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.