Hello Puys.This thread will feature all the extra curricular activities, Cultural life, Events & happenings at Woxsen Campus.
What is it that makes competition so exciting and fierce? Is it
the human obsession to get the best or simply the race that everyone is part
of, by default?
Intriguing questions indeed. But what is more worrisome is that the competition has somewhat diluted the focus and the reason as to WHY we were part of this competition in the first place.
We can find ourselves embroiled in this race in different stages - a good school, a good college, a good B-School, a good career, a good spouse... The list is endless. However, in all of these stages, we somehow end up only looking at the end result, with no regard for the process.
Let us take the case in point with the choice of B-Schools (we are Puys guys!! B-School selection is the obvious choice). With over 2500 B-Schools in India, the management education sector is inundated with choices for students. However, we seem to be as confused as we were when we did not have these choices. Everyone is still on the lookout for the elite class of institutions and the point of having the huge number of B-Schools seems kind of redundant. However, in our preparation for our dream B-School, what we've seemed to ignore is the changing selection patterns being adopted by these institutions.
Look at the trend with the IIMs. From an era of CAT-GD-PI, the procedure now says CAT-Essay Writing-PI. Have we ever thought of understanding why this shift has taken place? Why do we now have to write more (as if going through CAT was not enough)? The answer is quite simple - Assess the qualitative prowess of a candidate. A Group Discussion (typically 20 mins with 8-10 participants) would not allow the B-School to learn extensively of the depth of knowledge that every participant commanded wrt the topic given. And once the student came to the PI round, it was more often than not a verification process to eliminate anyone who may have the potential of being a bad bet in management, despite the previous rounds of selection. The PI round would concentrate more on knowing the candidate's approach towards management and to champion the B-School's decision of having selected the candidate this far. So the candidate was ready to learn how to work as an outstanding performer in the corporate.
However, the corporate begged to differ. In strained times, after the much talked about recession ("Phas gae re Obama!!" is a personal favorite of mine in depicting the consequences of this period), companies wanted more than just the knowledge of management gained by the candidate in his B-School days. Much more than the honed managerial skill-sets acquired. Companies wanted their highly paid management employees to think more strategically than concentrate only on the implementation of skills. They wanted employees to smash the fear of deadlines, think innovatively and hence become entrepreneurs within the organization.
An entrepreneurial mindset requires extreme focus and clarity in career goals. No longer can an aspirant just prepare for a fleetingly short Group Discussion and get away. She/He has to show clarity in WHY he wants to pursue management education in the first place. She/He has to show CREATIVITY and INNOVATION in her/his approach. And an Essay-Writing round provides the perfect platform for the same. And hence, the shift from GDs to Essays. Other innovative B-Schools go for a more detailed selection process by inducting qualitative analysis questions in the application itself, which compel the candidate to do a bit of soul-searching and figure out the reason why they chose MBA over others.
Management institutions worldwide are increasingly focusing on profiles of their candidates in their selection procedure. B-School selection has shifted from a mere test-score game to the search for qualitatively strong candidates. The ability to forecast, knowledge of international domains and most importantly adapting to the changing face of global, financial and trade architecture are just a few things that make a great profile.
The sooner we realize this, the sooner we come close to making an informed decision about MBA - the career CHOICE, not the career COMPULSION.
Happy Decision Making!!
What
has stagnated Indian companies and managers across the last 6 decades of
corporate India's quest for excellence? Was there a genuine quest in the first
place? Is it the inability to balance innovation and invention? Is it the
inability to balance Jugaad on one side and neatly maintained, accountability
oriented processes and performance measures on the other? Is it the inability
to create clones on one side and people who can and will differ on the other,
to co-exist in the same organization in specific, and civil society in general?
Unless we try to think analytically and in an abstract manner at the same time,
we shall remain slaves of our unexamined emotions.
The last 60 years have seen India lag behind, as many countries in South-East Asia and the West went far ahead. Is it because we failed to agree upon the idea and the implication of how not to agree? It took a desperate attempt by the cash crunched government in 1991 to unleash Liberalization as the last possible resort to keep the country united, economically and otherwise. For once, economics and free market capitalization were seen as saviors and were preferred over politics as our policy makers substantiated to the old belief that indeed economics and politics can work as complements and substitutes at the same time and that neither alone can/should attempt to be the lone savior. The western world showed the way from the 50s to the 90s that the corporate, which is perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT INSTITUTION in modern society, functions at its best when along with free market capitalization, the system ensures that politics and economics go hand in hand. Till 60 years post World War II, Europe showed this to the world and the result was to see - for these 60 years, on an average, it almost always had an inflation of less than 5%, a GDP growth of more than 5% and an unemployment of less than 5%. Post the sub-prime, it is time for India to come up and actively implement COMPASSIONATE CAPITALISM - the very Indian way of dealing with the evils of free market that in the later part of 2008 saw the world so close to the Depression of 1929.
Over the last 2 decades, India has transformed its image from one of snake charmers and fakirs to a country that is the hub of technology and soon becoming the hub of practionary management with its ability to provide oversimplified accounts of complex realities and therefore, management problems. Let us not forget that today, the restaurant and hotel industry in London employs more people than the Ship Building, Coal, and Iron and Steel industry - in the entire of UK. Needless to say, every second restaurant in London offers Delhi based food. Today, the country with the maximum rich people in the Forbes'10 richest in the world is India. One Indian invented the Pentium machine, another came up with Sun Microsystems, while yet another invented Hotmail. More than 40 of start-ups in US technology firms are by Indians. The mere Indianness today is linked to soft power.
But how extreme can extreme be - Super Power and Super Poor (almost 60% of India till date earns less than Rs.20/- a month). The UN/world poverty line is $38 a month but the Indian poverty line, especially in rural India is Rs.960/- a month and there are approx. 400 million people in India who are below the same. So what is the solution? A conundrum often faced by companies - "Should the business of business only be business?" Is a company's role restricted to profit-generation only or should the company adopt a mechanism to give back to the society and ensure sustainability?
I guess it is time for Corporate Social Responsibility to spread its tentacles and spread them fast...
Woxsen PGP information session @ Chennai
Attend our seminar on "Global MBA trends"
To register call: 09985233141 / 07032888496.
To register online: http://www.woxsen.edu.in/ site/ pgp-information-session.html
Woxsen and Nanyang Sign Partnership Agreement for PGPXP Global Immersion Program:
Woxsen and Mannheim Business School Sign Partnership Agreement for PGPXP Global Immersion Program:
It seems obvious that innovation in technology allows us to use our resources the best way possible and lead us as people into the future. On the other hand, the world is already consuming more resources than can be renewed; we are past the carrying capacity of the earth. The human race has come to a point where the level of technology necessary to allow us to continue to live as we do is practically unobtainable. So, is technological innovation the key to worldwide evolution and prosperity? #woxsendebates
Today's success is the enemy of tomorrow's success. Wait, what? Well, when companies are preoccupied with their present ways of doing business, they just might miss the market changes, example - Kodak and Nokia. Innovation doesn't apply only to products and technology; business models also need to be innovative. So what exactly is business model innovation?
I believe that I can be a successful entrepreneur because I want to be one. I have grown up in a family that deals with business and the qualities that are expected of an entrepreneur have been imbibed into my daily living. My father, Mr V. Amarnath, has been a successful businessman for a long time and his spirit of giving a 100% even after all these years has inspired me to become a person of the same ilk. Of all the qualities that are required from an entrepreneur, the attitude to never go down easy, the audacity to take an unprecedented initiative, and of course to lead by example, have made my list ever since I was young and started dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. These qualities are what have driven my passion and up to a certain level, success as an individual. I have strived to lead a group irrespective of its size and implication whenever I had the chance. There are a plethora of examples in my life which lay testament to my above statement. I had been a coordinator and organizer for many college level events during my engineering days. Those roles provided an opportunity for me to learn how to handle people of different behavioural levels and push them to work as a team. The same experience was put to fruitful use when I was given the responsibility of mentoring a group of kids at a Govt. school, during some social initiative drives conducted by Bhumi (A Social NGO). Taking up the responsibility as the batch representative, during my early days at Cognizant was one of the best things that happened to me. I got the opportunity to work with a bunch of people who were a lot similar than the kinds of groups I have handled before, which were diverse. We all had a similar target and I had the chance of driving the members to achieve the set goals one at a time. As a result, ours was the batch with the highest aggregate and was the most socially active. All these qualities together have made me a person who is much more confident and unafraid of responsibility. I have also started making my dream of becoming an entrepreneur, a reality. And with the right support, inspiration and hard work I believe I can get there. Aiming my dream, I was searching for the right platform, where I can sharpen my skills and learn more about business and gain international awareness of entrepreneurial environment. Then I found Woxsen School of Business, and heard about its attributes: first attribute is the vision of the college and the impressive entrepreneurial ideology. Second, Woxsen is recognized internationally and has got highly reputed faculty like Ram Nidumolu, Mike Moon, Joe Rutledge, NM Agarwal and many more. And more importantly, Woxsen is led by Dr MR Rao(Former Dean-ISB, Hyd and Former Director-IIM B), the provost of the college. Third, the huge and modern campus of the college. Apart from these attributes, I heard about the assistance in business development and placements. I believed in what I heard and I believed in Woxsen. After all it's a risk I took as a future entrepreneur. Now the risk has paid off and I am experiencing the facts that I heard.
By,
Vinay Kumar Vuppalancha
CR-PGPED 14
Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad
Second Acts and the Aging Entrepreneur -
There are turning out to be many second acts for entrepreneurs and surprisingly, these second acts are increasingly among people over 55. There are actually more companies founded by codgers than by kids these days. Read on to find out why 60 really is the new 40: http://bit.ly/1ECSDo2
While other boys mowed lawns for pocket money, he wrote computer programs. Here's Unitus Seed Fund Co-founder Will Poole's fascinating story: http://bit.ly/1Cz6BUO
The entrepreneurial mindset craves action. Action helps test hypotheses and so provides a means for market intelligence regardless of the outcome. This mindset is focused on determining a 'proof of concept' via active iterations and pivots. A person with an entrepreneurial mindset starts actions with available means, before the perfect opportunity has fully emerged.
Entrepreneurial thinking is not constrained by the realities of the moment. As HBS professor Howard Stevenson explains: "Entrepreneurs pursue opportunities without regard to resources currently controlled." Entrepreneurs don't need all the resources in place before pursuing an opportunity - just the important ones.
At Woxsen, we believe that an entrepreneurial mindset also benefits a large organization. Organizations increasingly favor people with an entrepreneurial mindset. 'Intrapreneurship', as it is called is "a corporate management style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship."
The Woxsen Trade Tower is a concept that is unique to Woxsen among Indian B-schools. The Trade Tower - Woxsen's business incubator, an integral part of the curriculum, is the physical embodiment of Woxsen's most distinctive and transformative aims: for its students to make a difference, by not seeking employment, but by establishing enterprises that will create value, wealth, employment and impact the economies, and the environment where we all live. The incubator is designed to support Woxsen's students and graduates through the process of developing enterprises of their own. The Trade Tower provides space, mentor support, intellectual and research resources and most importantly, access to funding - once stipulated qualifying criteria have been met.
The Trade Tower trains the students to think incessantly- they are expected to be curious, opportunistic, and optimistic. They train their minds to problem-solve every issue that crosses their path. Every person they meet is a potential resource, in every problem they encounter - they seek a solution and in every change - they look for new opportunity.
Woxsen trains students to not let others and external factors determine the value of outcomes. They are encouraged to direct their destiny, to work for their achievements, to delay gratification, and to plan with an eye for long-term benefits. Woxsen empowers the incubatees to have a desire to make a difference and to make the world a better place. As Richard Branson says: "Above all, you want to create something you are proud of ... I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money ... I've had to create companies that I believe in 100%".
-Shrikumar Sangiah, CEO, Woxsen School of Business
The Transition from a Caterpillar to a Butterfly - The Journey of Change
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Post my engineering I worked in different work environments like BPO, Vedanta group and IT services and in house IT department of big firms. All through my professional life I was successful yet times and not very much sometimes. Also it was not very easy to scale up the ladder with meagre hard work. Then I started introspecting myself and at the same time looking at the corporate environment and the market outside the firm. After a while, I came across an interesting observation. In the contemporary corporate world , it is no longer the same old mantra do the same job more efficiently or mastering one particular work and becoming master in that technology. It is rather one simple yet strong word "CHANGE". Yes, technologies change, organisational structure changes and at times the job profile itself changes. Many reasons for this internal issues with the firm or the external factors like inflation, recession etc. But how capable is one to adapt and emerge strong and be successful not only in overcoming the hard times but sight an opportunity out of this and become successful. Then, I later realised that this not just the case with corporates but pretty much everything in the contemporary world. And the risk of change is much higher when it comes to the buzz word "Startups". This made me skeptical if the skills I possessed would be sufficient in taking any decision when it comes to starting my own venture or even taking more responsible jobs in corporates. That is the key factor which drove me to look for a MBA program to equip myself with enough armour to confront the challenges in the contemporary Business world and emerge successful.
The Correct Fit.
An MBA with entrepreneurial orientation. That sounded like crazy for me and kind of dragged me to look into what exactly it meant and how would someone do that.
A new School with ambitious visionary, the chairman starting something BIG in Hyderabad.
Then what really was striking for me was the combination of academics (course outline and the international faculty), experiential courses (not just theory but hands-on experience) and courses taken by practitioners.
This is what I felt was a best fit for a MBA course.
1) A course outline on par with some of the international B-Schools.
2) The courses taught by some of the who's who of their respective fields who bring in a lot of insights from an academician stand point
3) Courses taught by practitioners who bring in the experience and substantiate what is taught is what it is used in the contemporary business environment.
4) All this supported by the huge and world class Campus.
The reasons mentioned above kind of gave me confidence to take risk and even come out the usual measurement norms like alumni and placement record.
I would be happy to share my experience and answer your queries regarding Woxsen.
You can e-mail me at [email protected]
By,
Venkat Delhi Satish.
PGPED 14
Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad
A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step
Student council in most business schools takes the onus for conceptualizing and conducting curricular and extracurricular activities for the all the students of the business school. Students learn key management skills such as planning, organizing, staffing, coordinating and controlling by organizing national and regional level events.
Woxsen School of Business conducted an all-inclusive process (election and selection) to pick the brightest and the committed students for the various roles in student council - President, Vice-President, President - Marketing Club, President - Finance Club, Sports Secretary and Cultural secretary.
The process started with all the thirteen nominees making a brief presentation of their candidature in front of the entire student body and staff. After an intense Q&A session, all the students casted their votes for their chosen candidates. The top two elected candidates for respective positions were interviewed by the Dean and the CEO, and finally the student council team was chosen.
The newly elected/selected student council team will work to make Woxsen School of Business a vibrant place by organizing regional and national level competitive events, forging interface with industry professionals and partnering with leading business schools in the country.
We wish the student council all the best for the road ahead!
http://postimg.org/gallery/m2yutxwk/
HERE COMES THE STUDENT COUNCIL OF WOXSEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS.
Oh My! What an election! or should I say election/selection. The PGP (Post Graduate Programs) team of Woxsen School of business organized the student council elections/selections procedure for the year 2015. The Student Council procedure was full of enthusiasm, excitement and nervousness. All the candidates standing for various positions presented their speech with utmost sincerity and commitment.
So the positions were that of the President, Vice President, Marketing Club, Finance Club, Sports Secretary and Cultural Secretary. Thirteen candidates presented their speeches in a very zealous and exuberant manner. Candidates in their speeches quoted quotes from people such as Vivekananda, Steve Jobs etc. they also convinced the crowd that how are they going to create value to the students and the institution if given a chance.
People in the crowd were very lively and supported the speakers with good enthusiasm. After all the speeches, came the time for voting. Nervous candidates, excited voters, oh what a scene! Even the management got equally involved and a sense of skittishness could be felt in the air. The top 2 most voted guys for any post had to go through an interview with the dean and the CEO of the college and then a final decision had to be made by them.
Then after the never ending 30 minutes came the results. All candidates in the room were feeling the heat of excitement, suspense and anticipation. So the results were out. There were some happy faces and some gloomy faces. The tension still remained, all the shortlisted candidates had to be now chosen by the management after the interview. After an hour long interview sessions with candidates the management made their decision. The results were announced and the student council was formed. With vision and passion in the hearts of the newly elected/selected representatives, Student Council pledges to move towards a common objective of making Woxsen School of Business a world class institution.
Here is the list of Student Council members, who intend to take Woxsen School of Business to greater heights.
President: Aditya Bonda
Vice-President: Utkarsh Sharma
President - Marketing Club: Anurag Isukapalli
President - Finance Club: Anunay Vij
Sports Secretary - Dinesh Reddy
Cultural Secretary - Juhi Goswami
Article authored by Utkarsh Sharma ( Vice-President - Student Council)
Prior to joining Woxsen, I was working
with the hospitality industry for about 5 years. I was looking for a transition
in my career towards marketing. Therefore, I wanted to pursue a Master's
program which could give me with the tools to progress in my career towards
senior management level. I was in a dilemma to consider any college in India since
the quality of education provided here is considered to be bookish & brick
and mortar in nature. However, when I learnt about the Woxsen School of
Business, I found that it is a business school of the new generation,
providing innovation, latest technology, great infrastructure, renowned faculty
and most important every student at Woxsen is given an opportunity to tap into
their potential. The course offered here is intense with students across
different geographies and you get to learn a lot from each other's experience.
By Juhi Goswami
PGPEM 14
Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad
It has been my pleasure to be a
Woxsenite. I worked for over 5 years in the corporate with companies such as
Tech Mahindra, Wipro & Kantar group in multiple domains at different roles,
before joining Woxsen. At Tech Mahindra, I was a Sr. Research Analyst in Global
Supply Chain Logistics division for one of the top 2 clients in pharmaceuticals
industry globally along with multi-national Logistics Service Providers(LSP)
and was responsible to monitor LSP's performance in their operations and to
take strategic decisions to improve the data quality as per the business
requirements.
At Kantar Group, I worked as a Project Lead in market research & consulting and played a vital role in Client Communication to facilitate the business development ideas with exemplary quality for various multi-national brands in financial services, FMCG, Automobiles and other sectors.
At Wipro, I worked as Sr. Associate in outsourcing operations for HP Technical Support for the North American customer base. I did startup my own business (Corporate Cab Services). It was one of the crucial turning points in my career path. I joined Woxsen because I could relate my entrepreneurial decisions, achievements & learnings to various courses at Woxsen.
I felt that Woxsen is the right place for me to explore more learnings & options to have a strong foundation for my future challenges and I was correct. As I go on with my journey here, I find that each and every course is very relevant to my real time experience and would have an impact in helping me perform better in top leadership roles.
Despite the rich work experience of more than 5 years, I opted for the 2-year PGDM course. Multiple factors such as Academic Curriculum, Visiting Faculty & the Networking Grid(Corporate Relations) facilitated at Woxsen shaped my decision. Workshops from different industry experts are invaluable for experienced professionals. Since the time I have joined Woxsen I have always got an opportunity to connect quality inputs that I have gained here, with my past experience which would definitely help me to reach the desired roles. I believe that "learning is a never ending process". We had some experiential learning lectures too such as Design Thinking, Strategy Experiential Modules, Corporate Leadership, Critical Thinking. These unique opportunities helped me implement my learnings from the courses to check & correct my approach towards management. This obviously is building up a strong foundation towards achieving my short term & long term goals. I am sure that the Business & Academic Advisory Board members will enhance the value of quality management education at Woxsen.
For me, it has been a wonderful experience as a student after a long academic gap to complement a Global B-school environment. Attributes like a 200 acre Eco-friendly campus (we ride on Woxsen cycles across the campus), global infrastructure, good peer learning & continuous mentoring makes me feel that I am heading in the right track towards faster professional growth.
By Phani Karupothula
PGPEM 14
Woxsen School of Business