Wednesday, April 29, 2009

How Business Schools Have Failed Business

As we try to understand why our economy is so troubled, fingers are increasingly being pointed at the academic institutions that educated those who got us into this mess. What have business schools failed to teach our business leaders and policy makers? There are three profound failures of sound business practices at the root of the economic crisis, and none of them have been adequately addressed by our business schools.

Just about everyone agrees that misaligned incentive programs are at the core of what brought our financial system to its knees. Countless individuals became multimillionaires by gambling away shareholders' money. Incentive systems that rewarded short-term gain took precedence over those designed for long-term value creation.

We could chalk this all up to greed, as many pundits have. But first we should ask how many of the business schools attended by America's CEOs and directors educate their students about the best way to design management compensation systems. Amazingly, this subject is not systematically addressed at most business schools, and not even discussed at others.

Secondly, as Washington scrambles to restructure the financial regulatory system, those who still believe in the private sector are asking why corporate boards were AWOL as institution after institution crumbled. Why did it take rumors of nationalization and a drop in Citicorp stock to below $2 a share to inspire Citigroup to nominate directors with experience in financial markets?

American icon General Electric was stripped of its coveted AAA-rating because of problems emanating from its financial services unit. Yet its board has only one director with experience in a financial institution. If it is the board's job to oversee a corporation, it seems logical that there would be a segment in the core curriculum of every business school devoted to board structure, composition and processes. But most programs don't cover the topic.

The third breakdown came in the investment community. Nearly 20 years ago I wrote a book titled "Short-Term America" that warned about the growing chasm between those who provide capital and the companies who use it. The concept is simple: When money provided to homeowners or businesses comes from an anonymous source, possibly half way around the world, there are serious challenges to operating a functioning system of accountability.

Nationally, finance departments at business schools offer hundreds of courses in asset securitization and portfolio diversification. They have taught a generation of financial leaders that risk can be diversified away. But in their B-school days, few investment bankers examined the notion of "agency costs." That concept explains that as the gulf between the provider and the user of capital widens, the risks involved with selecting and monitoring the participants in the portfolio increase. It should come as no surprise that financial institutions amassed securities that consist of a diversified portfolio of deadbeats.

About 70% of the shares of American corporations are held by institutional investors such as pension and mutual funds. These organizations are brimming with MBAs. But how many of these MBAs took a class devoted to how shareholders should exercise their rights and obligations as the owners of America's corporations? Few, if any. When shareholders are uneducated about their obligations, how can a corporate accountability system function properly?

Recently, when I delivered a guest lecture at another school, a distraught-looking student pulled me aside after class. She explained that my talk was very disturbing to her. After investing two years and $100,000, she was only weeks away from receiving her MBA. But prior to our class, she had never heard a discussion about board responsibilities or the rights of shareholders. She said she felt cheated.

By failing to teach the principles of corporate governance, our business schools have failed our students. And by not internalizing sound principles of governance and accountability, B-school graduates have matured into executives and investment bankers who have failed American workers and retirees who have witnessed their jobs and savings vanish.

Most B-schools paper over the topic by requiring first-year students to take a compulsory ethics class, which is necessary, but not sufficient. Would Bernie Madoff have acted differently if he had aced his ethics final?

Could we have avoided most of the economic problems we now face if we had a generation of business leaders who were trained in designing compensation systems that promote long-term value? And who were educated in the proper make-up and responsibilities of boards? And who were enlightened as to how shareholders can use their proxies to affect accountability? I think we could have.

America's business schools need to rethink what we are teaching -- and not teaching -- the next generation of leaders.

Mr. Jacobs, a professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, was director of corporate finance policy at the U.S. Treasury from 1989 to 1991.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Art and Science of an MBA

Often, the question of whether management can be effectively taught is reduced to the question of whether it's an art or a science, and that's too binary. It's both.

Renaissance man extraordinaire Leonardo da Vinci blended art and science quite nicely and in a highly individual way, particularly with his inventions. So did Gaudi, the Spanish architect who designed the huge, whimsical church La Sagrada Familia. So has Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who has written beautifully crafted essays about his patients' neurological disorders.

You'll notice a lot of disparity within this highly distinguished group, and that's for good reason. The trick to blending art and science successfully is finding the right combination for the individual and for the moment.

The art/science debate isn't unique to business academia. When I was working on an MFA in creative writing, it was fashionable--among many of my peers and professors, not just people who exclusively wrote for a living--to argue that artistry couldn't be taught. We were, the argument went, just jumping through academic hoops to get employed or published. No one was actually there to "learn" the craft. Writers had talent, or they didn't.

Some of the art-can't-be-taught people were downright uppity when they got going on this topic, and I never understood that. Set aside the fact that the cynicism wasn't constructive. For me, the bigger problem with the argument was that it was so narrow, just like the art/science dichotomy many folks are so eager to impose on business.

Yes, it's true that complex business problems involving conflicts of interest or conflicts of ethics don't always lend themselves to the tidy kinds of solutions you're likely to cook up as you're discussing a case study in an MBA classroom. It's also true that you don't need an MFA to write the great American novel--and that, in fact, many such novels wouldn't stand up very well to being "workshopped."

But there's certainly no harm in practicing and refining your skills in the relatively safe environment of school so that once you're set loose in the big, bad world, you're better equipped to handle a bolt of brilliance when it deigns to strike. And if you're already a successful manager with a flair for, say, talent development, but you decide to go back to school to brush up on some technical skills to improve your bird's-eye view of your organization, no harm there, either.

Maybe we can usefully divide responsibilities for the ethical management of businesses along these lines: Schools need to cover as many bases as can reasonably be covered in a curriculum, and individuals need to take it from there. It's the individuals' responsibility to figure out what precise balance of instruction and finesse--of science and art--makes sense for them, given their own circumstances.

To the extent that great management is a work of creative genius, it's incumbent upon the manager to come up with his or her own recipe for success, as Da Vinci and Gaudi and Sacks did. Schools shouldn't be absolved from accountability for the quality of managers they turn out--but intelligently and responsibly designed curricula will take us only so far. MBA programs can set up people to succeed. But then the individual's values and ambitions will inevitably kick in, for better or worse.

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Monday, April 27, 2009

UBS placements dip by 50%, best salary up

CHANDIGARH: With companies shying away from inducting fresh blood, the region’s premier business school has also felt the pinch of a sluggish recruiting season. Though there has been no drop in the number of companies visiting University Business School, less than 50% final-year students have been extended placement offers so far.

This is in sharp contrast to the track record of Panjab University’s popular department. Not too long ago - in 2007 and 2008 - each student had graduated from the department with a job in his hand.

Information collected from UBS placement office states out of a total of 131 final-year students of 2008-09 batch, 61 have been placed with an average package of Rs 5.96 lakh. However, with a few weeks still left for the process to end, the business school expects the number to cross 80.

‘‘The final word for 16 to 18 offers is still pending. The exact situation will emerge with declaration of results,’’ said coordinator of placements Natashaa Boparai. While 131 students had passed out from UBS in 2007-08, the previous batch - 2006-2007 - saw 125 students get placed from campus.

Over past three years, close to 30 companies have visited the campus each year. In fact, while the last two years saw banking and IT firms make up the major chunk of recruiters, this time saw entertainment and finance sectors too pick up some talent from the department.

Interestingly, in the three-year comparison, the highest package of Rs 13 lakh per annum came this year. Talking to TOI, placement coordinator SK Chadha said, ‘‘Economic slowdown is responsible for the present scenario.’’ He added with elections on, chances of more recruiters visiting campus were bleak. ‘‘Most of the placements this year been effected through alumni, who’re like the department’s brand ambassadors.’’

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

XIMB 100% placement for postgraduates

KOLKATA: Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) has wrapped up Xuberance 2009, its annual campus recruitment programme with 100% placements for its post-graduate diploma in management (PGDM) students. The highest annual salary of Rs 16 lakh is 3% lower than last year’s top salary of Rs 16.5 lakh per annum.

The average salary, however, saw a steeper decline, falling over 23% to Rs 7.3 lakh per annum from Rs 9.56 lakh per annum last year. Also, there were no foreign placements this time for the 118-strong batch, as compared to four international offers last year. The median salary was Rs 7.5 lakh per annum.

Around 54 companies participated on-campus in the placement process, making 118 offers. There were 33 pre-placement offers and interviews.

Among the prominent recruiters this year were Godrej, Tata Group HR, Coca Cola, Cognizant Technologies, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst and Young, Hewlett Packard, TCS, Societe Generale, Axis Bank, SBI, SBI Caps, Tata Steel, IMRB, Cavin Kare, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, Sebi, Indian Oil Corporation, Genpact, Vodafone, Idea, Tata Teleservices, ICI Paints, HSBC Global and Kalinga Soft.

Of the total offers, 32% were made by the finance sector while 23% of the students opted for marketing. Some 18% opted for systems, 8% for HR and another 7% for consulting and general management areas respectively while 5% students took up offers in the operations area.

FIGURES TALK

16 lakh highest annual salary offered this season.
7.3 lakh per annum is the average salary offered.
118 total number of students in the PGDM course.
54 companies participated in Xuberance ’09.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Attitude, not certificate, marks success: Shiv Khera

MADURAI: “It is not the certificate in our hands but our attitude that matters in our journey towards success,” said Shiv Khera, noted author of You Can Win, here on Sunday.He was addressing the students of various educational institutions run by Velammal Educational Trust. Shiv Khera observed that the management students of today, nurtured an unhealthy overconfidence in their capabilities.

They considered their mark sheets as tickets to success and they wanted to start their professional life as a CEO and nothing less. But in real life, most of the MBA graduates possessed expertise in nothing and had only their certificates to show, he noted. He charged that in most of the cases they did not even understand the overall situation prevailing in the industry in which they worked.

For the older generation remorse was the major factor if they committed a mistake but today’s generation if they were caught for some misdeed they felt no remorse but wondered why they had been caught, Khera stated.“The accelerating number of HIV cases in the country is also an indicator of the moral degradation of our society.

A major portion of HIV patients is reported to be below the age of 25. Ninety percent of those affected by the killer disease are homosexuals, those having multiple partners and drug users. This shows that our youth have a weak moral background and are sexually promiscuous,” he said.He asked the students gathered to enrich their inborn talents through practice and to work hard for the fulfillment of their goals.

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

How to Crack CAT 2009?

Here is some handy advice for students tackling the CAT. MBA is a career that is preferred by many engineering students, as the industry requires candidates from technical as well as management backgrounds.

The motive behind the preference for this strategic combination is that a techno-management candidate can implement the best of both fields in his job. A candidate opting for a career in management has to undergo an aptitude test, followed by a group discussion and a personal interview.

One of the most challenging entrance exams for entering the management stream at an all India level is CAT (Common Admission Test), which is conducted by seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) for admission to their PG programmes in management.

The most common question in the mind of a candidate aspiring to get into the IIMs is: "Why is CAT considered to be one of the toughest exams?" Probably the IIMs want to absorb only the best of the lot or perhaps the MNCs prefer hiring the most talented candidates. IIMs like to spring surprises to keep the charm and unpredictability of the exam intact.

Let us now take on the big question: How to crack the CAT? Generally, engineering students undertake CAT preparation from their sixth semester onwards. The syllabus of the CAT is based on eighth, ninth and tenth standard mathematics, along with verbal ability and reasoning, which includes reading comprehension, synonyms, antonyms and similar topics.

The methodology for cracking the CAT involves regular study for two to three hours, which includes reading books, problem-solving sessions and answering time-bound mock tests.

I would recommend candidates meticulously deal with each topic in the syllabus and be absolutely clear about the concepts. The CAT always tests your understanding of the basics. Once the candidate believes that his concepts are sound, he should attempt problems from the lowest level and gradually increase the difficulty levels.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

QS global 2009 Survey

BANGALORE: Employers are making a B-line for IIM-B, as per a survey. The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, (IIM-B) is among the top 10 preferred B-schools in the Asia Pacific region. The QS Global top 200 business schools 2009 survey has put IIM-B at sixth position in the region.

IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Calcutta and ISB Hyderabad are a close 11, 12 and 13th rank. Many factors went into the survey — quality of students, specialization, success of alumni and activities of alumni network — sources associated with the research told TOI.

The global survey has thrown up interesting trends in gloomy times. Business schools in India are becoming a major focus for employers as the country’s economy demands ever more professional managers. The report lists 200 business schools currently preferred by most international employers for hiring MBA graduates.

The report available with TOI demonstrates that MBA employers around the world are increasingly targeting a broader selection of regionally strong B-schools from which to hire MBA graduates. This trend may be accelerated by the recessionary environment, even as overall MBA hiring numbers fall.

The pressures of globalization mean that beyond the traditional MBA employers, there are growing number of regional MBA employers who may not have the budget to pay the salaries demanded by MBAs from elite schools. As a result, MBAs who are pro-active in their search and flexible in terms of salary expectations are expanding their range of opportunities, even in the time of recession, sources said.

Interestingly, B-schools in the Asia-Pacific region are strengthening their role in the MBA market. “In fact, the number of Asian and Australian schools in the QS global survey has increased from 10 in 2004 to 40 this year — a massive jump reflecting their growing status. It also reflects the importance of Asian recruitment amongst employers.

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is said to be the most exhaustive research on global B-schools. It has won appreciation from the likes of Harvard and Wharton schools.

In the top 30 league is the Delhi University (22nd rank), which figures for the first time, and SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (21 rank). The list consists — 72 schools in North America, 70 in Europe, 40 in Asia Pacific region, 12 in Latin America and 6 in Africa and West Asia.

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Monday, April 13, 2009

IIFT students land dream jobs

KOLKATA: Be it the highest salary offer or the number of top corporate houses making a beeline for its students, the Kolkata campus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) has managed to throw in many surprises this placement season, despite the ongoing economic slump. The IIFT authorities said they were apprehensive about the way placements would go this year, but finally managed to place the entire batch.

IIFT, established by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, in 1963, is a leading research and training institute in international business subjects. In an era of increasing globalization, IIFT programmes are unique because of their emphasis on international dimensions of economy and business. Continuous research has been the backbone for updating the IIFT curriculum to reflect fast-changing global business dynamics.

There was a sizeable increase in the number of companies that visited the Salt Lake campus for the first time. Of the 72 companies that visited the campus, 38 were newcomers. However, only 62 could recruit from the campus as students benefited from a wide choice and were choosy in their acceptance of offers. "This was especially encouraging, as many of these companies are multinationals and have put recruitments unless absolutely strategic on hold for the moment," said a spokesperson. "Also the diversity of recruiters across the sectors offering a plethora of profiles was more than what we expected this year," he added.

Industry leaders like Arthur D'Little, ITC, Colgate Palmolive, Nomura Holdings, Coca Cola, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Glenmark, Titan, Bajaj Auto, Cargill, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, ICRA, Unicon Securities, Eli Lilly, Vodafone, Virgin mobile, Philips Godfrey, Essar Group, Tata Steel, Reckitt Benckiser, ICI Paints and Avalon Consulting visited the campus to recruit students for positions in marketing, corporate finance, treasury, international business, general management, consulting and so on.

Some of the new recruiters, such as Usha International, AP Moller Maersk, Fino Analytics, Darashaw, Mitsui & Co, Merck, CARE Ratings, Siemens and Bertling Global offered diverse profiles. Big players in IT, like Wipro, Cognizant Business Consulting, HCL, TCS and Infosys were present, too.

A premier investment bank offered the highest salary Rs 19 lakh this year. The average salary was close to Rs 10 lakh. Interestingly about 30% students could wrest jobs in the most coveted international business and trading profiles. There was a major presence of public sector undertakings like BHEL, STC, Bank of Baroda, SAIL, IDBI Bank, NMDC and MMTC, among others.

Munish Bhargava, the corporate and placements advisor at IIFT said, "The recruiters included companies from sectors like trading, logistics, pharma, microfinance, and PSUs. Students were willing to compromise on their pay structures for good roles of their choice. Hence, many of them chose to go into PSUs even if they had managed berths in multinationals."

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Friday, April 10, 2009

Poor facilities at B-schools

B-SCHOOL means business school. Most of the students take admission in these B-schools to understand the business responsibility and to face the challenges of economy. Now-a-days B-schools have become the most profitable source of business for the big entrepreneurs. They charge lakhs of rupees from a single student and in return they provide them with improper infrastructure, such as-
  • No proper industry interaction.
  • Lack of qualified teachers.
  • No placement.
  • No summer training.
  • No sports facilities.
  • No proper learning environment.
  • No proper computer labs with Internet community.
Along with all these disqualities some B-schools also offer poor canteen and food supplies to the students. Students of these B-schools feel that they are wasting their valuable time along with their parents' hard earn money.

How could the government give affiliation to such colleges. A strong smell of corruption comes, when it comes to affiliation and approval of the colleges.
Why don’t the government take necessary steps to check the facilities being provided to the students in such colleges.

But these B-scholls are run by big entrepreneurs, who aim at earning huge profits on the cost of students' career. These entrepreneurs are not at all approachable. They impose their own laws on the students.

The Indian government these days is talking about consumer rights, but what about the students' rights. If the students are not getting proper facilities from colleges even after paying abundant of fees. Is there any clause under jurisdiction, where students can file his complaints, so that they can save their carrier from being spoiled?

The colleges are not able to provide proper facilities to the students, then also the universities are giving more affiliations to the new courses in such colleges.

We the B-School students are suffering from such a cause. It’s a humble request to all the universities that please change your curriculum of giving affiliation and avoid corruption in education department. The affiliation of such colleges should be discarded.

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Thursday, April 9, 2009

Small firms afford IIM managers

Global recession might have brought a number of top level corporate to their knees but it seems to be a "good opportunity" for numerous small and medium companies, which can now afford to hire hot-shot executives from top business schools at much "affordable" prices.

The pass-outs of the country's premier business schools like IIMs can now be hired at much lower packages than they used to get when the world economies were booming.

Analysts say, the placement scene at most of the IIMs this year is not much encouraging as compared to previous years. This year, number of big companies as well as number of international companies coming for campus placements has decreased.

"There is more than 30 per cent dip in the average salary offered to fresh IIM graduates. In IIM-A, this year's average domestic salary offer has come down to Rs 12.17 lakh from previous year's Rs 18.75 lakh," IIM-A Placement Cell Chairman, Dr Saral Mukherjee said.

He said the number of offers per students has also gone down as the recruitment process in most of the companies has come to an halt in view of economic slow down.

Similarly, the domestic average salary offered this year at IIM Calcutta has been Rs 12.70 lakhs with the highest offer at Rs 60 lakhs per annum. While the average figure for last year was Rs 16.40 lakhs.

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Monday, April 6, 2009

Poor placements take sheen away from ISB graduation day

Hyderabad, April 5 The Board of Director of Indian School of Business (ISB) will take special measures to ensure placements to all the students who graduated this year, according to Mr Rajat Gupta, Chairman, Board of ISB.

Speaking at the eighth graduation ceremony of the Hyderabad-based business school here on Saturday, Mr Gupta asked the board members to ensure “a better placement experience for ISB this year”.

Over 100 students of 437 students of the Class of 2009 did not find placements due to recession. The high-profile business school was ranked 15 among the top 100 global business schools by the Financial Times.

Mr Ajit Rangnekar, Dean of ISB, said the year was a challenging time for placements and the prospects of experienced professionals were worst hit.

“Today, you may hate the experience. ISB had faced (the) same trouble during the first batch of ISB eight years ago. But those students are now industry leaders,” he said.

ISB would also be setting up a taskforce to identify right opportunities for the students.

EXPANSION

The school plans to introduce four specialist schools at its second campus at Mohali, which is getting ready. The Max India Institute of Healthcare Management, BML Munjal Institute of Manufacturing and Operational Excellence, Bharti Institute of Public Policy and Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management would be coming up at Mohali.

“The main campus here will also have a doctoral programme and an executive post graduate programme from 2010-11,” he added.

Mr Arun Sarin, former chief executive officer of Vodafone Group Plc, who participated as chief guest, said the emerging economies, led by China and India, would a play major role in the years to come. “You will see more meetings of G-20 nations rather than those of G-7,” he said.

In the time of economic slowdown, innovation and new business models would keep emerging, he said, adding that students should think of entrepreneurship.

GLOOMY MOOD

The general mood at ISB, which had seen jubilant graduation days till now, was dull as one-fourth of the students were not successful in campus placements.

“It seems that our timing was wrong. The students (and their parents) who had taken educational loans and quit good jobs to pursue studies are the main victims,” a student who did not like to be identified told Business Line.

ISB assured them to provide placement assistance by including them in the campus placement programme for next two years, he added.

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

100% placements at IIM-Indore

The Indian Institute of Management, Indore, has claimed to achieve 100 per cent placement for its 10th graduating batch (2009).

"Despite the global downturn, placements at IIM Indore have showcased the wide acceptability of its students by the corporate world. Foreign offers have seen a substantial jump with several organisations recruiting exclusively from the institute," Chairman of the Placements department, Professor Prashant Salwan said in a release today.

Regular recruiters such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, FuturesFirst, Johnson and Johnson, ITC, Deloitte Innovation, Knightfrank, Larsen and Toubro, Jindal Steel and Power Corporation, Infosys and CTS among others continued their relationship with the institute this year also, the institute said.

Besides, new recruiters like UTI Mutual Fund, Mahindra and Mahindra, Virgin Mobile, Unicorn Securities, Eli Lilly and Infrasoft Technologies also took part in the placements, it said.

Public Sector Undertakings like Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, SAIL, SEBI, IOCL and BPCL also recruited students for senior management roles, the release said.

Financial services continued to dominate in terms of the number of offers as nearly 50 per cent of the offers came from this sector, it said.

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Saturday, April 4, 2009

Will markets bounce back?

KANPUR: The current recession has put to stake credibility of various professional courses including the most sought-after MBA. Students are making a bee-line for government jobs. However, experts says that no immediate switching of priorities is needed and demand for quality MBA students will continue to remain. During a seminar organised in the city on Tuesday, financial expert from IIM Ahmedabad, Shantanu Shukla said,"recessions have been always inter-linked with global business and after every recessionary cycle, markets have bounced back with more strength."

An another expert from IIM-A opined, "the time is optimum to do MBA because as soon as the depressionary trend gets-over the demand for quality market- experts is bound to shoot up."

The conference was held at Merchant Chambers Hall and was organised by ICC, a premier MBA coaching institute.

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Friday, April 3, 2009

ISB placement season extended

For the first time since its inception, the Indian School of Business (ISB) has extended its placement season indefinitely. Only 250 of the 440 students (around 57 per cent) in the class of 2009 have secured jobs in the placement drive that began in early January.

Placements should have been completed by the end of March, and the campus would have been readying for graduation day in the first week of April. However, the slowing economy appears to have taken a toll on this prestigious B-school, which ranked 15 in the 2009 global MBA rankings released by the Financial Times. Over the years, the placement trends were analysed and results announced by graduation day, scheduled for April 4. This year, that is unlikely to happen. There are already hints of a fall in the annual average salary offers from Rs 18-20 lakh to Rs 13-15 lakh.

In 2007, 581 offers were made to 416 students. In 2008, 657 offers were made to 421 students.

The IT-ITeS, finance and real estate sectors combined made 280 job offers in 2008. This year, all these sectors have been hit by the slowdown. The school had, in fact, sensed this and started inviting new companies for campus recruitment around November this year.

Many students graduating this April will still have access to ISB’s resources and services over the next few months to find a job. The school will be in regular touch with students to help them find a suitable job that fits students’ profiles.

The school, however, has not fixed any timeframe for students to find jobs. “We will continue to explore avenues till all students find the right job in accordance with their qualifications and work experience,” said an ISB spokesperson.

The premier B-school had earlier announced that it would increase enrolments by 560 to 600 for the class of 2010. It did not, however, explain how it would raise the number of job offers if the job market did not pick up.

ISB has six months to plan for the placement of the new batch after collecting the profiles of the students, their preferences for a sector or function, location choices and so on.

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ISB placement season extended

For the first time since its inception, the Indian School of Business (ISB) has extended its placement season indefinitely. Only 250 of the 440 students (around 57 per cent) in the class of 2009 have secured jobs in the placement drive that began in early January.

Placements should have been completed by the end of March, and the campus would have been readying for graduation day in the first week of April. However, the slowing economy appears to have taken a toll on this prestigious B-school, which ranked 15 in the 2009 global MBA rankings released by the Financial Times. Over the years, the placement trends were analysed and results announced by graduation day, scheduled for April 4. This year, that is unlikely to happen. There are already hints of a fall in the annual average salary offers from Rs 18-20 lakh to Rs 13-15 lakh.

In 2007, 581 offers were made to 416 students. In 2008, 657 offers were made to 421 students.

The IT-ITeS, finance and real estate sectors combined made 280 job offers in 2008. This year, all these sectors have been hit by the slowdown. The school had, in fact, sensed this and started inviting new companies for campus recruitment around November this year.

Many students graduating this April will still have access to ISB’s resources and services over the next few months to find a job. The school will be in regular touch with students to help them find a suitable job that fits students’ profiles.

The school, however, has not fixed any timeframe for students to find jobs. “We will continue to explore avenues till all students find the right job in accordance with their qualifications and work experience,” said an ISB spokesperson.

The premier B-school had earlier announced that it would increase enrolments by 560 to 600 for the class of 2010. It did not, however, explain how it would raise the number of job offers if the job market did not pick up.

ISB has six months to plan for the placement of the new batch after collecting the profiles of the students, their preferences for a sector or function, location choices and so on.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009

IIM Lucknow cent percent placement

LUCKNOW: Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIML) has claimed to have made a cent per cent placement this year, with over 100 companies offering jobs to its graduates despite the global recession.

Chairman of IIML's placement cell, Sushil Kumar said, "Hundred and five companies had made a total of 284 offers making it the largest placement process this year across premier business schools, in terms of number of candidates successfully placed."

He said 40 per cent were placed in finance, 31 in marketing, 16 in consultation jobs and five in Human Resources. Four per cent opted for general management, while two per cent each were placed in operations and systems.

"As many as 267 students were to be placed this year. Of these, 25 had accepted Pre-Placement Offers, while seven chose to start on their own," Kumar told reporters.

Forty eight students got recruited through Higher Entry Placement Process (HEPP), which is given to those with a minimum of one year work experience.

Fourteen PSUs, including NTPC, SAIL, GAIL and Coal India, apart from 15 overseas companies came for the placements, Kumar said.

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Report in Economic Times

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Crack the MBA Entrance

The word MBA is one of the most commonly heard words in the field of higher education today, and the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) simply tags along. It is one of the best opportunities available for achieving admission in to the bestmanagement institutes in India, like the IIMs.

Preparing for the CAT is not an easy task. A student preparing to appear for the CAT will have several questions in mind; the most important being: when is the best time to start preparing for CAT? Also, how much time does onerequire to effectively prepare for the CAT?

A student should start preparing for the CAT while studying in the pre-final year of graduation. This helps the student to balance college studies and the study for the CAT. Also, starting the preparation early gives the student more time to complete the portion and to appear for more practice CAT papers.

Moreover, with greater time and practice put in, the student is able to get better clarity of concepts, and better awareness of the strengths and weaknesses. If one starts late the pressure of study and performance in the tests become immense, and this affects one's confidence.

The three main areas tested in the CAT are:
1. Quantitative Aptitude.
2. Verbal Ability
3. Logical Reasoning and Data interpretation (LR and DI)

These are the areas tested in all the other MBA entrance examinations also. Hence, it is advisable to start preparing for the CAT even if one's focus is some other specific entrance examination.

The minor differences in some of the other exams are: Business Awareness and General Knowledge in exams like IIFT, SNAP and TISS; Higher mathematics in FMS and JMET; Essay writing in XAT; and Visual Reasoning in CET. These areas can then be systematically covered to attempt all the examinations in the exam season.

The CAT has changed its testing style in the past decade. Gradually moving away from its strong focus on concept application in the late 90s, it has now become an almost completely reasoning test.

The logic behind this shift, as most people perceive it, is to identify those who are well equipped to face the challenges in the corporate world.

In Quantitative Aptitude a student could easily prepare the basics of mathematics in Std. VIII, IX, X on his own, but the applications of these principles will have to be learnt with some effort in a formal academic setting of the class room under a faculty. Self study may help, but only to a limited extent. Classroom coaching can be of tremendous help in learning the different ways to approach a problem and to solve it in the shortest time.

In verbal ability, the focus has shifted from comprehension and proficiency in language to analytical skills. All the options for a particular question appear correct and demand much more than a casual or superficial analysis. Reasoning ability is the key requirement to solve these questions correctly.

In fact, DI was the harbinger of these changes in the testing style of CAT. DI questions were the first to change and were earlier dominated by varying types of graphs and tables. Questions were loaded with numbers and required detailed calculations.

The DI/LR section is now a collection of sets that are completely interpretation-cum-analysis based. Solving questions in the new scheme of things is not at all a function of how well an individual can calculate but a direct function of how much and how well the test taker can comprehend and logically process the given data.

So, what helps a student to solve the New-Age CAT paper is not sheer brilliance but a combination of sharp, swift intelligence and 'pin-pointed precision' in reasoning. A well planned strategy is essential in the preparation for the CAT to get the required confidence and to make a successful attempt to achieve one's goals.

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