Several companies are using various conventional and new age channels for lean forward marketing to target the youth. In my opinion, PepsiCo and MTV are two companies that have utilized new-age media the best to target the youth. The reasons that they are top 2 are reflected from the following facts:
1. Involved customers in product creation: PepsiCo came up with events like Pepsi My Can design and Lays- Whats your flavour to involve consumers by getting their suggestions on product development and customization thereby strengthening association. MTV uses its official site to actively take feedback about the content user wishes to see.
2. Engaged consumers on a social level: MTV has an official community on orkut which users can join and participate in the forums thus stimulating opinions. Fritolays- food division on Pepsico has its official blog too.
3. Giving more for nothing: MTV came up with bid a date contest where anyone could bid VJ Mia and Rannvijay with a date package of a limo ride, stylist; dinner on a yacht and clubbing - MTV Style.
4. Giving customer invaluable experience: First ball ka captain by Pepsi was one such experience that was invaluable and customer could only dream of. PepsiCo’s brand Kurkure came up with a competition in which winners had their photos on pack as recognition thereby getting customer in limelight.
5. Broadening community interaction: In October, MTV attracted 90 million unique visitors globally to roll out Flux, a next-generation social media platform that will grow to span the company's young adult-and adult-directed websites and be open across the Internet. PepsiCo came up with first online community for cricket fans -the Blue Billionbranded and the Youngistaan campaign bringing its target group on a common platform and connecting customers.
6. Giving voice to consumer: Pepsi came up with an open letter to Barack Obama voicing its consumers opinion on what they expect from him.
7. Fully focused to exploit new age media: MTV created Digital Fusion, a specialised unit focused on modern advertising and marketing solutions that incorporate original and customised creative content across the company's digital portfolio by creating entirely new digital ad products, from creative uses of existing inventory to original interactive experiences, including video content, online games, microsites and widgets.
8. Entertaining consumers: MTV has come up with online games as todays customer does not storytelling only, he wants to be entertained
9. Giving recognition and fame: WHATS UR WAY? Campaign launched recently by pepsi uses tools like sms to get opinion from the target group on various situations of interest to them
10. Getting mobile: MTV is no more only music and no more only on TV. Its much more and everywhere. MTV has launched Flo TV where one can watch MTV shows on his/her mobile. By distributing free ringtones, wallpapers and graphics they are trying for viral marketing via new age media.
The campaigns are quite effective and integrate various channels with a common purpose thereby creating impact. I would suggest a few more ways deriving my learning from few more famous campaigns like that of Barrack Obama and famous viral commercials:
1. As youtube is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for viral communication, creating a content so compelling that it engages youth to actively seek, download and share it could help further. Ex. Coke-mentos experiment created waves with 11 million + views through viral.
2. Affinity marketing: Add a cause close to the heart of your target market to the campaign and involve them in making a difference. This gives an added value-proposition to the brand and improves brand association due to sense of pride involved
3. Engagement on personal level: Providing facility to sign up for newsletters through e-mail and sms about events of interest as chosen by user.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Will Infrastructure Spending Lead The Growth Story For India In The Next Ten Years?
For the past one decade, India was pacing quickly towards being a developed county with a commendable growth rate of 7-9%. But now as we see the growth rate stooping, the million dollar question arises – “How to lead the growth story for India in the coming decade?” On its part, Government has given stimulus packages and the sixth pay commission was a welcome move. But would it really help? What could be right move to ensure tangible benefits in near future and sustainable long term development in the long term?
We know that India is a society that firmly believes in saving money for the bad times. In case of increasing 6th pay commission; the major beneficiaries are government employees with disposable income. As the income rises further, the savings rather than spending would increase thus defeating the purpose of infusing money in the economic cycle. On the other hand, if govt. focuses more on infrastructure development such as building roads, dams, bridges, power-grids and telecommunications etc., it would ensure participation from all sectors of the society. There would be a demand for skilled as well as unskilled workers and this bottom of the pyramid which desperately needs money to fulfil its basic needs would spend and the impact on growth would be very much evident soon.
As for the long run, in order for an economy to perform at its optimum potential, it is required to move people, goods and information at a really fast pace. Building infrastructure would ensure better tomorrow by improving the efficiency. By infusing money with the aim of increasing retail consumption, the picture might seem gloomy in the short run but it would be like dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
By creating infrastructure, cost of delivery in supply-chain would reduce and logistics turn-over time would improve. This saving of cost and time would ultimately benefit every stake-holder in the society. By investing in transportation, commutation time and cost would reduce. By having better water supply facilities and sewers, health problems would considerably decrease. More power grids and stronger transmission & distribution would mean fulfilment of energy requirements. Better communication system in place would mean more friendly working condition and a better lifestyle. All this infrastructure in place would mean huge foreign investment, improved tourism and a strongly positive brand image to the world. Infrastructure spending can definitely lead the way out. It would mean a more inclusive growth with all the sections of the society involved in it leading the growth all the way.
We know that India is a society that firmly believes in saving money for the bad times. In case of increasing 6th pay commission; the major beneficiaries are government employees with disposable income. As the income rises further, the savings rather than spending would increase thus defeating the purpose of infusing money in the economic cycle. On the other hand, if govt. focuses more on infrastructure development such as building roads, dams, bridges, power-grids and telecommunications etc., it would ensure participation from all sectors of the society. There would be a demand for skilled as well as unskilled workers and this bottom of the pyramid which desperately needs money to fulfil its basic needs would spend and the impact on growth would be very much evident soon.
As for the long run, in order for an economy to perform at its optimum potential, it is required to move people, goods and information at a really fast pace. Building infrastructure would ensure better tomorrow by improving the efficiency. By infusing money with the aim of increasing retail consumption, the picture might seem gloomy in the short run but it would be like dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
By creating infrastructure, cost of delivery in supply-chain would reduce and logistics turn-over time would improve. This saving of cost and time would ultimately benefit every stake-holder in the society. By investing in transportation, commutation time and cost would reduce. By having better water supply facilities and sewers, health problems would considerably decrease. More power grids and stronger transmission & distribution would mean fulfilment of energy requirements. Better communication system in place would mean more friendly working condition and a better lifestyle. All this infrastructure in place would mean huge foreign investment, improved tourism and a strongly positive brand image to the world. Infrastructure spending can definitely lead the way out. It would mean a more inclusive growth with all the sections of the society involved in it leading the growth all the way.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Randum(b) stuff
Some copied, some original:
The moment u settle for anything less than u deserve,u get even less than wat u settled for..
I am progressive by nature;thats y i keep gaining weight :D
My friends are my strength and their girlfriends are my weakness ;)
To the optimist the glass if half full..To the pessimist the glass is half empty..To the engineer the glass is twice larger than needed!
As the circle of our knowledge expands,so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.
It does not matter when u start in the race, what matters is--- when u finish!!!
A man should feel lucky if he is the first love of a woman.. a woman should feel lucky if she is the last love of a man
A nice poem by Mainak Dhar in Funda of Mix-o-logy:
Stumbling along the road of life,
exploring new paths,yearning for those
long lost in the mists of time,
searching for a place called fame
Callused soles,tired feet,
scorching glare of the ego's Sun,
but still charting the paths ahead,
searching for a plane called success
Never stopping,never looking,
searching for a place called wealth.
A broken sign on the road reads;
Did you see the flowers on the roadside??
The moment u settle for anything less than u deserve,u get even less than wat u settled for..
I am progressive by nature;thats y i keep gaining weight :D
My friends are my strength and their girlfriends are my weakness ;)
To the optimist the glass if half full..To the pessimist the glass is half empty..To the engineer the glass is twice larger than needed!
As the circle of our knowledge expands,so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.
It does not matter when u start in the race, what matters is--- when u finish!!!
A man should feel lucky if he is the first love of a woman.. a woman should feel lucky if she is the last love of a man
A nice poem by Mainak Dhar in Funda of Mix-o-logy:
Stumbling along the road of life,
exploring new paths,yearning for those
long lost in the mists of time,
searching for a place called fame
Callused soles,tired feet,
scorching glare of the ego's Sun,
but still charting the paths ahead,
searching for a plane called success
Never stopping,never looking,
searching for a place called wealth.
A broken sign on the road reads;
Did you see the flowers on the roadside??
Impact of Social Cause marketing campaigns on branding
The social cause marketing is a kind of affinity marketing that prominently and publicly identifies a company’s association with a particular social cause. These are company’s initiatives involving the provision of money, resources and/or publicity to socially beneficial causes in a way that seeks to create an association in the minds of consumers between the cause and the company or one of its brands.For example- the Tata Tea “ Jaago Re!” campaign. It is different from the conventional promotional campaigns in which the stress is simply on the benefits of buying a specific brand.
As we know every brand has a personality and reflects the organizational culture of the company. On promoting a social cause, the company sends a strong signal about the values and the culture of the organization. In this way, it creates a differentiation for itself from its competitors whose focus is on conventional promotional programs. By doing so, the company would attract those customers who feel for the cause and it gets a platform to connect to them emotionally and psychologically. This helps because next time the customer thinks of the social cause close to his heart, he would recall that there is this XYZ brand working for the cause and feels bonded to it. In this way, the brand attracts a new segment of customer and also increasing its visibility. As brand recall improves, there would be greater efficiency for other marketing efforts the company engages in.
The next advantage that social marketing gives is the building of reputation and goodwill of the brand in the long run. When the brand gets appreciation from those who acknowledge its social initiatives, there is a sense of pride that consumer would get in his association with the brand. This can simulate brand preference as all factors being same for two brands; one would prefer the brand promoting a good cause. Thus brand loyalty would increase improving the overall reputation in market and in corporate world. As the brand is strengthened, this gives it an ability to charge higher prices too.
At the same time, societal marketing activities are supposed to have helped many of the firms achieve better scores on ratings of the most admired and socially responsible companies. This would help them become more efficient in recruiting, retaining and engaging talented employees, since people may have more positive feelings about working for a socially responsible company. This will help curb attrition rate also.
Due to social cause marketing, the brand would get more favourable treatment from stakeholders such as regulators and investors. All these would ultimately lead to increase in market share, rise in revenues and stock prices. Thus we can see that by engaging in social cause marketing campaigns, companies will get higher returns and improve its brand equity.
As we know every brand has a personality and reflects the organizational culture of the company. On promoting a social cause, the company sends a strong signal about the values and the culture of the organization. In this way, it creates a differentiation for itself from its competitors whose focus is on conventional promotional programs. By doing so, the company would attract those customers who feel for the cause and it gets a platform to connect to them emotionally and psychologically. This helps because next time the customer thinks of the social cause close to his heart, he would recall that there is this XYZ brand working for the cause and feels bonded to it. In this way, the brand attracts a new segment of customer and also increasing its visibility. As brand recall improves, there would be greater efficiency for other marketing efforts the company engages in.
The next advantage that social marketing gives is the building of reputation and goodwill of the brand in the long run. When the brand gets appreciation from those who acknowledge its social initiatives, there is a sense of pride that consumer would get in his association with the brand. This can simulate brand preference as all factors being same for two brands; one would prefer the brand promoting a good cause. Thus brand loyalty would increase improving the overall reputation in market and in corporate world. As the brand is strengthened, this gives it an ability to charge higher prices too.
At the same time, societal marketing activities are supposed to have helped many of the firms achieve better scores on ratings of the most admired and socially responsible companies. This would help them become more efficient in recruiting, retaining and engaging talented employees, since people may have more positive feelings about working for a socially responsible company. This will help curb attrition rate also.
Due to social cause marketing, the brand would get more favourable treatment from stakeholders such as regulators and investors. All these would ultimately lead to increase in market share, rise in revenues and stock prices. Thus we can see that by engaging in social cause marketing campaigns, companies will get higher returns and improve its brand equity.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
CAT not the way to IIM-A
IIM-A is the dream destination of every MBA aspirant in India BUT its really disheartening to say that even cracking the toughest entrance exam-CAT cannot assure you a call for even GD/PI.
According to this,final weightage given to CAT score is only 27.27%.rest 72.72% has already been decided by ur 10th and 12th scores(talking abt general category).
In simple words suppose Mr. A cracked CAT 08 with 100%ile overall and 99+%ile in all 3 sections,has a work-ex of 10 yrs. in finance, with 90% in graduation,89% in 10th and 79% in 12th..THEN he wud not hav got a call this yr. EVEN AT THIS PROFILE !!!
using the formula given by IIM-A
C.S score wud b 16 which is less than cut-off C.S. score...
So much weightage has been given to PAST academic performance that more than 2 lakh of the people who filled forms could hav never qualified for CAT even if they topped it!
My grudges on the process are based on following reasons:
1. ALL selection criteria must be clearly mentioned before conducing CAT.Had IIM-A specified this process before,at least 2 lakh candidates wud hav been clear that they cannot get into it whatsoever they do in CAT.. They waste their money, time and energy preparing for entrance of such an institute who wud never accept they even if they top it.
2. There is no consideration of the board from which a candidate appeared for 10th and 12th.Although its a well known fact that all boards are not equally tough and its easier to score in some compared to other.
3. Consistent performance is definitely important but criteria laid out by IIM-A means that even if an otherwise brilliant candidate could not score high in just say tenth board(which may be due to family, health or financial problems also) then he has no chance to walk into the premier B-school. Its like giving no chance to someone who has potential & drive now but makin him repent due to the past that noone can change..
4. Rather than a continuous scale,slots have been made for boards %age(ex. 70-79% - 6 marks).This means guy A scoring 80% = B scoring 89% = 6 marks for IIM-A but 90% directly gives a raise of 2 marks or 9.09% !!
5. There must be more clarith regarding the details of selection procedure with all lists available online with justifications.
Plz share ur views and suggestions on this...
According to this,final weightage given to CAT score is only 27.27%.rest 72.72% has already been decided by ur 10th and 12th scores(talking abt general category).
In simple words suppose Mr. A cracked CAT 08 with 100%ile overall and 99+%ile in all 3 sections,has a work-ex of 10 yrs. in finance, with 90% in graduation,89% in 10th and 79% in 12th..THEN he wud not hav got a call this yr. EVEN AT THIS PROFILE !!!
using the formula given by IIM-A
C.S score wud b 16 which is less than cut-off C.S. score...
So much weightage has been given to PAST academic performance that more than 2 lakh of the people who filled forms could hav never qualified for CAT even if they topped it!
My grudges on the process are based on following reasons:
1. ALL selection criteria must be clearly mentioned before conducing CAT.Had IIM-A specified this process before,at least 2 lakh candidates wud hav been clear that they cannot get into it whatsoever they do in CAT.. They waste their money, time and energy preparing for entrance of such an institute who wud never accept they even if they top it.
2. There is no consideration of the board from which a candidate appeared for 10th and 12th.Although its a well known fact that all boards are not equally tough and its easier to score in some compared to other.
3. Consistent performance is definitely important but criteria laid out by IIM-A means that even if an otherwise brilliant candidate could not score high in just say tenth board(which may be due to family, health or financial problems also) then he has no chance to walk into the premier B-school. Its like giving no chance to someone who has potential & drive now but makin him repent due to the past that noone can change..
4. Rather than a continuous scale,slots have been made for boards %age(ex. 70-79% - 6 marks).This means guy A scoring 80% = B scoring 89% = 6 marks for IIM-A but 90% directly gives a raise of 2 marks or 9.09% !!
5. There must be more clarith regarding the details of selection procedure with all lists available online with justifications.
Plz share ur views and suggestions on this...
How much do brand IIT & IIM really matter??
Recently I read in TOI that a coaching institute in Kota has offered foundation course for IITs from 7th class itself.6 years before a student actually writes the paper!!And few years back before court implemented a law of maximum two attempts for IITs, we could find students taking two to three drops for getting into IITs. That makes me really ponder whether brand IIT is so important worth preparing for 6 years or wasting another 2 years after 12th for it?
To me the question is a no-brainer but since I am not an IITian myself most of the cynics would take it as a case of sour grape for me. So lets give it an unbiased analysis. Well friends, I really need your comments and opinions about this topic.
To start with, what is it that brand IIT and IIM have got to offer. Better education by best faculties and infrastructure available, a learning environment due to best brains of the country competing with us, a jump start in career with high profile and well paid jobs and a greater social recognition in India as well as higher evaluation in MNCs abroad. In short a more secured future. Well, definitely worth the most sincere attempt.
But still I feel the whole scenario has been inflated mainly by the coaching institutes mushroomed all across the country which are no less than a corporation with sole aim of making profits. They have over-hyped the importance of IITs and presented it like a life and death situation to the career oriented students and over-expecting parents.
An admission to IITs is not the end of the world, infact its the beginning of the race called career. And while getting a head start is always better, it cannot assure you a win in the long run. What is lost by circumstances can always be made up by determination. Once the students are out of campus life into the corporate world, its a level playing field(may not be so in initial phase of career) where performance matters in the long run.
An illiterate Dhirubhai Ambani or an IITian Narayan Murthy cannot not be cited as an example to justify ones qualifications. Education can never be confined to classrooms and the reason for their success was a function of a lot more variables than just their academic background. Everyone has his own definition of success. To me it lies in recognizing ones talent and following the heart. Bill Gates dropped out of Havard to chase his dreams. But his incomplete degree could not stop him from becoming the world’s richest man. What really matters is application of knowledge-not its certification.So ending the post with a really true line i picked up from pagalguy:
" The moment you settle for anything less than you deserve, you get even lesser than what you settled for"
Monday, March 30, 2009
Books-The best investment...
Hello once again dear friends!
Initially i had plans to first share my GD/PI experiences at all 3 colleges in the blog followed by some more topics but after reading my first comment from Prakhar,i too felt excited about sharing my experiences of reading and brief u abt some of the books i have read or plan to read.I love to read and its the best investment one can make.So here goes the list of some books i have:-
Favourite non-fictions:-
Rich Dad Poor Dad : A book on financial IQ.An excellent comparison and contrast between the rich and poor mentality and basics of finance in the most practical manner.A strongly recommended reading for all age group and with any field of interest.
Freakonomics : Proving conventional wisdom wrong in so many cases,this book uses Economics to find hidden answers to questions in vast fields.Ur eyes wud pop out wide on reading the unbelievable but convincing expainations to various scenerios given.
The Goal : After books on topics like finance and economics,here comes my personal fav.- a book on Operations.This is a case study of a manufacturing plant which is not performing well.The author gives common sense based solutions to the most challenging situations .As i read it,I could relate most of it to our own textile unit and the application based solutions are powerful enough to turn around an ailing plant.Most importantly,it teaches you to approach the most difficult problems in a simple and logical manner.
The best part about the above books is that though so core technical yet they are easy to comprehend with no jargon.Thoroughly practical knowledge and change the way of thinking for better.
The GE Way : An all encompassing knowledge on basics of management touching on every aspect of it.
What they dont teach you at Havard Business School : Another very famous book on management.
The World is Flat : Quite an informative book on Globalization.
Some more non-fictions:-
A brief history of Time : Physics in a simple and condensed form.
The 7 Habits of highly successful people : The most selling book on self help.
The monk who sold his ferrari : Another book on self help which gives Gyan,gyan and only gyan..Zzzzz...
Six Thinking Hats : A book by Edward de Bono suggesting a new method to approach discussions and carry out meetings.
The argumentative India : Makes a very dense reading about culture.
Who moved my cheese : Advices to sense the changes and accept them.
Many lives,many masters : As claimed by the author that every word in the book is true and he has proof for it,its a ground breaking book on reincarnation.
The Secret : To warn you,the next lines to come would serve the purpose of spoiler.Either stop reading here and read the book to find the secret in first few pages on read to find it in next line. Yes,the Secret is all about the power of positive thinking and how it can change the life from good to great!
Ignited Minds : Our fav. Mr Abdul Kalam isnpires young India to attain the bream of India 2020
Biographies:-
Business Maharajas : Short biography of six business leaders of India's 20th century.Writing style keeps you engrossed with good language.
Men of Steel : Business profiles of few current leaders in Indian corporate world.
Prince of Polyester : Ooops..Banned in India!An insight into the life and working style of my fav. - Dhirubhai Ambani !
It happened in India : India's version of the book 'Made in America'-this book is an autobiography by India's Sam Walton-Kishore Biyani
Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish : Short stories of 25 IIM-A passouts who are now entrepreneurs.
My experiments with truth : Autobiography of Mr. M. K. Gandhi.
Books on puzzles by:-
Ravi Narula : My personal fav. with good level of puzzles of diff. types.
George J. Summers : The toughest set of logical puzzles i ever came across.
Shakuntla Devi : Mostly Mathematical puzzles quite boring and simple ones.
Lateral thinking by Edward de Bono : While all other books have logical puzzles,this one is different with loads of lateral stuff to make ur thinking complete.
Fictions:-
The Alchemist : One of the world's most sold books-its a simple yet profound story which encourages one to follow his dreams.Makes a light and pleasurable reading.
Jonnathon Livingstone Seagull : Another short story about a seagull which follows its hearts and fails to win.
Five Point Someone : I bet everyone knows about this one and the other two.
Joker in the pack : A plot similar to above book set up in the campus of IIM-B
The funda of Mix-O-Logy : A fiction by Mainak Dhar which appeared to me very filme but gives a beautiful message that a perfect life must be a blend of all things(work,money,famile etc) in some well defined limits.
The White Tiger : This booker prize winner is a fiction that represents in the same depracating manner as did by The Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire.
Q&A : Book which inspired Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire.
A sunny shady life : A fiction by Sachinn Garg,a student of MDI 1st year.Written on similar lines as most of the other books by youth authors all inspired by our Chetan Bhagat.
Initially i had plans to first share my GD/PI experiences at all 3 colleges in the blog followed by some more topics but after reading my first comment from Prakhar,i too felt excited about sharing my experiences of reading and brief u abt some of the books i have read or plan to read.I love to read and its the best investment one can make.So here goes the list of some books i have:-
Favourite non-fictions:-
Rich Dad Poor Dad : A book on financial IQ.An excellent comparison and contrast between the rich and poor mentality and basics of finance in the most practical manner.A strongly recommended reading for all age group and with any field of interest.
Freakonomics : Proving conventional wisdom wrong in so many cases,this book uses Economics to find hidden answers to questions in vast fields.Ur eyes wud pop out wide on reading the unbelievable but convincing expainations to various scenerios given.
The Goal : After books on topics like finance and economics,here comes my personal fav.- a book on Operations.This is a case study of a manufacturing plant which is not performing well.The author gives common sense based solutions to the most challenging situations .As i read it,I could relate most of it to our own textile unit and the application based solutions are powerful enough to turn around an ailing plant.Most importantly,it teaches you to approach the most difficult problems in a simple and logical manner.
The best part about the above books is that though so core technical yet they are easy to comprehend with no jargon.Thoroughly practical knowledge and change the way of thinking for better.
The GE Way : An all encompassing knowledge on basics of management touching on every aspect of it.
What they dont teach you at Havard Business School : Another very famous book on management.
The World is Flat : Quite an informative book on Globalization.
Some more non-fictions:-
A brief history of Time : Physics in a simple and condensed form.
The 7 Habits of highly successful people : The most selling book on self help.
The monk who sold his ferrari : Another book on self help which gives Gyan,gyan and only gyan..Zzzzz...
Six Thinking Hats : A book by Edward de Bono suggesting a new method to approach discussions and carry out meetings.
The argumentative India : Makes a very dense reading about culture.
Who moved my cheese : Advices to sense the changes and accept them.
Many lives,many masters : As claimed by the author that every word in the book is true and he has proof for it,its a ground breaking book on reincarnation.
The Secret : To warn you,the next lines to come would serve the purpose of spoiler.Either stop reading here and read the book to find the secret in first few pages on read to find it in next line. Yes,the Secret is all about the power of positive thinking and how it can change the life from good to great!
Ignited Minds : Our fav. Mr Abdul Kalam isnpires young India to attain the bream of India 2020
Biographies:-
Business Maharajas : Short biography of six business leaders of India's 20th century.Writing style keeps you engrossed with good language.
Men of Steel : Business profiles of few current leaders in Indian corporate world.
Prince of Polyester : Ooops..Banned in India!An insight into the life and working style of my fav. - Dhirubhai Ambani !
It happened in India : India's version of the book 'Made in America'-this book is an autobiography by India's Sam Walton-Kishore Biyani
Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish : Short stories of 25 IIM-A passouts who are now entrepreneurs.
My experiments with truth : Autobiography of Mr. M. K. Gandhi.
Books on puzzles by:-
Ravi Narula : My personal fav. with good level of puzzles of diff. types.
George J. Summers : The toughest set of logical puzzles i ever came across.
Shakuntla Devi : Mostly Mathematical puzzles quite boring and simple ones.
Lateral thinking by Edward de Bono : While all other books have logical puzzles,this one is different with loads of lateral stuff to make ur thinking complete.
Fictions:-
The Alchemist : One of the world's most sold books-its a simple yet profound story which encourages one to follow his dreams.Makes a light and pleasurable reading.
Jonnathon Livingstone Seagull : Another short story about a seagull which follows its hearts and fails to win.
Five Point Someone : I bet everyone knows about this one and the other two.
Joker in the pack : A plot similar to above book set up in the campus of IIM-B
The funda of Mix-O-Logy : A fiction by Mainak Dhar which appeared to me very filme but gives a beautiful message that a perfect life must be a blend of all things(work,money,famile etc) in some well defined limits.
The White Tiger : This booker prize winner is a fiction that represents in the same depracating manner as did by The Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire.
Q&A : Book which inspired Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire.
A sunny shady life : A fiction by Sachinn Garg,a student of MDI 1st year.Written on similar lines as most of the other books by youth authors all inspired by our Chetan Bhagat.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
@ MDI
As i have already posted about my 3 calls,i would be mentioning my experience in detail starting with the most recent one-MDI for PGPM on 25th March mroning slot.
GD: 11 guys with 4 of us from MIT
Topic: Effect of global meltdown in India.
My initial impressions as i read the topic was WOW! i know this pretty well only to realize later how ignorant i was.
GD was overall noisy but yet everyone made some sense.I was amazed by the data thrown by Gaurav and Pritish.I hardly spoke and made a little sense.thankfully each of us were asked to summarize in 30 seconds where i did a decent job.
PI: There were 2 guys-same from GD who took the interview.It was better than i could imagine with interviewers asking questions from those little areas i knew.It went as follows:
P1: Tell us abt u
Me: sir i m pursuing my B.E from MIT in EEE..P1 interrupted
P1: Y u went so far?hows ur college?wats good abt it?dont u think fee is too high?
after these general questins i again continued with the intro as told
Me:I come from city of lakes-Udaipur. My father is a businessman.We have a textile spinning unit
I1: Wats the turn-over?profits?Do u export?what r ur markets?
I1: ok compare India and China's economic growth.
Me: India's is slow but steady as compared to China.Gave some data on growth rate,FDI and FII in both countries,Job losses and domestic markets.
I1:FDI and FIIs are good or bad?
Me: They are good for any economy but dependence on them is bad.
I1: Wat abt the tax structure
Me: sorry sir i dont hav any idea abt the taxes of China but recently i read an article stating Indian textile is losing to China due to a marginal diff. in cost.
I1: wat r the factors due to which China's production cost is so low.
Me: 1. Cheap labour(which India too has) 2. Organised and technologically better production plant
I1. Asked about extra - corriculars.mentioned many but didn't get into details of any.
Then i got a call and indicated I2 to carry on while he went around the room talking over the phone for rest of the interview
I2: Took my file and started reading it.On looking at CAT scores- wat r ur other calls?
Why u didn't get any call from IIM?
then looking at my grade sheets of engg.So u studies a sub. on mgmt. in engg.tell me wat do u understand by management?
Me: Sir to me its both-an art and science.Its the study of learning to manage resources like man,machine and money in the most efficient manner.
I2:wats the diff b/w generator n transformed?wat is Lenz' law?tell the 2 electromagnetic principles?state uncertainty principle(I said mass n velocity instead of distance and velocity).de broglie's equation.
I2:y u want to join this institute?
Thats it !
Interview lasted for about 15 mins. but i never knew hw time passed.The interviewers really made me quite comfortable.Now keeping the fingers crossed and awaiting results.Pray for me..
Piyush
GD: 11 guys with 4 of us from MIT
Topic: Effect of global meltdown in India.
My initial impressions as i read the topic was WOW! i know this pretty well only to realize later how ignorant i was.
GD was overall noisy but yet everyone made some sense.I was amazed by the data thrown by Gaurav and Pritish.I hardly spoke and made a little sense.thankfully each of us were asked to summarize in 30 seconds where i did a decent job.
PI: There were 2 guys-same from GD who took the interview.It was better than i could imagine with interviewers asking questions from those little areas i knew.It went as follows:
P1: Tell us abt u
Me: sir i m pursuing my B.E from MIT in EEE..P1 interrupted
P1: Y u went so far?hows ur college?wats good abt it?dont u think fee is too high?
after these general questins i again continued with the intro as told
Me:I come from city of lakes-Udaipur. My father is a businessman.We have a textile spinning unit
I1: Wats the turn-over?profits?Do u export?what r ur markets?
I1: ok compare India and China's economic growth.
Me: India's is slow but steady as compared to China.Gave some data on growth rate,FDI and FII in both countries,Job losses and domestic markets.
I1:FDI and FIIs are good or bad?
Me: They are good for any economy but dependence on them is bad.
I1: Wat abt the tax structure
Me: sorry sir i dont hav any idea abt the taxes of China but recently i read an article stating Indian textile is losing to China due to a marginal diff. in cost.
I1: wat r the factors due to which China's production cost is so low.
Me: 1. Cheap labour(which India too has) 2. Organised and technologically better production plant
I1. Asked about extra - corriculars.mentioned many but didn't get into details of any.
Then i got a call and indicated I2 to carry on while he went around the room talking over the phone for rest of the interview
I2: Took my file and started reading it.On looking at CAT scores- wat r ur other calls?
Why u didn't get any call from IIM?
then looking at my grade sheets of engg.So u studies a sub. on mgmt. in engg.tell me wat do u understand by management?
Me: Sir to me its both-an art and science.Its the study of learning to manage resources like man,machine and money in the most efficient manner.
I2:wats the diff b/w generator n transformed?wat is Lenz' law?tell the 2 electromagnetic principles?state uncertainty principle(I said mass n velocity instead of distance and velocity).de broglie's equation.
I2:y u want to join this institute?
Thats it !
Interview lasted for about 15 mins. but i never knew hw time passed.The interviewers really made me quite comfortable.Now keeping the fingers crossed and awaiting results.Pray for me..
Piyush
My tryst with CAT 08
CAT-08 :- My biggest dream till recently is now a passing affair.Cant really say if it was good or bad but definitely a ride full of fun with all highs and lows one could expect.With 99.36%ile overall and 95%ile + in all three sections,it was really an end of euphoria when i got to know that i had no call from any IIM.I have loads to write on CAT- my experience,preparation phase,result and my wrath on selection criteria of some IIMs(though no use crying over the split milk-its still important to analyse why the milk split) and finally those terrible GD-PI experiences.I find GD-PI process such a pain in the ... that i would rather give CAT thrice then GD-PI once.but could not do away with it and finally attended the calls from MDI,IIT-B(SJMSOM) and IIT-D(DMS).Now awaiting results due next month..So friends wish me luck !
Piyush
Piyush
Random thoughts..wild imaginations
Truly said - "Empty mind is a devil's workshop" and though i had most of my mind vacant throughout my engineering,it was never so empty as now - the 8th sem. - an ideal time to be an idol of idleness..so this devil thoght of putting some of these random thoughts to pen and hence came up with the idea of publishing a blog.After reading the GE way,i am quite inspired to give this blog a mission and vision statement.so here it goes:
Mission: The blog aims to serve the purpose of a purposeless reading with nothing much creative to offer and catering to needs of no one in particular or general.
Vision: With my uncreative,unimaginative, uninspired and unyielding content,the blog aims to soon gain the reputation of the most pakau blog ever.
With this hope to live up to these high standards that i have set for my blog,i sign off for now.
Piyush..
Mission: The blog aims to serve the purpose of a purposeless reading with nothing much creative to offer and catering to needs of no one in particular or general.
Vision: With my uncreative,unimaginative, uninspired and unyielding content,the blog aims to soon gain the reputation of the most pakau blog ever.
With this hope to live up to these high standards that i have set for my blog,i sign off for now.
Piyush..
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