.met.edu/

  15. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Deonar, Mumbai
    Address
    : P.O. Box 8313 , Deonar, Mumbai 400 088.
    Contact No : 91-22-2556 3289/ 90/ 91/ 92/ 93/ 94/ 95/ 96
    Website : http://www.tiss.edu/

  16. National Institute Of Industrial, Mumbai.
    Address
    : NITIE Campus,Near Vihar Lake,Mumbai 400087, Maharashtra, India
    Contact No : 022 28575590
    Website : http://www.nitie.edu/

  17. NMIMS University
    Address : V. L. Mehta Road, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai - 400 056. India.
    Contact No : +91 - 22 - 2613 4577 / 2618 3688
    Fax No : +91 - 22 - 2611 4512
    E-Mail id : enquiry@nmims.edu
    Website : www.nmims.edu/

  18. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research
    Address : L. Napoo Road,
    Near Matunga (Central Rly.),
    Mumbai- 400 019.
    Contact No : 91-22-24178300
    Fax No : 91-22-24097824
    Website : http://www.welingkar.org/

Thursday, March 26, 2009

good corporate story

Good story with old version…

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog.

One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake.

The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson.

The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.

Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

Moral of the story " One must not engage in duties other than his own"
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Now take a new look at the same story…

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute.

He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night.

He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it.

Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet.

The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed a " meets requirement" Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around.

The donkey was rated as "star performer". The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a job rotation…


If you have worked in a corporate environment, I am sure you have guessed the characters of the new story.

adventure

ADVENTURE

"Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure
is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life
– facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our
resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own
unique potential."



Until I read the above quotation, I also had a misconception about the
meaning of the term `adventure'. I thought it should mean a
state of mind where people will do something overwhelming and
unbelievable like talking continuously for 48 hours, swimming under
water in Antarctica, walking on fire, living in a tub of poisonous
snakes for hours together etc. No I understand that the word points to
an attitude of mind which we should apply in our everyday life while
dealing with the normal issues that we face day in day out. It is about
accepting every problem as an opportunity to improve ourselves. It is
about living our full potential and being highly resourceful. It is
about using all the talents we already have.

The dictionary meaning of the word `adventure' is `an
exciting and daring experience.' This experience need not be
restricted to doing big things only. We can feel excited even on small
things. For example consider doing the following small things and see if
you feel excited and daring:

n Observing silence for one full hour or two hours controlling our
impulse to speak

n Learning a minimum of two new words per day in a new language
for the next one month consistently.

n Writing one life lesson we learnt every day in a diary before we
retire to sleep for the next 48 days without break.

n Sitting in one place without getting up for five hours
controlling our impulse to get up and move around.

After doing the above simple things check if you feel excited and
daring. You will definitely feel so. By being adventurous in doing small
things such as the above, you will certainly develop and cultivate a
quality in you which will make you to apply the same in bigger areas of
achievement.

You will appreciate that a journey of one thousand miles should begin by
taking the first one step!

Think of the above quotation and try the above exercise and see what
happens!

forget fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to
convert retreat into advance."

Martin Luther

Fear is a basic instinct and we need to appreciate the importance of
fear. We should understand that there is nothing wrong in the emotion or
feeling called `fear'. At the same time, if not properly
handled, fear can stop and affect our progress. In fact this principle
is equally valid in respect of any feeling such as happiness, joy,
sorrow, anger etc. There could be an occasion where we feel angry and we
may not be able to eliminate anger altogether from our life. Similarly
fear cannot be eliminated from our life.

What is even more important is how we process the fear. Read the above
quotation carefully. It talks about nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
fear which paralyses our efforts which are needed to convert retreat
into advance! Amazing words put together beautiful to convey a powerful
message for self empowerment!

We should know what we are afraid of and why? May be there is no reason
to be afraid of anything. If we ask the question: why am I afraid of?,
we may not get a convincing answer. May be our fear is a result of
others' thinking or our own perception. If there is a valid reason
for our fear, then we can take counter measure. For example, if we have
not prepared well for making an important presentation, we can prepare
well and the fear goes away. On the other hand, if we are not able to
get a convincing and justifiable reason for our fear, then we will be
paralyzed and will stop us from taking any efforts in the direction of
our goal.

If we are able to find out why we are afraid, we will be able to have an
appropriate strategy and action plan. This will help us to use fear as a
positive energy and the fear will propel us into action even more
powerfully?

Over this week end list all those things you are afraid of and ask why?