PGPX IV - 2009-10: Application Process and Beyond

[JPThomas]

Hi,
I am new to this forum.

Shortlisted for the interview
I/V - Oct 16th 1:05 PM London

Profile - 740/Good Acads/WE 7 years/3 years in Netherlands
Current role - Project manager

Anyone else from Netherlands or neighboring countries?

Can those of you who attended the interview share your experience?

[satsaw]

Originally Posted by deepak75

Yes. I got 5 min for the PPT + my professional intro.
The topic was on Lehman collapse
Yes the last question was on family background.

Hope it helps.

Hey Deepak,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

The extempore topic is the new thing this year. Do they allow you to choose another topic if you are not familiar with the issue? Does anybody want to share their experience about this aspect of the interview?

[dichotomy]

RR_EZ,

I would agree with you partially. There are tangibles and then there are intangibles. I am sure no one would disagree with the value of knowledge gained during this course. But at end of day, each perosn who finally accepts and joins would be pumping a significant amount of investment (read - tangible).

ROI is not a buzz word; its real and has been cornerstone of every investment, whether it is NANO project or Ranbaxy buyout or Wells Fargo trying for Wachovia. Although, the goals can be long term or short term but its only prudent to introspect what one gains at the end and at what input cost.

My idea for ROI was not narrow, it was quite broad stroked. The PGPX and usual 2 years MBA course would be differently impacted in terms of placements, if you see the list of recruiters. I agree that instead of Lehman, Kotak Mahindra can now recruit at a bargain. The question is, how does one see his/her career in this process?. Does he/she become a part of this bargain(I am assuming everyone will be quitting a well settled job for this course)? Does one wait and watch? Does DLF still remain the darling with realty crash? Does one REALLY want to go to Infosys Consulting (when he/she wanted to join Bain fully aware what Infy consulting offers in real world).

Obviously, with a falling market (not necessarily recession), the elite institutes benefit. But let us admit: No one currently knows the impact of crisis. My hope like yours and everyone else's is that the recession is a far fetched idea and India may come out unscathed (claims of 7% growth rate, sound baking fundamentals, in house economy, no exposure to CDO/SIV etc) but same was being said about global economy when it was a housing bubble burst in US. So, the drama would obviously unfold over next couple of quarters. But the signs are palpable.

I dont want to sound like a doom's day theorist, but we need to look around with eyes open for any tell tale signs. Things could be much better, rosy and positive than what are being predicted and I would be happy as everyone else would be

There are no right and wrong points of view. Its just that pragmatism in turbulent times is imperative for the sea-change that people are going to undergo through this course. I myself dont have answers to lot of questions and hence discussion.

Cheers

Originally Posted by RR_ez

Well said p_jez. Just the tax benefit will be around 50% mark of what you have stated (in vicinity of abt 3.5K pm)

My thoughts are on similar lines on the subject. ROI is just a buzzword associated by American press and picked up by all who write about MBA.

1. For me and most all of us, it is about knowledge. Can I attach Cost and ROIC parameters to primary/secondary/college education I had? I am glad my parents did not indulge in such analysis while getting me best education way beyond what was in easy reach. Knowledge is invaluable and can be cashed upon many times over, based on avg life expectancy in India.
2. I am not exactly averse to slowdown hitting the industry across the board, a very unrealistic and far fetched scenario. Great companies (and the ones that will be best for us to work in) will continue to hire good people in bigger numbers, pay them a little less money and throw them in fire. For instance, it may be good chance for second rung consulting players like Infy Consulting to lay hands on good talent ahead of Accenture/IBM etc. and resurrect consulting practice.
3. In bad times, you learn in 1 yr what would otherwise take hald decade to learn. This is the time to sharpen existing skills and acquire new ones, exactly what we will dot at PGPX.
4. If slowdown hits, most companies look inward and cut out on requesting external (and expensive) hand for help. For instance, in downturn M&M may not call on McKinsey or Bain, but instead use inhouse strategy/leadership groups to manage in the volatile business environment. TATA may not go to UK for interior design & Italy for exterios design of next car but do it inhouse.

I am assuming if there is any hiring happening at all, IIMA will be destination of choice. Also, I believe India will not get into severe recession as almost all of out growth story is from inhouse demand. Yes, there will be downturn (which is good in certain ways) but not a grinding halt. And if there is even a bit of life, we have got work and very good learning opportunities.

Every cloud has silver lining, IIMA PGPX will be our eyes to spot it.

Pardon the typos. Was in hurry to move out of office.

[goformba]

I recently stumbled upon this article from Indian Institute of Planning and Management:

http://iipXm.edu/images_new/2008/B&E_cover-story.pdf. Please remove the 'X'.


I realize that ISB vs. IIMA has been a topic of many heated debates. However, I'd like to know the views of others on this forum.

Here's my opinion:

I was hoping that there would be real hard facts. I was reading this article with an open mind. This is BS. This article is skewed - the primary motive behind this article is to advertise their institute (wherever possible).

The only debatable point is the quality of the faculty from IIMA and ISB.

1. Placements: The article is comparing ISB vs the 2yr course from IIM. It ignores the 1 yr exec MBA from IIMs (PGPX from IIMA). Thus, less global exposure and salaries. In fact, average salaries for the PGPX graduates is higher than those of ISB grads.
2. Ranking: IIMA was ineligible till this year for global rankings. Any institute needs to be operating for atleast three years (maybe three graduating batches) to be eligible. The other IIMs will not be eligible for another 2-3 years. IIMA is very confident of making the top 20 list the next year. Till IIMA becomes eligible for ranking, this is a moot point.
3. Infrastructure: IIMA has constructed new buildings anticipating the requirements of the 1yr exec MBA. All the IIMs are upgrading their infrastructure.

The article fails to capture the following things:
1. Higher experience: For the IIMA PGPX course, the incoming class has much higher average experience and also higher international experience. Because of this each student has much more to offer and the learning experience is much richer.
2. Access to Alumni network: What can I say here. IIMA has been in existence for so long and the alums from IIMA are well known and spread world over.

[goformba]

After searching the forum, I realized that the institute (which wrote this article) was banned from this forum.... and for a good reason. However, I'll leave my previous post, as the points I make don't involve the banned institute.

Originally Posted by goformba

I recently stumbled upon this article ......

[RR_ez]

Nicely written post, Dichotomy.

My mistake, I missed out adding 'context of education' when dismissing ROIC. ROIC ( as in NOPLAT/IC) forms the cornerstone of DCF model for finding real value of businesses. However, for finding the TRUE value, cash flows till perpetuity are to be discounted. This investment in education is more akin to Pharma domain where real cash flows materialize long after the regular predictable periods in DCF model. For periods after 10 yrs, typically only Continuing Value is considered.

If we really plan to value the return from IIMA, we need to be able to tell how economy will behave 15 yrs from now? If it goes on to be extremely healthy, how will you account for sudden change from VP to CEO in another or same company? Leaving aside professional part, this program will make a better personal financial planner out of most of us. We need to value the better investments. Also, we will need to take into account the scenarios like what if you get VC funding for your ideas riding on IIMA background etc.

So, all in all, it is an investment with better returns on my sweat till perpetuity. It make an year more for breaking even. For breaking even quicker, there is always of option of seeking run-of-the-mill onsite position. But then coming back to valuation, in such cases long term economic profit will be eroded, thus reducing valuation of our careers.

I agree that 2-yr program will be less impacted than 1-yr program. Primary reason, impo, is lack of flexibility associate with someone who has spent close to a decade in an industry. As for me, I am ready to take up jobs that are offered to 5 yrs exp out of IIMA 2-yr program. Suppose, if I plan to go into Business Dev, then I do not think anybody will pick me as Senior Bus Dev Mgr (as I am primarily an engineer in terms of roles throughout), I'll need to adjust a bit and plan for fast track progress into next level roles.

I am not bothered as much about slowdown, as about general placements at this program. As of now, I'll wait to bring on Trouble Signal, as I do believe that weakness in our growth will turn into our strength as our growth is driven inhouse. We are likely to be among the least impacted, unless there is complete meltdown of financial structure.

Originally Posted by dichotomy

RR_EZ,

ROI is not a buzz word; its real and has been cornerstone of every investment, whether it is NANO project or Ranbaxy buyout or Wells Fargo trying for Wachovia. Although, the goals can be long term or short term but its only prudent to introspect what one gains at the end and at what input cost.

My idea for ROI was not narrow, it was quite broad stroked. The PGPX and usual 2 years MBA course would be differently impacted in terms of placements, if you see the list of recruiters.

There are no right and wrong points of view. Its just that pragmatism in turbulent times is imperative for the sea-change that people are going to undergo through this course. I myself dont have answers to lot of questions and hence discussion.

Cheers

[RR_ez]

I am still not clear about how different the extempore speaking is from answering regular questions on current affairs? Can it be approached just like a normal question requiring detailed and slightly more in-depth answer as duration of response is longer.

Is the IV panel engaging in discussion in between or it is more like 'candidate holds the stage for whole 3 minutes'? If latter is the case, then nothing except knowledge of the subject will fly. For most topics, candidates can always bring in Indian perspective to take up a minute, which will be slighly easier to present coherently. For such i/v tactics, content may be low on technical details but should be strong on coherently organized thoughts, logical & streamlined processing of facets of the issue at hand and cover up as many angles as possible. For instance, for current financial crisis, there is subprime angle, there is Derivatives and Hedge Funds angle, there is liquidity crunch and solvency issue, from country perspective one can discuss the role of EU, China, developing countries etc. From verticals perpective, one can touch briefly on manufacturing, IT/ITES, commodities, bullion, forex markets etc. I am sure IIMA will look forward to teach us all the technicalities, they just need to see that we can learn.

Some probable i/v topics were listed in earlier posts on this forum. I am making a quick list here, making use of free first half in office :

1. Current churn in financial markets
a. Your take on (of course noone can predict, so it is more of thought process assessment again)
i. how long this downward trend will last
ii. Will it result in full-blown recession? If yes, how long.
iii. Impact on India and Why India is likely to be among the least imp
iv. Impact of/on China? Can we emerge closer to China after this downturn?
v. What is crisis similar in size to US crisis reveals in EU? Why their response will be different and how it can harm world markets?
b. What companies can do in this environment to emerge poised for better growth when the economy recovers?
c. RBI's response and your rating of the same
d. Impact on IIM recruitment scenario/your decision to study? I belive it is good for HR in India & this is the best time to study.
e. Do you think Indian banks' strategy of not going for cheaply available assets is justifiable or we are just being too defensive here?
f. With $700b bailout package approved and deficit in US widening to almost 10%, $ is expected to go down and analysts are expecting a run on $. Why is it still rising against the Re?
g. Lower in the food chain jobs were being outsourced from US citing keeping high end work like inv banking in US as one reason? Now what?
2. Why our growth story has not been able to break out of the mould of being an export driven story?
3. What should Indian companies do to move up the value chain in most industries? We still export huge chunk of cotton we grow!!!
4. Do you believe India can be future superpower? Financial first and political later.
5. Opinion on Nuclear Deal. Is it good or bad? Was the right to test an important one to loose or it was irrelevant in global situation?
6. Price of Petro products/differential price of diesel being mooted by govt
7. Is manufacturing of new Alto (A-star)/i10/i20 for world markets a sign of better times for Indian Auto sector? Can we be the hub for manufacturing for small cars to start with?
8. Tata Nano mess:
a. Why TATA chose Singur and conditions that led to their exit?
b. Whom do you hold accountable and to what extent?
c. Why all ancillaries need to be with main plant (clustering)?
d. Why do you think ancillaries are moving with Tata, even at significant cost? Besides the obvious, they also are using same technological and cost improvements for other auto mfrs as well.
9. How do you see M&A/FII/FDI scenario in & out of India for next couple of years?
10. Which 1/2/3 things you will change on priority to make India a better business destination (India is ranked among the lowest even in S Asia, per recent UN report)
11. What should be the role of govt in financial markets and economy in general? Where should it stop, moreso after the no-holds-barred model of US capitalism has collapsed?
12. If you were to open up 1/2/3 sector for complete FDI, which will be it? For me, it will be education, power & ground transport (in that order).
13. Typical stuff like Manager vs leader?
14. Expect questions on competitive strategy for industries you work in. Challenges in everyhting from market segmetation, winning business, capital budgeting, m&a environment, cultural challenges in global environ might pop up (depending on your role and role you aspire for). You can use Five Forces model, balanced scorecard and similar concepts to direct discussion.
15. Are SEZs really the way to enhance our businesses' competitiveness in global arena? Your thoughts on whether it is likely to work or not?
pls ignore the typos, pls keep adding to the list.

[gsudarsh]

Originally Posted by JPThomas

Hi,
I am new to this forum.

Shortlisted for the interview
I/V - Oct 16th 1:05 PM London

Profile - 740/Good Acads/WE 7 years/3 years in Netherlands
Current role - Project manager

Anyone else from Netherlands or neighboring countries?

Can those of you who attended the interview share your experience?

Hi my name is Sudarshan.I too have my interview on Oct 16th in London. I am living in Germany.

[dichotomy]

My take is that interview panels would not expect us to be experts. While it is good to have an understanding of things like 5F/BSC etc, we should refrain from applying them during the interview because of obvious lack of depth in many of us (more important, courses at IIMA would be covering these topics in detail). Lucky ones can definitely talk about them, if they know good deal about it. We might want to spark an interest but should tread very carefully.

On the other hand, we should definitely be well prepared about our respective sectors and some other issues that are daily headlines.

Above all, a little understanding about the courses being offered in PGPX would not harm the prospects

[RLCMAC]

Originally Posted by gsudarsh

Hi my name is Sudarshan.I too have my interview on Oct 16th in London. I am living in Germany.

Hi Sudarshan,

My name is Rahul and I have IV on 16 Oct in London.
Lets have a discussion sometime .. before 10