Break the Bias - Women's day reflection !!!

 "Now, I know, we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will."

These were Hilary Clinton’s words while conceding to Donald Trump in the US presidential election 2016. She had breached many glass ceilings in her life but fell short of breaking the last one.

All these glass ceilings were built on the biases we all have inherited from our upbringing. Women’s first responsibility is taking care of the home, husband, and children. Women are not strong physically to do things that men can. Working women can’t take care of their families. These are the biases our generation is aware of and many women in our lives have broken them. However, there are still many deep-rooted unconscious biases we carry.

These can be against anybody and anything – gender, race, ethnicity, color, nationality, culture, profession, or even age. Although each of these biases is strong and affects a large population of our fellow humans, today let’s only talk about ‘gender’ just to avoid trivializing the issue.

While things are improving, boys are still considered the future breadwinners, and girls are homemakers. Their education is deprioritized vis-à-vis their siblings. Even though several women broke numerous biases, one at a time, we have a long way to go, as a country, and as the world.

Although we all have witnessed visible gender prejudices in India, it is not limited to this country. Unfortunately, neither higher literacy nor per-capita income has been able to reduce gender prejudices in society. Living in Canada, I have also observed the same set of biases. These are so subtle that we don’t recognize them as biases, limiting our thinking, and affecting others’ lives. For instance, we have seen that girls are mostly expected to learn cheerleading, not play basketball and this is when the Canadian women's national basketball team is ranked 4th globally. This is to make an argument that just because you see women succeeding in a field, doesn’t mean no societal biases obstruct them until most of them stop pursuing their dreams.

Without deviating too much, let me conclude with a final point. When we talk about gender bias, we mostly think about women. This is only our bias that it doesn’t even occur to us that there is a third group of our society that doesn’t identify as male or female.

It's our responsibility to be self-aware, identify our biases, and break them to facilitate everybody, regardless of their gender, to have the same opportunities that men have, and women fighting for.

Surati - Traditional Diwali art

Dubai, a city created by visionaries for the world

Many of us might have a dream destination to visit, and few of them would have Dubai as that destination. My wife had the same. She had acquired great knowledge about the emirates from various websites, which helped me understand various places' significance.

Prime Minister, President, Crown Prince

While visiting Dubai, one would appreciate the vision Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Rashid, and Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid had for the emirates and Dubai.

Flight:

So after a failed planning in March 2016, we planned to visit the man-made city this November (2016). To let you know, October to February is the best time to visit Dubai & other parts of the UAE.

After research of 2-3 days, finally, we zeroed down on the dates. When you are visiting Dubai, one thing that has to be kept in mind is that they have Sun-Thu as weekdays, and Friday may be a holiday (OR closed for visitors) at a few of the places of historical importance. For example, the Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque.

While traveling from Mumbai, you have few non-stop flight options - Jet, Air India Express, Indigo, flyDubai, and a few more. Because of the timing, I chose Air India Express. Etihad or Emirates Airlines do not have a direct flight from Mumbai to Dubai in the morning.
On the fare, Air India Express was at par with Indigo and a little cheaper than Jet. However, it also makes you feel cheap. And therefore, after this trip, I have decided will never choose Air India Express unless there is any urgency.

Anyway, if you are a traveler and like to have vacation thrice in the year, you have to become a little conscious of your wallet and believe it makes you wiser and a better planner, ensuring you don't end up going over-budget while making most of your trip as you had wished. However, if your budget permits OR you don't want to compromise on experience, you can afford to be adventurous. 

We created an itinerary for 4-nights & 5 days to explore all places we wanted to visit and the activities we wanted to do. As we always do, we clearly marked dates and time when we wanted to visit them. This helps you in saving time when you are actually there.

Visa, OTB, and Travel Insurance: 

Few things that you need to plan ahead are - Visa (apply 10 days in advance), Okey to Board, and Travel Insurance. Unless you are visiting Dubai en-route to some other destination, you will have to apply for a 14-days visa that would cost you around ₹6000 (USD 100) / person. Unless you are traveling through Etihad or Emirates airlines, you need to get 'Okey to board' updated on your ticket. Your Visa Agent would do that for you. You may negotiate to get it done in Visa cost itself OR pay a little more on that. If you do it separately with Airlines, it may cost you approx. ₹700 /person. Travel Insurance is another important thing and will cost up to ₹800/- for two a family, and you shouldn't leave without it, as it ensures peace of mind in a foreign country.

Forex:

Other things you need to get is Forex. Ensure you get Travel Card as well as Cash. Travel Card is a little cheaper than cash in terms of Forex charges. If you are a working professional, then you may contact your employer's Forex agent. It may save you some money. I have been told that you may exchange currency in Dubai as well, but I didn't check myself if it would be expensive OR cheaper.

Mobile SIM Card:

So finally, we landed on Wednesday. The first thing one should do is buy a tourist SIM card from the airport, as it helps you connect your trip/activity organizers. I bought Du telecom's SIM. It cost AED 55 and gave me 20 voice minutes, 20 SMSs, and 200 MB along with  AED 80 worth Uber ride free, which almost covered my ride to my hotel - Rove Downtown Toronto. Another option is the Etisalat Telecom Plan, which will cost you AED 100/-, almost double what cost in Du's plan. 

Hotel - Rove Downtown:

Rove Downtown from Burj Khalifa

Breakfast under Burj Khalifa 

Earlier I had booked Hilton, but it was far from Dubai Mall, so I changed it to Rove. It is opposite the Dubai Mall, and you can watch Burj Khalifa from your hotel room. We loved the hotel not only because of its location but also its service.

If possible, book a hotel near Dubai Mall and Shaikh Zayed Road. In the center of Dubai, it ensures the best mobility for you across Dubai. It may cost you a little more than anywhere else, but worth the time and money you'll save later.

Only 15 km from Airport, Rove was just 100-200 meters away from the Main Entrance of Dubai Mall, 1.5 km from Dubai Mall Metro Station, which was very important. We were planning to use the metro extensively for our local conveyance.

Dubai Fountain:

We reached our hotel around 5 PM, and after getting ready, we walked to Dubai mall to witness the Fountain show. It happens every 30 mins from 7 PM to 11 PM every day (timing may vary on different days of a week). You will love it unless you have already watched the Bellagio Fountain Show in Las Vegas. But still, it is worth watching and free of cost as well ;-).

Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque:

The second day was going to be tiring as we were traveling to Abu Dhabi to visit Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Because we knew we would be able to come back to Dubai before 3 PM, we decided to do Desert Safari as well in Abu Dhabi only.

Abu Dhabi is approx 75 Kms from Dubai, and the best & cost-effective way to reach there could be a bus from Ibn-battuta OR Al Ghubaiba Bus station. It would cost AED 25 /person-way. However, it will drop you at the Abu Dhabi main station, and you may have to come back 15 Kms back the same way to Abu Dhabi Mosque. We took a shared cab from Ibn Batuta Main station to save time, it dropped us near the mosque, and we took a cab for another 5-6 km. It cost us more than the bus trip but saved us approx 1-2 hrs in a time.

Mosque has a dress code for both men and women, so check their website. But don't worry, if you're not adequately dressed, you will be given Abaya (Females) & Kandura (Men) free of cost. Just have your id proof as a security deposit.

The mosque is undoubtedly beautiful with the same architecture as of Taj Mahal. I don't need to write anything about that here as you will know when you visit.

Desert Safari:

From there, we went to Al Wahada Mall, which is near Main Bus Station from where we were supposed to be picked up for our Desert Safari. We had our lunch in the Al Wahada mall Food court. It had great options. After that, we went to the bus terminal, where our 4x4 Driver was waiting for us.

There are many tour operators in UAE for Desert Safari, and costs vary from AED 75 to AED 300 / person. You have to do your little research online before booking your tour. I got a deal on Groupon that saved me some money. We booked with Emirates Adventures, and it was awesome. On the safari, you get to experience, Dune Bashing, Camel riding, Sand Sliding, and it ends with a traditional dinner (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) and Belly Dancing. The whole experience exceeded our expectations. It ended around 9 PM, and our driver dropped us back at the Main Bus Terminal. From there, we took the bus to Dubai. I guess Bus terminal is the only place I went where they didn't accept cards, so please have enough cash. We reached our hotel around midnight, tired. But shouldn't go to your room without having Arabian Coffee and dates, a refreshing treat.

World Islands from the top of Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa:

The next day our plan was to visit Burj Khalifa in the afternoon and later Global Village in the evening. For Burj Khalifa, we had found a good deal on Groupon. Else you may visit the Burj Khalifa website and book your tickets.

Global Village:

Global Village - China Camp

Global Village - India Camp

After Burj Khalifa, we traveled to Al Ghubaiba Bus station from where we were supposed to take a bus to Global Village. Global Village is about an hour's drive from Al Ghubaiba. And it is a kind of cultural gallery where you will see exhibitions of approx. 32 countries. On Friday they have fireworks as well as a Parade. The ticket cost only AED 15/person. One must visit Global Village if one has time and want to do some shopping. However, It's very crowded, so if you don't like that, please skip it.

Public Beach, Atlantis Hotel

Burj Al Arab - (World's only 7* hotel)

Madness at Atlantis Hotel

The next day was Saturday, and we had planned to visit Public Beach, Atlantis Hotel in the morning, Gold Souk, and old Dubai in the evening. The public beach is 3-4 km from the 'First Gulf Bank' Metro Station. You will enjoy your time on the public beach. And may click pictures of Burj Al Arab Hotel as well. However, a trip to Atlantis is a letdown. First, it is at the end of Palm, and you get stuck in traffic. It cost you approx. AED 60 just for few clicks. However, you may take the monorail from near Dubai Internet City Metro Station. It cost AED 15 / person way and is a good option if you really want to and lick a few pictures of Atlantis.
 

Gold Souk & Spice Souk

After that, we traveled to Gold Souk. It is near Al Ras Metro Station in Old Dubai. Gold Souk is good, but you may skip it if you are short on time. However, if you are there, you can't stop clicking pictures of the body size gold ornaments. I couldn't imagine who, except a few Indian Idols, could afford to wear them - not because of the price but because of ornaments' weight. After this, you may also visit the Spice Souk as well. You'll enjoy them if you are visiting from a western country.

Deira Creek

Abra in Deira Creek

From here, you may go to Deira Creek. There are boat rides as well as evening dinner cruises there. We had done enough cruises elsewhere, we chose to do a little boat (Abra) ride from Deira to Bur Dubai. It just costs AED 1, and you will enjoy Old Dubai's Skyline. If you are doing Cruise, ensure you do enough research booking one, as few may prove to be fake on their promises. As you exit from Bur Dubai Abra Dock, you enter the street market. It is a great place if you want to buy some memorabilia, and you must bargain for the best price - start from half of what is quoted.

Central Bank of UAE

When you walk back towards Al Ghubaiba Metro station, you can see Dubai's central Bank and the Office of their Finance Ministry near the station.

From here, we went back to Dubai Mall for one last night view of the Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa. It was, once again, a great experience. It was almost midnight when we walked into our hotel.

The next day, before departing for Airport, we again walked to Dubai Mall to have Coffee at Tim Hortons and say good buy to the Burj Khalifa. 

Here we concluded our Dubai Trip and took our cab to the Airport.

Transport:

Rental Cars in Dubai are cheaper than in North America, and the driving experience is awesome, so if you are eligible, you should definitely drive there.

You may be able to drive in UAE - 

If you have Passport and Driving License from the same country and UAE govt. check Dubai Driving Authority's website if it allows your countrymen to drive in Dubai

OR you may get IDP from your native country.

Cabs are not very expensive and cost approx. AED 5 (first km) + 1.5 (subsequent km). However, few drivers at a few specific places may start it from AED 12 (first km). I didn't understand the logic, though.

Dubai Metro Map

Public Transport is fine, but it has to be supplemented with cab rides. For Metro, you have to buy NOL Cards. Although for tourists, they recommend Red Card but Buy silver card as it will also allow you to take the bus if you have to. In the UAE, bus drivers can't accept cash. You have to pay upfront at the terminal (intra-city) OR get an NOL card (inter-city Dubai). So ensure you have enough cash for the round-trip, as all bus-stops may not have NOL card terminals.

Artistry at Al Ghubaiba Metro Station

Moreover, few Metro Stations like Al Ghubaiba & Al Ras are designed beautifully with paintings and designs. One must visit them.

One thing to note, though, on NOL cards, they have some weird recharge options which ensure that you end up leaving some money (AED 5-6) on the card when you leave Dubai. Anyway, Metro Trains are the fast and most cost-effective option to travel longer than 5-6 km.

Other Important Tips:

• Research well and plan itinerary saves you money as well as on-time
• Use Groupon to find local deals.
• Rent a car, but it can't use Metro for long-distance, it is fast and efficient.
• Carry Water bottles from Hotel as it costs AED 5 / bottle (500 ml)
• Carry a small bag with your Passport and Id documents, and also light snacks

Our final Itinerary:

Weekday	Day	Date	Time	Destinations
	Day-0	14-Nov		Visa
	Day-0	15-Nov		Okey To Board
	Day-0	15-Nov		Travel Insurance
Wed	Day-1	16-Nov		Flight
Wed	Day-1	16-Nov		Dubai Sim - Du Telecom
Wed	Day-1	16-Nov		Uber Cab
Wed	Day-1	16-Nov	5 PM	Hotel
Wed	Day-1	16-Nov	10 PM	Dubai fountains
Thu	Day-2	17-Nov	9 AM	Sheikh Zayed mosque
Thu	Day-2	17-Nov	2 PM	Lunch
Thu	Day-2	17-Nov	3 PM	Desert Safari - Groupon
Fri	Day-3	18-Nov	1 PM	Burj Khalifa - Groupon
Fri	Day-3	18-Nov	4 PM	Global village (Friday)
Fri	Day-3	18-Nov	11 PM	Dinner
Sat	Day-4	19-Nov	6 AM	Public beach
Sat	Day-4	19-Nov	9 AM	Atlantis / Burj Al Arab
Sat	Day-4	19-Nov	1 PM	Lunch
Sat	Day-4	19-Nov	5 PM	Gold Souk / Spice Souk
Sat	Day-4	19-Nov	7 PM	Dubai Creek/Barasati Beach
Sun	Day-5	20-Nov	3 PM	Uber Cab To Airport

An Experience to Remember - IIMA Alumnus Magazine - June 2016 Edition

IIMA – PGPX, Kick-start to a journey

It was 6th November 2014 when I, in my Toronto condo, woke up with an email from IIM Ahmedabad that had a web link to my admission result in one of the most coveted management programs in the world, IIM-PGPX. The word I was looking for in the letter was ‘Congratulations’ and when I found that, it was difficult to believe. That day, a roller-coaster ride had started for me. From preparing to arranging funds to pay the fee instalments, communicating my sabbatical decision to my client & bosses, and ultimately to prepare us to move back to India. A lot of excitement was in the air and so was nervousness on how this decision would unfold in future. Similar was the story of most of the classmates here.

Today, when I look back at the learning & experience I got here, it seems flying back to India and joining IIMA PGPX was one of the best decisions I took in my life. It was not what I learnt in the subject, but from whom (few of the best faculties in the world & Industry Leaders) and with whom (some of the best talent in India) I learnt those concepts. 2015-16 was full of ups & downs for all of us. However, right expectations from the start were something helped us sailed through one of the most rigorous MBA curriculums anywhere in the world. For me, Placement was just a bonus, real success factor from PGPX was an everyday interaction that I had with industry leaders and renowned faculties.

A few days back when I was going to appear for my last exam, it seemed we all have come a long way in last one year. It all started with Term 1 (Apr-Jun), which would be remembered for forming of committees while everybody was fighting to keep afloat with 3-4 hours of daily sleep. Term-2 brought the cultural competitiveness through T-Nite. Term-3 in Warwick Business School brought a truckload of fun and international exposure through academics. Term-4, after the excitement & nervousness of ConneXions, was as tense as it could ever get in any placement season. Ultimately, Term-5 took us our learning to practice through Capstone & put us in winding mode.

Although fruits of the seeds that we sowed in last one year, will be seen in next 5-10 years, the overall experience was just awesome and impossible to put in equal detail.

Don't be simplistic, strive for simplicity !!!

"Don’t be so humble dear sir, after all you are not so great", and the class erupted with the laughter. These were the opening words of Mr. Dubey and it was very evident that he got a great self-deprecating humor. Minor, but it is my first learning I extracted from his hour long talk that don’t take yourself so seriously because nobody else does either.

It was his self confidence that he was calling herself senior bottle-washer instead of a senior manager that clearly demonstrated his mantra to be able to connect to individuals in his company.

As he goes ahead, he explains why VUCA, combined with a countervailing power is the new normal in today’s world and each professional has to find his/her way to deal with this new normal. He further pushed his perspective that Strategy and processes might be very important but Human beings are most.

Later on he moves to his experience with Mahindra and the RISE Framework that he is trying to implement there. RISE revolves around three core principles: Accepting No Limits, Alternate Thinking, and Driving Positive Change. These three things make firm progress towards its purpose.

HR Levers were another thing that was new for us. He explains why Communication & Internalization, Leadership, Capability Building, Recruitment, Rewards & Recognition, Performance Management System, Talent Management, and Learning & Development are bases of Human resource management and for a long inning, it is very important for a leader to cover these bases.

He explains that how he uses seven HR levers to define his organizations’ DNA. And why he picks first three of these levers before he focusses on last four. We agreed that Fear inhibits risk-taking and kills innovation, however, I opined that few times fear can also derive innovation, may be structured innovation. There have been leaders like Jack Welch & Steve Jobs who induced fear to push people to think differently.

He emphasized on the global mindset and why it is so important to have a global mindset when world is becoming boundary-less in terms of business. Further, he emphasized that as a leader we need to promote build a trust between people because most of the problems that we see in organizations are because of trust deficit.

He closed his talk by emphasizing that fact that one should strive towards simplicity, which is very different from being simplistic. As one get simplistic solutions without putting lot of efforts and without a global mindset, but to achieve simplicity in a solution, one has to work really hard in a focused manner.

Warwick Diary - Last Day at Warwick

These were two of the quickest weeks we saw in PGPX. Things moved so fast that we didn’t even realize that today we were on our last day of the Term-3-European Immersion.

Last night packing didn't let me sleep until 3 AM. As I woke up at 8, the only things remaining were to wrap up remaining things, check out, leave luggage in the cloak room, and reach the class by 10:15 for final presentation.

Based on our industry visits, presentations started at 10:35 with the strategic analysis of Amazon. It followed by one on Jaguar-Land Rover, DCS (For our group), and Compton Varney. It was very clear from the presentations that each group had put a lot of efforts in the analysis of available data before one came up with strategic recommendations to tap into future opportunities. Prof. Jacky Swan expressed his delight in the work and provided his feedback to individual groups.

As we were moving towards our farewell lunch in the Faculty Lounge, we had already started missing the wonderful time we had spent in Warwick, its instructors, and the non-academic learning we had in last two weeks. Over Wine, Juice, Lasagne, and other delicious stuff, we chatted with Professors and Coordinating Team. While we were thanking Sam and Clair from Coordinating Team, we didn’t hide our gratitude towards professors for taking their time out of their busy schedule and helping us understand various aspects of business in Europe and UK.

Certificate distribution formally brought down the curtains. Wrapping the whole event with a Usie (Group Selfie) could be the best way to wrap things up and move to the railway station from where we were supposed to take up an hour long train to London.

Warwick Diary - Day-10 at Warwick

So here we are on a penultimate day, discussing strategy and strategic decision making with Prof. David Elms. His expertise on the subject coupled with his knowledge of Energy Industry was impressive. Even though we had covered a lot of basic strategy framework in during our Term II in IIMA, faculty was able to bring a lot of new examples and concepts on the table. His focus on Resource Oriented Strategy has particularly interested me as I used to think it as an obvious thing along with Position Oriented Strategy to consider in any decision making.

Besides several concepts, Case discussions of E-ON (a German Energy company) and Tesla (an electric automotive company) were also very intriguing.

At energy production side, one of the most interesting thing from E-ON article was that because of changing market conditions and government regulations, how a traditional electric company ended up paying its customers to buy its electricity. At one hand, Fukushima Crisis in Japan made companies like E-ON invest more in traditional power plants. Rapid growth in community-based renewable energy equipment created a strong competition for traditional energy producers.

At Energy Consumption Side, Tesla was trying to create a Blue Ocean for itself through its vision to change energy requirements in private transportation. Having spent more than 15 years in business, Tesla is not only a Car Manufacturer but an energy sector evangelist. It was highly coincidental that in the evening we also got an opportunity to hear from few executives from Engen Global, an energy and utility company.

Finally, the day filled with so much of energy left us enervated to complete the final presentation we need to do the next day. After several hours of heated discussion in the syndicate about the DCS Group, we could find some common ground.

We completed our deck preparation by 1 AM, and then we were heading to our rooms, just to spend few more hours on packing our stuff as tomorrow we’ll be leaving the campus.

Warwick Diary - Day-9 at Warwick

Not very frequently we get the opportunity to visit tallest and one of the most eco-friendly building in Europe, The Shard. An Iconic landmark in the heart of London, The Shard shines in its glass frame. Had this was not great, we were also going to have our class on luxury branding at one of the floors of this building. As one of the friends described it aptly – “It was just awesome to have a class on Luxury Brands in one of the most luxurious place of one of the most iconic city in the world”.

It took us while to reach the Shard from Coventry. As if London’s traffic at its peak was not enough we were faced with the sudden shower and a Cab Driver’s Protest March against App-based Cab Services. They have augmented the problem even further and when we reach the Shard it was quarter past noon.

Soon after quick bites of delicious English Lunch Buffet, we were in the class of Prof. David Arnott, our Marketing Professor. While discussing the case of Monte Carlo Hotels and its rich aristocratic history, many of the nuances of Luxury Branding unraveled before us. By citing examples of many of the current brands, it was quite clear to us that a premium brand is very different from a luxury brand. Moreover, it is an age-old dilemma before managers whether they should continue to have their brands marketed as luxury brands and keep their volume low OR they should go to market their products as premium products and target the volume by compromising on unit margins.

After the class, we were supposed to leave for a networking event (Warwick Alumni and PA Consulting) near Victoria Station. No prize for guessing, although the place was 3.5 km from the Shard, it took us 40 minutes reach there. Here, we had a couple of industry experts discussing on the role of ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’ in future businesses. Although most of the arguments put forward were rhetorical, few of us got good opportunity to interact with people involved in decision making for many organizations in UK and Europe.

Finally, we wrapped up things around quarter past eight and started off back to Coventry for a good night sleep before we make ourselves ready for the last few sessions at WBS.

Warwick Diary - Day-8 at Warwick

What are different perspectives towards Organization Behaviour? How is mainstream perspective different from a critical perspective? These were few of the things we discussed in the class with the help of Midlands Hospital case and National Healthcare Services (NHS). Prof. Jacky Swan herself wrote the case, so there was no surprise that she knew the NHS system and its challenges in and out. Mainstream perspective views organization as a group of individuals in a unified structure working to achieve a common goal. But Critical perspective challenges this perspective and views organization as a contested political terrain, where individuals and groups have different goals and motivations.

Later, it was interesting to see how Hitler, Mandela, Thatcher and many more were all leaders but had a different impact on the society. Funnily one of us questioned the inclusion of Sven-Göran Eriksson in the same league when he failed in few of his pursuits in the later part of his career. I thought probably it was because Eriksson always projected himself as a leader and when not many people questioned that he became a leader. It happens many a times in businesses when one assumes leadership and when nobody questions that he/she get the designation as well. Anyway during our discussion what was highlighted that context always matters a lot when we judge leadership potential and style of any one person.

SOGI (Society, Organization, Group, and Individual) Model was particularly interesting to discuss as a tool to analyse organization behaviour of any team or organization. As we were analysing “Stanford Prison” experiment through this model few very different insights came on the surface. It was an eye opener to realize that when any one or a group of individuals is given unlimited discretionary power, their behaviour change drastically, and they start assuming themselves superior to others. Guatemala and Iraq war atrocities were real evidence that proved the hypothesis of this experiment.

Overall it was a great session where we learned a totally different perspective of organizational behaviour and its management. Although we finish early today, tomorrow is going to be a hectic day as we would be attending few sessions in The Shard and a networking event in London.

Ohh absolutely, we are very much excited for this.

Warwick Diary - Day-7 at Warwick

What happens when a leading Indian Businessman tries to persuade an American Auto Maker to buy out his Car Business? American Auto Manufacturer Team humiliates the Indian Team after evincing considerable interest in the deal.

But the story doesn't conclude there. After a decade, the same Indian Businessman, Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of a seemingly conservative Indian business conglomerate, buys two British iconic brands from the same legendary American Car company, Ford. The story doesn't end here as well.  Within few years of being acquired by Tata Motors, the business of Jaguar Land Rover turned around, their sales increased multi-fold, and their margins have improved drastically.

This is what we witnessed in the JLR plant in Whitley, Warwickshire, England. As it was also mentioned in the presentation of the JLR representative that in last few years JLR has re-established itself as one of the best as well commercially viable British Brands of our times. After buying JLR for $ 2.3 B, Tata Group has already invested more than $10 B in reviving the brand.  By mentioning that Tata was the best thing that had ever happened to JLR, JLR reps made it abundantly clear that they are really happy with the management and freedom Tata Group has provided to them

On plant visit, we were awed to see giant robots that were playing their part in the assembly line in converting few sheets of aluminium and steel into a full-fledged 4X4 car. It was one of the best visits we have ever had to a manufacturing plant.

After the visit, we were moving towards our next destination, a very different type of company, DCS Group.  DCS group is a conglomerate of many different businesses with FMCG distribution being the flagship arm. We were humbled to see that Owner and Chief Executive of the group, Mr. Denys Shortt, was himself present to give us a tour of the facility and answer our questions related to his business. Denys himself was a former international hockey player and recipient of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the Queen. It was a very humbling experience for us to see how a young hockey player started his own business few little some of the money and created £183 million business.

While walking down his warehouse, we could easily figure out he is a very dynamic leader who keeps looking for entrepreneurial opportunities. In last few years, he augmented DCS business with many diversified arms such as Manufacturing, Design & Packaging, and Information Technology.

The trip ended with a nice gesture from Mr. Shortt when he gave each one us a gift hamper that consisted of few of the products his company manufactures.

While heading back to the school, I thought that although very busy, today was a very fruitful day. Both of these companies help us understand things that mostly read in articles and newspapers.

Warwick Diary - Day-6 at Warwick

The session started with a discussion on Walmart’s failure in Indian, Ikea’s Failure in China, and consequences of Heineken’s decision to put flags of all nations on the beer can after 1994 World Cup. No point for guessing that all of them could not understand the local or global culture or regulations. Professor Synnott emphasized the point that Culture can be differentiated from both universal human nature and unique individual personality. He wanted us to appreciate the fact that the manner in which firms respond to cultural differences explains why firms and their performance differ. He successfully pushed his points about global MNCs with the help of Hofstede Model.

In the second half, we discussed Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). I was amazed to see that Fortune 500 companies spend more than $ 15 B on CSR, but still there is a lot of scope in this direction. Professor cited examples of how different companies have a different role in CSR. Be it Coca Cola which tried to promote low-calorie diet through Coke Zero, OR Starbucks that tried to promote Fair International Trade through its campaign of Human Beans. Organizations have also tried to promote a culture of safety (McDonand’s ‘Wear your Seatbelt’ campaign in India) and Healthy Life Style (TCS’s sponsorships of marathon events globally). Moreover, throughout the session many points were discussed to make everybody distinguish the CSR activities in developing world vis-à-vis in the developed world.

On the other hand, we also discussed how Milton Friedman’s model argues that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”

After the sessions, it was a comparatively free day, but Sam had arranged a Formal Dinner for us in one of the finest restaurants in the university campus. Over lovely food and fine wine, we got some more time to interact with Prof. Piers Ibbotson, Dr. Sotirios Paroutis, and Program Coordinators.

Overall it was another great day of learning and sharing. Saturday would be a free but busy day as we would be traveling to London for our Alumni meet. Hopefully, on Sunday, we will get time to visit Oxford University and Warwick Castle before a hectic week starts on Monday.

Warwick Diary - Day-5 at Warwick

It’s not every day that we get an opportunity to visit one of the world’s biggest warehouses. Amazon UK Fulfilment Centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire is one of the eight such facilities that help run Amazon business in the UK. Surprisingly the weather was very warm today, and 22 degrees outside temperature made our journey to the Rugeley even more comfortable.

Standing opposite four giant chimneys, the Amazon centre was huge with the size covering 700 K sqft, equal to 10 football pitches. Our group of 20 people got divided into two teams and two Operations Manager from Amazon led us on the operations floor. As we enter the amazing Amazon facility, we were overwhelmed by the volume and sophistication of the whole process.

He showed us the inbound process in fulfilment centre (FC) that used to start with receiving shipments from various vendors. Each and every item would be scanned, tagged, and marked for a storage shelf before transferred to individual shelves through goods carts. While placing items on their designated shelves, Amazon associate will scan the bar-code on the shelf as well as on item. It ensures that both are tagged to each other, enabling easier search for subsequent customer orders.

Through outbound operations, FC used to fulfill customer order requests. With over 1000 employees (FTEs, and contract), every year this particular Amazon FC used to process millions of orders. At peak time (Black Friday) it processed 1.5 mm orders in a day. Every order used to be initiated by a customer. As it would enter into Amazon system, a team of order managers would pick them up and a set of orders will be assigned to an associate picker to collect the pick-up. A software will optimize the pickup path for the associate to minimize the pick-up time. All of these picked items will be placed on a long conveyor belt that will travel few hundred meters before it reaches for packaging. At packaging desk, an associate picks up items from the conveyor belt/cart and pack them together (if from the same customer and can fit in one pack) or separately. After packaging, each package goes for automated address printing that later gets attached to the package as it moves on the conveyor belt.

The kind of volume one fulfilment centre handles can only be possible with automation and least manual intervention, which was definitely at display in this facility.

Finally, with Q&A with the team, we exited the facility. It was a great experience for many of us who had come from various backgrounds to see a white collar manufacturing like a shop floor.

Warwick Diary - Day-2 at Warwick

Can a laptop manufactured in China be considered a global product? OR would you call a Boeing Aircraft a global product? These were the questions Prof. Michael Synott opened his session with.

He argued that although end product might have been manufactured at one location, that product is made of many small and large parts that are manufactured in so many remote areas of this world. We further saw various drivers at different levels, Firm Level, Industry Level, Macro Level drive globalization. There was no doubt in saying that globalization can’t be stopped now regardless of efforts made my governments across the government because restricting such practices may result in reduced competitiveness of local industries in this globally connected world.

With the example of Roman Empire, which was driven by globalization or British Imperialism that knowingly or unknowingly promoted globalization, Professor subtly inferred that globalization has made this world more connected. Later we discussed various other statistical aspects of the globalization and how developing countries in comparison with developing ones reduced their tariff rates drastically to promote globalization to become a more active player in the global market.

After lunch, we continued our discussion on FDI and what are various motives a firm might have before making a decision related to direct investment in a foreign country. We also deliberated on various risks associated with International business and how can these cross-cultural, country, currency, and commercial risks be mitigated.

Further, we discussed a decision framework that an enterprise could use to decide whether they should go for FDI or not. It helps us to dig deeper and verify if the company could gain the market share by Import-Export without any market or pricing risk. If not, it further asks if product/service know-how is easy to license. A negative answer to this question leads us to another question if the company needs a tight control on foreign operations. If yes, the organization shall move towards FDI, else not unless organization can’t take the franchise route because of weak trade laws.

Overall it was an interesting session and helped us see different aspects of FDI from a European’s perspective.

Warwick Diary - Day-1 at Warwick

As we (I along with three of my friends) get down from the bus at Canon Park, we get an idea of how big the University of Warwick is. Canon Park is the first bus stop just outside the University though there is no explicit entrance gate of the University.

Instead of waiting for the bus to go to the Conference Reception, I somehow convinced other three to walk 1 mile with our bags. After almost 20 minutes of walk, we reached to the Students Union Reception to get the keys to the Arthur Vick rooms (our accommodation). It was already 6 PM, and we were supposed to reach a place called Scarman House by 6:30 PM for our Welcome Dinner. We didn’t have much time to freshen up. So we moved fast to drop our luggage into our room, changed our clothes, and quickly ran to find out Scarman House.

After walking for almost 15 minutes finally, we find the place and on reaching there we only found that others were waiting for us as we were the last few to complete registration. I also got a comment for this delay, though in the lighter vain, that despite being the one who led the communication with the school till then I was late.

It was great to connect the face with the names of the program coordinators and Program In-charge (module leader). They had done a great job in taking care of dining needs of all of us.

All in all first-day interaction was just great. Meeting all 17 of us after a week of vacation was wonderful.

The journey of this 2-weeks term has just begun and apart from other things that we have realized about the University of Warwick, one thing is that we are going to lose some weight here as every place is at a minimum of 10 minutes walking distance from other.

DNA Article

Recent article published in DNA news paper :

Senior Managers to a Bunch of Kids – A Typical day at IIMA-PGPX

Two months over and the excitement of being in IIMA has been replaced by an excitement of learning from a new set of opinion makers in Indian and global businesses. As first term gets over, another set of courses is lined up for us to develop a deeper understanding of various aspects of the business.

As they say, in IIMA, different people learn different things, make different interpretations, and do various activities, but if one thing that everybody gets here is an appetite for working hard while unlearning the concept of IST (Indian Stretchable Time). The rigour of the program can only be imagined.

Our typical day starts at 7 AM with a walk, run or a brief workout in the gym. As we run, time also runs and many of us barely find it to have few slices of bread and butter with a coffee while continuing our run towards the class to see 8:45 in the classroom watch. The first word of professor's mouth breaks as the clock shows the exact time. Here onward things move very fast with the discussion on last night’s cases, problems, and doubts. Many times we come with a lot of confidence in our analysis and decision around the case, but it doesn't take much time for the professor to make us realize that business has various aspects, and we missed to take many of those aspects before making coming up with our decision.

The lecture-break-lecture-break-lecture streak breaks around 1:15 by which time we might get notice of a surprise quiz after lunch. We are lucky if it is not there. Post-lunch, things go little slow for 2-3 hours during which time we pick up the cases we supposed to read for next day. At times when workload is huge, we end up dividing the study among our group (we call it Syndicate here) members who would later meet in the syndicate rooms to discuss and analyse them, and reach a common conclusion. Although we may break for dinner in between, every syndicate has to ensure that the next-day cases, problems, and text is complete before we break for bed, which happens around 2 AM.

And after elections of students committees are over, most of us have got even more responsibilities towards each other. Some committees are planning for our future events; others are executing as per their plans.

But then ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy’, so Cricket, Tennis, Chess, and other recreational activities take the front seat on Friday evening unless Saturday is a working day. After such a busy schedule, what is yet to be seen is how would we find time for the preparation for IIMA Sports meet and culture event that I am sure we’ll kill through our performances.

Despite being a cohort with an average age of 32 years, and an average experience of 10 years, it is nothing but a surprise to see the energy that every individual brings to the class and outside. Friday night parties (non-alcoholic though; remember Aapno Gujarat, dry State) celebrate the birthdays, talent (Dance, Guitar, Flute and many more), and life in IIMA.

After every day of tiring schedule, we realize the fact that this one year is passing very fast and each day that has gone will never come again. So…..

“Jeelo jitna jee sakte ho !!!”

Expenditure reduced, Expenses Recognized !!!

	Prepaid Expenses	Expenses Recognized	Knowledge Gained
Opening Balance	2,45,0000	0	0
Closing Balance	20,41,667	4,08,333	Invaluable

This is how the balance sheet looks after the first term. It was a hell lot of information thrown at us and it is very difficult to gauge what percentage of that is captured by all of us. But one thing, I believe, my colleagues in PGPX would also share is that ‘Abhi to party shuru hui hai’.

Time is the most precious commodity here. In Term-1, 2 AM was the time when we could only think about sleeping and 8 AM was the time after which we couldn't afford to be in the bed. Despite of this, most of the time we used to find ourselves running to the class with our breakfast in our hands. Afternoon nap was highly recommended but one rarely got it. Reading and analysing 50-100 pages of business text for next day was new norm while surprise quizzes of financial accounting kept us on our toes.  As one of my friends expressed, in IIMA, clocks are everywhere, but time is nowhere. But there is no respite from this yet as we know term-1 was just the trailer and ‘picture to abhi baaki hai mere dost’.

There were lot of ups and downs in last two months; few things were liked by everybody, few by some, and there were few which were liked by none ;-). There were things that we knew before the course but today after 2 months we have imbibed them so much in our character that they have become part of our daily conversations. Sunk Cost and Opportunity costs are not just concepts for us anymore; they are part of our thinking process. Similarly, as few of our colleagues mentioned in a presentation, hypothesis testing is not only used for business decisions but also life decisions such as marriages. It was especially intriguing to see how if ‘not marrying a right one’ is Type-1 error (less dangerous), ‘marrying a wrong one’ is Type-2 Error; and power of the hypothesis lies in avoiding Type-2 errors.

Besides learning from professors in classes and from accomplished colleagues in syndicate groups, we had opportunities to host industry leaders who shared their thoughts and vision for the industry and academia.

But again ‘Abhi to party shuru hui hai’.