The Singapore Chapter of the XLRI Alumni Meet is happening on July 1st, 2006.
Our Director, Fr. Casmir Raj will be there to grace the occasion
along with other members of the faculty. Wine and food will be served.
Here are the details:
Venue: XLRI Center
Address: 167, Jln. Bukit Merah, #07-11,
Connection ONE [old Tower 5],
Opp. Bukit Merah Interchange, Singapore 150167
Time & Date: 1st July 2006, 7pm onwards
Directions:
- The closest MRT station is Tiong Bahru
- As you exit the MRT station, take a right turn at the 7/11 store.
- At the main exit take a right again, which will take you to the bus
stop.
- There is a shuttle service available mornings and evenings.
- The bus routes which bring you to the location are 851 and 16.
If lost, get in touch with Dr. Rajashree on +65 98223438.
Be There !!
Udit Saraff
Batch of 2005
+65 81285640
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Madhukar in the latest Business World
From the Businessworld issue on Indian innovation (you need to register to read articles - but registration is free)
Squeeze The Dry Towel
Innovation has to happen in a much more organised manner if India is to be counted among the world’s greatest nations.
In all this debate over whether India is innovating enough, there is yet another subtext. Is the kind of innovation that is already happening here the right variety?
There is a pattern to the innovation emerging out of India. Most of it revolves around price — essentially making a product or a service more affordable (therefore, accessible) to a larger mass of people. While there is nothing wrong with an emphasis on what management thinker C.K. Prahalad calls the ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’ approach, the question is — is price innovation enough for us?
Innovation practitioners say, yes. They argue that innovation has to be in the context of a nation’s socio-economic framework and its economic imperatives. In the US, for example, innovations are typically in technology and products, since labour is expensive there.
Madhukar Shukla, professor at XLRI, says not much is being done to address this segment of the market: “There is a vast market at the bottom of the pyramid. It also makes business sense.”
One derivative of the bottom-of-the-pyramid mindset is the emphasis most Indian companies have begun paying to thrift. And that, in turn, have made many of them globally competitive, especially in manufacturing.
Take automobile components. Says Baba Kalyani, CMD, Bharat Forge, one of India’s most innovative auto-component companies: “We started by placing emphasis on improving cost efficiencies, enhancing product quality and rationalising internal processes. We then leveraged the domestic market to build an export orientation by creating international-scale capacities.”
But the real issue is whether too much emphasis on price-led innovation will prevent Indians from making an iPod, or even a Walkman. Says Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors: “Price is one peg. But you must identify the need the product will cater to. With Ace, we identified both.”
XLRI’s Shukla, however, argues that even if India were to create an iPod, lack of marketing muscle would not allow it to exploit the global market. “The XP launch cost Microsoft close to $800 million. Can any Indian company match that?” he says.
He may have a point, but there are ways of getting around this issue. One is through collaboration, as Indian pharma companies doing high-end R&D have shown. (A company develops the molecule and then farms out the trials, marketing, etc., to partners.)
Another solution that Indian companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, seem to have hit upon is to look at expanding in other structurally similar markets, mainly in Africa and some parts of central and South-east Asia. Given that a bottom-of-the-pyramid approach works equally well there, Indian companies are extending innovations developed for India to these markets.
The Tata Group, for example, almost has a complete South Africa strategy, where the company is selling everything from cars to telecom to hotels. Again, Tata Motors has recently sold 228 buses, originally developed for India, to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Given their cost structures, it would be fair to assume that the Tata buses would have an advantage over buses from the US or Europe.
The journey that BW took over the past few weeks — talking to academics, consultants, and meeting with companies and non-profit organisations actually practising innovation — to see first-hand innovation at work demonstrated one reality unequivocally: Indians believe the country needs to do things differently if it wants to count itself amongst the world’s great nations. Some innovators are stuck for cash, some for guidance, some for people, but the spark exists. It is now for us as a nation to fan that spark into a flame.
Read the Whole Story
Squeeze The Dry Towel
Innovation has to happen in a much more organised manner if India is to be counted among the world’s greatest nations.
In all this debate over whether India is innovating enough, there is yet another subtext. Is the kind of innovation that is already happening here the right variety?
There is a pattern to the innovation emerging out of India. Most of it revolves around price — essentially making a product or a service more affordable (therefore, accessible) to a larger mass of people. While there is nothing wrong with an emphasis on what management thinker C.K. Prahalad calls the ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’ approach, the question is — is price innovation enough for us?
Innovation practitioners say, yes. They argue that innovation has to be in the context of a nation’s socio-economic framework and its economic imperatives. In the US, for example, innovations are typically in technology and products, since labour is expensive there.
Madhukar Shukla, professor at XLRI, says not much is being done to address this segment of the market: “There is a vast market at the bottom of the pyramid. It also makes business sense.”
One derivative of the bottom-of-the-pyramid mindset is the emphasis most Indian companies have begun paying to thrift. And that, in turn, have made many of them globally competitive, especially in manufacturing.
Take automobile components. Says Baba Kalyani, CMD, Bharat Forge, one of India’s most innovative auto-component companies: “We started by placing emphasis on improving cost efficiencies, enhancing product quality and rationalising internal processes. We then leveraged the domestic market to build an export orientation by creating international-scale capacities.”
But the real issue is whether too much emphasis on price-led innovation will prevent Indians from making an iPod, or even a Walkman. Says Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors: “Price is one peg. But you must identify the need the product will cater to. With Ace, we identified both.”
XLRI’s Shukla, however, argues that even if India were to create an iPod, lack of marketing muscle would not allow it to exploit the global market. “The XP launch cost Microsoft close to $800 million. Can any Indian company match that?” he says.
He may have a point, but there are ways of getting around this issue. One is through collaboration, as Indian pharma companies doing high-end R&D have shown. (A company develops the molecule and then farms out the trials, marketing, etc., to partners.)
Another solution that Indian companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, seem to have hit upon is to look at expanding in other structurally similar markets, mainly in Africa and some parts of central and South-east Asia. Given that a bottom-of-the-pyramid approach works equally well there, Indian companies are extending innovations developed for India to these markets.
The Tata Group, for example, almost has a complete South Africa strategy, where the company is selling everything from cars to telecom to hotels. Again, Tata Motors has recently sold 228 buses, originally developed for India, to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Given their cost structures, it would be fair to assume that the Tata buses would have an advantage over buses from the US or Europe.
The journey that BW took over the past few weeks — talking to academics, consultants, and meeting with companies and non-profit organisations actually practising innovation — to see first-hand innovation at work demonstrated one reality unequivocally: Indians believe the country needs to do things differently if it wants to count itself amongst the world’s great nations. Some innovators are stuck for cash, some for guidance, some for people, but the spark exists. It is now for us as a nation to fan that spark into a flame.
Read the Whole Story
Monday, June 26, 2006
Rajan Krishnan (85BM) to head Principal Mutual Fund
[http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/05/stories/2006050504191700.htm]
Slightly dated news:
Rajan Krishnan (85BMD) took over as the new Business Head of Principal Mutual Fund, the Asset Management group of PNB, in May 2006
Rajan used to be the Vice-President, Sales & Marketing at Principal PNB Asset Management Company Pvt. He started his career in the mutual fund with Kothari Pioneer, the first private sector mutual fund in the country. After spending about five years in Kothari Pioneer, he moved to take on Sales & Maketing responsibility at Zurich India Mutual Fund. He has been with Principal Mutual Fund since June of 2003. Prior to joining the mutual funds industry, Mr. Krishnan garnered rich and solid experience in the field of advertising and market research and has worked with renowned names from the industry, like, Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather and Bozell.
Slightly dated news:
Rajan Krishnan (85BMD) took over as the new Business Head of Principal Mutual Fund, the Asset Management group of PNB, in May 2006
Rajan used to be the Vice-President, Sales & Marketing at Principal PNB Asset Management Company Pvt. He started his career in the mutual fund with Kothari Pioneer, the first private sector mutual fund in the country. After spending about five years in Kothari Pioneer, he moved to take on Sales & Maketing responsibility at Zurich India Mutual Fund. He has been with Principal Mutual Fund since June of 2003. Prior to joining the mutual funds industry, Mr. Krishnan garnered rich and solid experience in the field of advertising and market research and has worked with renowned names from the industry, like, Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather and Bozell.
Ashish Rajpal (92BMD) among the "50 Leaders Reshaping the India Education"
The June issue of Education World features Ashish Rajpal (92BMD) among the "50 Leaders Reshaping the India Education"
[Ashish Rajpal, top row, between Narayana Murthy and Arjun Singh
Ashish is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of iDiscoveri India Pvt Ltd.
[Ashish Rajpal, top row, between Narayana Murthy and Arjun Singh
Ashish is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of iDiscoveri India Pvt Ltd.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
2008 batch lands at Jampot Campus
The batch of 2008 has landed on campus.
Things have changed a lot from when we joined.
Nowadays, the juniors arrive a week or 2 in advance. They get their QT fundae polished up. There r sessions to get to know the campus, the city & the profs.
Remember that in our time (which wasn't so long ago) this used to be a half day affair, followed by high tea. With quite a few anxious parents who had come to drop their wards also being invited. (Good PR to give these parents a feel that their precious kids would be well fed for their 2 year stint on campus {grin} I was well fed for sure, but more courtesy of Mad Sam, karnail parathas, Akshay's & Siddharth's moms, the chinese place in bistupur, the chin thai place behind campus, pizzeria & the others)
Check out the first impressions of some of the new batch. Relive the good old days through their eyes.
Some observations from Ravi Shankar 08 : Days of My Life
# There are beautiful girls in India, Jamshedpur is filled with them
# There is only one cinema hall, and people seem to be fine with it. "Koi cinema nahi dekhthey bhayya" was the reaction of an auto driver.
# After four years of bad food at IIIT mess, XL's comes as a welcome relief.
Chardonnay - Abhishek Mall's Personal Diary
# We have an amazing collection of teachers here at XL, some of them are pretty sweet and nice.
# We got our first book in XL, some Labour Laws.
# They showed us pretty slides and a movie about XLRI and said all those good things that you are amoung the best people chosen from India, well it sound very much comforting.
Things have changed a lot from when we joined.
Nowadays, the juniors arrive a week or 2 in advance. They get their QT fundae polished up. There r sessions to get to know the campus, the city & the profs.
Remember that in our time (which wasn't so long ago) this used to be a half day affair, followed by high tea. With quite a few anxious parents who had come to drop their wards also being invited. (Good PR to give these parents a feel that their precious kids would be well fed for their 2 year stint on campus {grin} I was well fed for sure, but more courtesy of Mad Sam, karnail parathas, Akshay's & Siddharth's moms, the chinese place in bistupur, the chin thai place behind campus, pizzeria & the others)
Check out the first impressions of some of the new batch. Relive the good old days through their eyes.
Some observations from Ravi Shankar 08 : Days of My Life
# There are beautiful girls in India, Jamshedpur is filled with them
# There is only one cinema hall, and people seem to be fine with it. "Koi cinema nahi dekhthey bhayya" was the reaction of an auto driver.
# After four years of bad food at IIIT mess, XL's comes as a welcome relief.
Chardonnay - Abhishek Mall's Personal Diary
# We have an amazing collection of teachers here at XL, some of them are pretty sweet and nice.
# We got our first book in XL, some Labour Laws.
# They showed us pretty slides and a movie about XLRI and said all those good things that you are amoung the best people chosen from India, well it sound very much comforting.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Ok Tata Bye Bye
Hi Everyone,
I'm so excited.
I've been shortlisted for a travel contest. Which involves travelling
& Blogging. Hardly ever been selected for anything earlier :)
Check out the contest and my profile on
http://www.oktatabyebye.com
http://www.oktatabyebye.com/Krishma.asp
(Yes they have spelt my name wrong in the link, trying to get them to correct it)
The final selection is next week. I'm not sure how they will do it.
But have a vague feeling that they may do so based on popularity of
the contestant & ability to draw viewers.
Requesting you to please view my profile & drop me a comment, even if
its just to say "All the best, Kim" or "Don't think u should go" But
please comment.
Hope there's a lot of you looking for something to do on a slow Friday
afternoon.
Please, please, pretty please. :)
Kim
http://kimelody.blogspot.com - the XL Blog
http://mbajobsindia.blogspot.com/
http://whazzupmumbai.blogspot.com
I'm so excited.
I've been shortlisted for a travel contest. Which involves travelling
& Blogging. Hardly ever been selected for anything earlier :)
Check out the contest and my profile on
http://www.oktatabyebye.com
http://www.oktatabyebye.com/Krishma.asp
(Yes they have spelt my name wrong in the link, trying to get them to correct it)
The final selection is next week. I'm not sure how they will do it.
But have a vague feeling that they may do so based on popularity of
the contestant & ability to draw viewers.
Requesting you to please view my profile & drop me a comment, even if
its just to say "All the best, Kim" or "Don't think u should go" But
please comment.
Hope there's a lot of you looking for something to do on a slow Friday
afternoon.
Please, please, pretty please. :)
Kim
http://kimelody.blogspot.com - the XL Blog
http://mbajobsindia.blogspot.com/
http://whazzupmumbai.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Shebu Raphael (92PMIR) in News
| Home > Executive Track > Shebu Raphael as Global HR chief of Marlabs |
| Shebu Raphael (92PMIR - XLRI) as Global HR chief of Marlabs |
| He will be responsible for HR services to the projects and professional services in India, the US |
| http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.asp?artid=85562 |
| Wednesday, June 21, 2006 |
| BANGALORE: Marlabs India, wholly owned subsidiary of Marlabs Inc. today announced Shebu Raphael as its worldwide head of human capital.
|
In his new role Raphael is responsible for HR services to the projects and professional services in India, the US besides other markets where Marlabs operates in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
