XLerate 2014 – the first sports championship for One year MBA students at premier B-schools in India has come to a close at the XLRI campus in Jamshedpur. Organized by the PGDM – GM (previously GMP) students of XLRI, the meet saw One year MBA students from premier management institutes across India, such as IIM Calcutta, Great Lakes Chennai and SP Jain, Mumbai battle against each other on the field. At the end of the two-day long sports gala, XLRI came up as the overall champion while Great Lakes, Chennai was declared the Runner’s Up.

XLerate 2014 was inaugurated on the 1st of March and hosted a variety of sports events comprising of Cricket, Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis, Chess, Carrom, Tug of War and Athletics. The event concluded on 2nd March with the prize distribution ceremony followed by a performance by the rock band ‘Odyssey’.

“The first edition of XLerate has been a great experience for all the participating students. The event promises to be a yearly meeting ground for students pursuing One year MBAs and would showcase their talent at the highest level and bring out the sportsmen spirit in all besides testing their managerial acumen and strategic skills.” Dr. Pranabesh Ray, Dean, XLRI commented on the occasion.

Odyssey livens up the evening with alternative rock

“We remain ever grateful to our college, our sponsors and all the participants who came together to make this event a success. We hope this will be even bigger with years to come. ”, is what the XLerate organizing committee had to say.

Your website Oneyearmba.co.in was the Online Partner for XLerate 2014.

– John Quincy Adams

It is quite often that we read, see, observe and aspire to follow in the footsteps of leaders. But how many of us get to meet our ideals up close to learn from them?

How often do we out of fear and insecurity, refrain from taking that one step that could set us on a life changing journey and help us achieve our destiny? In such moments of doubt, one small nudge from someone who has walked a similar path can do wonders!

The individual journeys that begin as a consequence of such inspiration can change the course of history. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, the founders of Google for instance did not only start revolutions of their own, but also inspired many others to follow them in their footsteps.

At XLRI, through the XLRI Leadership Series (XLS), a series of talks organised by the One year MBA – PGDM (GM) at XLRI, this is the gap we aim to fill by connecting leaders and the students who are leaders of tomorrow.

It is our aim to create socially responsible leaders who take initiatives and lead from the front, are conscious of the social implications of business decisions, and are effective managers who ‘get the job done’.

With this aim in mind we invite stalwarts and distinguished achievers from myriad walks of life to interact with students and help them gain a better perspective of life & business.

In the past years we have hosted leaders such as Lt. Gen Anjan Mukherjee, AVSM, Director General , Artillery , Indian Army and Mr. Praveen Sinha, Co-founder and Managing Director Jabong.com to address the students while this year we had the likes of Mr. SV Nathan, Director Talent at Deloitte and Dr. Vijay Sharma, JMD at Usha Martin speak at the event.

This year the leadership series organised on 18th January, 2014 at XLRI saw participation by some of the leading lights from the industry:

Excerpts from the talk

Mr. Raghavendra K., Head (HR), Infosys BPO

Sharing his perspectives on the evolution of the BPO industry in India Mr. Raghavendra said that by 2020, the BPM industry, one of the fastest growing industries in India, would employ nearly 20 million graduates (as per a recent report) and thereby become the second largest employer after the Railways. Mr. Raghavendra declared that this industry could change the landscape of the country with the possibility of ‘plain vanilla’ graduates from Tier 2/ Tier 3 cities becoming employed in the best of systems and domains.

He added that the Indian BPM industry, which currently accounts for 39% of the global market share, has a head start over the emerging competition (China, Philippines, and other South East Asian countries) in terms of technology, a huge talent pool, and a host of other favourable factors. Further, he noted that this industrial sector would witness greater consolidation as it grows, leading to a higher number of mergers and acquisitions, in order to take advantage of diverse competencies.

In the brief interactive session that followed, Mr. Raghavendra urged the students at XLRI to not  forget the 3 R’s of relevance, respect, and reach, in their pursuit of career growth.

Drawing from his wealth of experience of over 25 years in fields as diverse as manufacturing and process, to pharmaceuticals, logistics, and IT, he encouraged the students to be subject matter experts in their areas of specialization while also having an all- round understanding of how businesses are run. He concluded by stating that to emerge as a visionary leader, one must have an enquiring mind, display commitment, and learn to ‘walk the talk’.

Mr. Shivakumar, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, India Region

Drawing from his diverse experience, Mr. Shivakumar, shared valuable insights about Brands and their Evolution. Taking the students at XLRI back to the days when the barter system was prevalent, Mr. Shivakumar depicted the birth of ‘brands’ as a “time saving device”.

Through his engaging and witty speech, Mr. Shivakumar enlightened the students on brand building and shared that brands essentially answers two questions. “Who am I?” – What the product contains and “What do I promise?”. He said that good brands deliver the answers to these questions in the back and front of the pack respectively.

Sharing his experiences at companies such as HUL, Philips and Nokia, Mr. Shivakumar brought to forefront the care required in executing brand extensions.  He said “If you add a variant you should delete one – numerous variants would only confuse the consumer beyond his/her wits.”

Mr.Ramkumar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank (HR, Customer Service and Operations)

Referring to the PGDM (GM) Class at XLRI as a privileged lot, he urged the students to put their special education in management to special use. Mr. Ramkumar said that as future leaders, XLRI students should have an eye for talent and give time to people in the organization to grow and transform as high performers.

Giving a radical perspective on the language diversity in India, he mentioned that there will be no dearth of talent supply in India, if individuals were chosen based on ability rather than their proficiency in English. While strongly insisting on the importance of English in today’s business world, Mr.Ramkumar suggested that language should not be a barrier and talented candidates should be given an opportunity in the corporate world and they can be made proficient in English over time.

Recalling his humble beginning in life and experience as a state-level Kabbadi champion, Mr. Ramkumar, talked of the thin line between courage and cowardice. He urged the students at XLRI to be ready to take up enormous physical and mental rigour to evolve as better people.

Mr. Nadeem Kazim., Director, HR & Personnel, Exide Industries Limited

Mr. Kazim suggested that careers should be seen as a lifelong marathon.  As individuals progress in this run, they should not only learn to constantly acquire new responsibilities but also let go of the previous ones. He said this approach will make value addition to both the self and the organization a continuous process.

Throwing light on leadership today, Mr. Kazim said that organization can no longer afford leadership by few. Every employee must be a leader. Leaders should serve as great coaches and build more leaders in the team.

– Contributed by the One year MBA (PGDM-GM) Class of 2014 at XLRI, Jamshedpur

The choice of which school you go to is completely dependent on your own dreams and aspirations and your own unique profile so we do not intend to share a recommendation. However, we felt that sharing information could aid prospective students in conducting their own analysis of which business school is right for them. 

Disha Chhabra, an alumni of the PGPEX programme (Class of 2013) shares information on the three programmes.

Note – IIM Indore‘s EPGP, IIM Lucknow’s IPMX , XLRI’s GMP and some other business schools which are pertinent to the discussion are not included in the analysis currently. We may add these schools to the article at a later date.

By Disha Chhabra 

Admission time is back again. Like every year, a lot of lucky folks have received multiple calls from IIM A,IIM B, IIM C and ISB etc and are in a serious dilemma. It is a tough choice to make – a problem of plenty. But it is also one of the most important decisions of your life and it is natural to talk to people around and research the options before making this call.

Thanks to my book that traces the lives of students pursuing a one year MBA in India – My Beloved’s MBA Plans; off late, a lot of people have approached me seeking my advice on choosing one among the four business schools.

I may not be a subject matter expert and by no means do I intend to make this choice for you. With this post, I will try to present facts to the best of my ability and knowledge, based on my understanding and what I would have done if I had been facing a similar choice. What follows is my personal opinion and your opinion may vary depending on what is the key decision making criterion for you. So, I would like to keep this post as factual as possible.

First, if IIM A appeared in my list of choices, I would not have evaluated any of the other options. IIM A is the biggest brand in management education in India by a fair margin. The PGPX course from IIM A stands out in terms of its batch profile, brand value and global ranking (No. 11 in 2012 and No. 26 in 2013 in the Financial Times Global MBA ranking). So you are lucky if you get a chance to be there.

Now, coming to IIM B, IIM C, ISB, I am trying to do a factual comparison on some of the key decision making parameters. All the data has been either pulled from the college’s website or research papers on the topic:

The bottom line is that each college has its own USPs. One may be easier on the pocket, the other may be offering more international exposure. One may be more tuned towards marketing, the other towards finance. Think first of what you feel is important for you and then choose for yourself.I hope the above comparison has given the readers some sense of what to choose and I have not left you even more confused.

Feel free to comment, criticize, suggest or ask for more information.

Need more information or suggestions based on your unique profile? Post a question to current students of IIM C, IIM B and IIM C on the here: IIM B admissions, IIM C admissions, ISB admissions 

The author of this article besides being an alumni of IIM Calcutta’s PGPEX is the author of My Beloved’s MBA Plans – a first of a kind book that explores the lives of people pursuing a One year MBA at Indian business schools. The author can be reached at dishacx2013@email.iimcal.ac.in

Disclaimer – The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Oneyearmba.co.in

There are certain aspects of the report however that have the potential to confuse students about the fast emerging internationally accredited MBA courses in India – the One year MBA. The report bundles Executive MBA (part time course for executives working in full time jobs) with One year full time MBA (full time residential course for candidates with work experience as mandated internationally as eligibility for an MBA degree).

The One year MBA course offers students in India for the first time an MBA degree as the world understands it. We feel that Business Today’s report, unintentionally, creates an image of the two-year management course in India as the primary and ‘legitimate’ form of an MBA, when in fact its is not accredited as an MBA at all by global institutions. 

This misrepresentation in our view could push students into rushing into management education after graduation instead of working for a few years and finding their calling before heading for an MBA, as academicians recommend worldwide. 

In the interest of students, most of whom are already confused by the terminologies at play, Oneyearmba.co.in attempts to clarify certain aspect of the Business Today report.

Article Excerpt

“This year, programmes of less than two years – such as those offered by Indian School of Business or ISB, Hyderabad and Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai – were not included, because we wanted to separate the regular two-year programmes from the specialized executive programmes.”

Link to article – (http://bit.ly/articlelink1)

FACT

The One year MBA courses in India are not ‘specialized’ courses which is a term reserved for sector specific MBAs such as MBA in HR, or MBA in finance – courses different from the mainstream general management focused MBA offered at business schools.

The One year full time MBA instead is the first and only MBA in India as per international accreditation awarded by Association of MBAs, UK – the only global authority that accredits courses instead of institutes.

This accreditation has not been imposed on Indian business schools, it has been sought by them in order to increase their global standing. The One year MBA at Indian business schools has achieved this aim for the business schools by finally gaining for the institutes an MBA accreditation. The two-year PGP course, with a class largely consisting of freshers, doesn’t meet global eligibility norms for a course to qualify as an MBA. [pullquote]The usage of terms like Executive course, Executive MBA, MBA for executives is creating a perception in the minds of students that the two-year course in India is the legitimate full blown management degree and that the One year full time MBA course in India is some sort of specialized option for mid career executives looking to kickstart their career and who ‘missed the bus’ after graduation[/pullquote]

FACT

Neither is the One year MBA an ‘executive programme’. An executive programme is a part time programme. The One year MBA demands work experience like its global two-year and one-year MBA counterparts but that does not make it an executive programme.

While the man on the street may not know any better and may call a One year MBA an Executive MBA, ‘colloquial usage’ should not be elevated to the status of ‘fact’. Even in the case that colloquial usage of a word or phrase is used as a quote in writing, it is appended by ‘sic’ to indicate that this words used are not the proper usage of the world and contain a misstatement of fact.

To clarify the status of the One year MBA in India as a full time regular MBA programme, we are sharing Oxford Said’s programmes page which clearly lists the types of programmes on offer.

You can read about the flagship One year MBA at (http://bit.ly/15ZZTe0). The class profile of the One year MBA at Oxford is available at (http://bit.ly/16We2cO) and clearly shows the class has 6 years of average work experience. So is the Oxford One year MBA an executive programme/ Executive MBA/ MBA for executives? No, none of these nomenclatures fit and the Executive MBA is an entirely different offering at Oxford. You can read more about the executive course at (http://bit.ly/19GsLsA). [pullquote]Calling the One year full time MBA in India an Executive MBA, could push students into rushing into management education immediately after graduation instead of working for a few years and finding their calling before heading for an MBA, as academicians recommend worldwide[/pullquote]

Oxford is not alone here, all business schools around the world follow this terminology. Sample HULT’s programme page (http://bit.ly/1bkG4wd). You will notice a One year MBA, an Executive MBA and a Master programme. While the One year MBA is the same course as the One year MBA in India, the Executive MBA is a part time course. Also worth pointing out is that the Master course mentioned on the page (alternatively accessible here (http://bit.ly/1hJFh9M) is the same course as the two-year PGP offered in India – meant for a class without work experience.

To clarify further, a full time MBA and an Executive MBA are different courses not because the Executive MBA demands past work experience and the full time MBA doesn’t demand it – no, both demand it. But while a full time MBA, whether of one year or two-year duration, is a full time residential programme, the Executive MBA/ Executive course is a part-time course meant for students who are working in the daytime as executives – and are therefore ‘executives’ at the same time as they are pursuing their MBA.

Some people might wonder why we are we insisting on the usage of the correct nomenclature for the One year MBA? How does it matter if you call a course an Executive MBA or a One year MBA? Doesn’t a rose by any other name smell just as sweet?

We feel terminologies do matter, especially when a concept is still new. The usage of terms like Executive course, Executive MBA, MBA for executives is creating a perception in the minds of students that the two-year course in India is the legitimate full blown management degree and that the One year full time MBA course in India is some sort of specialized option for mid career executives looking to kickstart their career and who ‘missed the bus’ after graduation.

This is both funny and tragic. Here finally is an MBA in India that is in sync with an MBA as the world understands it and students and, surprisingly, in some cases the press too are none the wiser for it.

Article Excerpt

“The Ahmedabad and Calcutta IIMs both launched their executive MBA programmes in 2006′

Link to article – (http://bit.ly/articlelink2)

FACT

This point has been made earlier however pointing this out again as the potential impact of this mix up is huge. IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta do not offer Executive MBA programmes. They do however offer One year full time MBA programmes.

A graphic in Business Today. Executive Programmes or MBA? 

Article Excerpt

“Unlike courses abroad – especially in Europe – most mid-career MBAs in India require professionals to take a year’s break from their career.”

FACT

Any full time course requires a a break from work. So whether its a full time MBA abroad or in India, a candidate will need to leave work to join the course. On the other hand an Executive MBA is a part time course, and so whether in India or abroad, candidates pursuing this course continue to work full time in jobs.

The conclusion drawn by the article seems to have been arrived at from mixing up the One year full time MBA course in India with Executive MBA courses abroad.

Article Excerpt

“Unlike the IIMs, ISB does not offer placement services for executive MBAs. One reason is that many participants’ employers grant them time off from work so they can attend the programme”

FACT

ISB does offer placement support for its One year full time MBA (PGP) just like IIMs provide support for their One year full time MBA (PGPX/EPGP/IPMX/PGPEX) as both courses attract self-sponsored candidates.

ISB does not offer placement support for its PGPMAX programme which is a part time course (Executive MBA). Similarly, IIMs that have a part time MBA, such as IIM Indore which has a weekend programme called PGPMX, also do not offer placement support for that programme.

Article Excerpt

Many Indians are opting for executive MBAs from B-schools in other countries, such as INSEAD in France and Queen’s School of Business in Canada’s Ontario province. INSEAD offers a Global Executive MBA and the Tsinghua-INSEAD executive MBA. The programme takes place on three campuses in Europe, Asia and West Asia

FACT

Good points here. But because the article covers One year full time programmes and Executive MBA courses in the same narrative and uses the two course names interchangeably, there is a possibility of students mistaking the One year programmes in India as similar to the programmes described at INSEAD & Queens.

To clarify, the programmes at both INSEAD and Queens mentioned in the article are part time progammes and are different from the flagship One year full time MBA at the institutes.

Read more on this subject 

Deccan Herald says the One year MBA is the first MBA in India

Executive MBA? No. India’s first globally accepted MBA? Yes. 

FT ranks IIM Calcutta’s & IIM Ahmedabad’s PGP in MIM ranking. MBA aspirants take note

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