These days I am much preoccupied with the term ‘Supply Chain Management (SCM)’. Perhaps it is due to the hectic preparations underway for the not-so-distant placement season. So, whether it is putting together the proposal for my comprehensive project, or building my resume or penning a blog (I run a dedicated blog to SCM here), I cannot help but put a SCM lens to everything I view. Under such circumstances, I hope you will excuse my “SCMagination” as I share the Supply Chain view of the ‘IIM-B factory’.
Let’s start with the Supply side of this factory. The factory sources its raw materials from across the globe. Unlike traditional factories, it does not have any long-term contracts with its suppliers; it does not need one given the dynamics of this Buyer dominated market. Every year the factory starts afresh in its tender for securing raw materials and only those that pass the strictest quality requirements (CAT/GMAT..) are selected. The thriving supplier community, comprising of tier I suppliers (aka coaching institutes) and tier II suppliers (inspired parents and well-wishers), battles every year for their “wares” to be selected. The factory does bestow a leniency to a few ‘preferred’ suppliers via a reservation quota.
The operations inside the factory are fairly streamlined. To cater to the ever-increasing demand, the factory runs multiple assembly lines, each dedicated to a particular product category – PGP, EPGP, PGSEM, EGMP, PGPPM etc. The factory realizes that its core-competitiveness lies in its operators (aka the globally renowned faculty); not so much on fancy machines (aka infrastructure). They thus employ the finest operators who shape the raw-materials into the final product that the market would value. Riding on the wave of globalization of supply chains, the factory has ties with similar such factories in other countries for shaping up the products. For instance, the entire EPGP product family was shipped out to Tsinghua University, Beijing recently where they under-went a pre-arranged set of operations.
To maintain the factory’s premium brand in the market, the products are subject to stringent quality control measures (mid/end term exams, assignments, projects) and frequent surprise audits (the quizzes). The factory has almost zilch inventory at all the three levels – raw material, WIP and finished product. The rigor of the operators ensures that there are no ‘idling’ products on the shop floor. And the market demand of products is such that the customers come shopping to the factory even when the product is very much on the assembly line and yet to complete its “shaping-up”.
What keeps the market demand intact? The fact that the products from this factory usually end up becoming critical components of the final machinery (hiring organizations at a tactical level; the Indian economy at a macro level); and as the machine plods on (hiring firms/economy grows), it requires more and more of such critical components. A not-so-viscious cycle, I say!!
- Amit Tambi
“I/You have invested 20 lakhs in this course!!” – This is one statement that I have often heard from multiple quarters since the onset of the program. I must confess though that I am in awe at the versatility of the emotions this seemingly simple statement evokes.
For starters, some Profs have used this statement, mostly in their introductory lecture, to arouse seriousness in their course. Thus, somber statements such as “I do not need to remind you that you have invested 20 lakhs in this program….” are often tossed around as-if we are all suffering from a simultaneous bout of selective amnesia.
But when the same statement comes from my fellow colleague, it takes a different proportion all-together. Often expressed with a puzzled look and usually when the rigor is at its peak (just before a submission deadline or during exam time), it conveys the irony of the situation. As in – “I have invested 20 lakhs in this course and I am the one slogging!! Isn’t there any justice in this world?”
Just before we headed for our well deserved short-break soon after the completion of the core-courses, I heard another variation of this statement that evoked a diametrically opposite emotion. This one, prefixed with “Gosh” or a more explicit “Oh hell”, conveyed the ‘loss’ incurred with every passing hour for the brake in the program rigor!! As in – “Oh hell, I have invested 20 lakhs in this course but for every vacation day, I lose 5.5K of potential learning”. Reminded me of the story of the father, his son and the donkey – no matter what you do, there is bound to be some negative reaction.
But the one that steals the show was my experience with the institute library guard. Used to studying in the library, I often survived on the instant energy of glucose biscuits to keep me going. On one such occasion, I kept my half-consumed packet in the shelves at the entrance (since food couldn’t be taken inside). After about a couple of hours, hunger pangs struck me and I walked to the entrance to gorge on the remaining biscuits. But lo and behold, it was not to be found. I eagerly searched for it and my eagerness rubbed off on the guard manning the entrance. Well aware that at this hour, none of the kiosks in the vicinity of the library would be open (and I didn’t have the time nor the patience to walk to the other end of the campus), my face bore the irritated look. Thinking that he would calm me, the guard remarked “Saar, why are you so worried for a worthless biscuit packet when you have invested…..”. So much for our investment!!
- Amit Tambi
What do you do when you are asked to pre-read a 24-page case study written in 10 size font with hardly any redundancy but replete with mile (or ‘Nile’) long exhibits of tables and graphs full of numbers and that too in decimals? You either pick up a marker and minutely go through the case ending up highlighting practically all the pages OR you flip the pages, re-flip it to convince yourself that this is just too much, take a final look at the page-full of numbers that strain your eyes besides your already confused brain to remove any lingering guilt and head for the regular hang-out zone.
The common wisdom would say you adopt the former as a rule and the latter as an exception; unless you are one of those who have always boarded a running train and managed to con/convince the ticket-checker and fellow passengers to give you a seat/berth. But I say, even if you do not belong to the latter category and instead have been those rare disciplinary kinds (a breed that is fast disappearing), you ought to try the latter approach; heck, for experience sakes. The majority of the class has already done so, if not for the experience, but from the sheer lack of time (with all the projects, assignments, presentations and quizzes, who has the time to read before-hand). Here’s how one can categorize our experience of sitting through a class without reading the case:
“All are from Earth, I am from Mars” feeling – unfortunately, this lot picked up the wrong case study/course for such an experience. For instance, it would be hara-kiri to pick up a Supply Chain case study for this experimentation particularly if one does not have a supply chain background. It is easy to spot such “enlightened” candidates – their eyes says it all. The halls of wisdom advocate picking up a Strategy case study, where common-sense substitutes specific knowledge, to avoid such a feeling.
“Catch me if you can” mode – this lot manages to follow the discussion, albeit, a step behind; they are at-least not on a different planet as far as the case discussion is concerned. Though their minds have a tendency to embark on a tangential path at the first opportunity, they some-how manage to re-trace their path. So what if their minds are not functioning as light-bulbs; tube-lights are good enough to get them through. The flip side is that those right questions and “a-ha” moments come usually after the topic has been discussed; robbing them of the opportunity to display their “have-read-the-case” wares.
The “sly-as-a-fox” characters – this category has mastered the art of deception and for all you may know have not understood an iota of the class/case proceedings (have certainly not read the case). But they are smart enough to make a comment, even if repeating something that was said previously by cleverly re-phrasing it or acting as last mile connectors by concluding a much intense discussion (knowing that is the only conclusion possible) to give out an impression of “i-know-it-all” (at-least to the prof).
“Almost touched the finishing line” category – my sympathies for this category; for they have been participating in the discussion all through making the right comments but at the very end, gave themselves away thanks to a stupid question (something of the who is Ram at the end of…sorts ). To me, these pitiable ones are the closest to boarding a running train; only that they board the wrong train!!
More rumination on case studies in subsequent posts.
- Amit Tambi
Pray, what is the similarity between an Indian software engineer saying “Hello world” in Java and William Shakespeare saying “But, if it wasn’t for another world, I would have said hello” or something similar?
Interestingly, while they are illustrative of the evolution of greeting styles over the last four hundred years, both the works are protected under the copyright law as literary works…Who would have thought that I have spent some of the most significant years of my life contributing to the growth of world literature…An old friend quite literally threw the book at me ( Paradise Lost ) when she said “In naked beauty more adorned more lovely than Pandora” and I thought she was quoting out of a twentieth century men’s magazine published monthly….
While not knowing John Milton proved to be almost fatal back then, I am sure I could have settled the argument better had I known that writing software qualifies for literary patents…
We had a talk by Dr Neil Wilkof on implications of Intellectual Property rights for mangers and it was an eye opener…It didn’t occur to ask me then but: Is patent leather patented ?
P.S: I am allowed to quote Shakespeare/Milton since the copyright on an author’s work typically expires after his death
Let me first start off with an obituary for an old friend.
Obituary: Mohit Mahajan’s iPod (2003-2009), passed away peacefully in its sleep, aged 6, after a long decline, on this Saturday. Will be extremely fondly remembered by all who knew it. Never again will the music world bask in the royal glory of its silken sound. It leaves behind a devastated firewire, a bereaved USB cable and a lot of fond memories. Kill the voltage fluctuations and any thing that looks like it.
Apologies for an unscheduled absence. My conversion rate of converting the convertible promises into converted executions is almost as bad as Shoaib Akhtar’s much talked about commitment to Pakistan’s cricket. Any how, here is the concluding part of the previous post.
The auto wala drove, as instructed, to Prainah – in my opinion the best hotel in Goa. My last verbal brainfart with accompanying macroeconomic undertones, ensured that he stayed quiet the whole distance. Although it is not doing great financially, but the Prainah is the amongst the very few flag-bearers of the traditional Portugese style of hospitality that are left in independent Goa and one of the three hotels in Goa to boast of a private beach. All the Cidade de Goas and the Tajs of the world, can not hold a candle in front of Prainah. Checked with the receptionist and my friend , who was also her Boss had duly instructed her to keep a booking in my name. And since, it was an off season, I got a great two-room cottage which was just by the sea. Later, I found out that it was a honeymoon suite. Checked into my room and it was time to take stock of things. I had two pending assignments, one in Operations Management and one in Leadership. Hmmm …. Time to get started with the business, said the inner voice. After completing the daily chores, I ordered a beer and fixed my rocking chair in the balcony and opened up my Laptop. Ah the immense joy and naivety of inebriation by the sea and statistics.
It took a little over a couple of hours and a little over five beers to get done with the assignments. It felt so much better. Got down from the balcony and went to the beach to shake hands with the Arabian Sea. On my way back, I spotted 3 couples who hailed from Gujarat and who had been chasing my movements from the cottage to the beach. One of the male members of the group came over and said Hello. I replied in affirmative.
“So, you are also staying in Madeira cottages.” – said one of them in a rich tarawanivala Gujarati accent.
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you accompany us to Tito’s this evening ? If you are not doing anything better. We have five passes for the Discotheque for couples.” – he said with one stretched hand showing me the pass, as if he had Aladdin’s lamp and I did not believe him.
I was sure not expecting that kind of hospitality. I looked around and their wives were extending their best possible smiles. Had a look at the pass and it was some sort of a promotional freebie this guy had got and wanted to make some money out of it.
“Sure – but eh ………… I am single. So the company of you people would be great. In fact it would be terrific. ” – said I and immediately started noticing the facial expressions of the people within the earshot.
The smiles of the wives vanished as if it was never there. The guy who was talking to me, slowly recovered from the shock and said -
“Why the hell are you staying in a Honeymoon suite then ?”
Honeymoon suite – What ? Damn ! I should have known from all those rose petals that were sprawled everywhere in the room. I was a little too pre-occupied with the Operations Management and the number crunching to really notice the raison d’etre of those roses. The inner voice chuckled. I looked around and the other male members of the entourage looked as if they were searching for some stones to pelt me with. Whilst acknowledging that even bachelors must be considered innocent until proven guilty, and whilst remembering the words of prominent Christian messiah Jesus Christ – “let he who has never stayed alone in a honeymoon suite which has a bed filled with rose petals and which is by the beach and he, who has never come alone to Goa to chill out, cast the first stone” – they still had ample reasons to pelt me with stones. I waited for ten seconds but their anger showed no signs of abating.
Cooked up a neat story around how me and my late wife spent our honeymoon at this place three years ago in the month of June and how I come to this place in June every year and stay at the same room in her memory. The expressions of the wives returned and were now directed at their respective husbands, to say “Awwwwww !!! Look at this poor soul ! Learn something from him ….”
Although I could not make it to Tito’s that day but that gang of wives ensured that I never had to worry about anything during the next three days of my stay at that place. Gorged on some of the most authentic Dhokla, Khaman and other Gujarati cusines, while their husbands made mental notes on how to emulate their newly-found role model.
And even now while I am writing this post, I am feasting on Khaman that I received via post a couple of days ago by one of the wives of the group. May my imaginary late wife’s soul rest in peace and may she listen to my iPod in the heaven.
Amen !
Something really unexpected has happened since I started school three months back…With a frightening regularity, people have told me they know someone who looks like me….
Strike One:
The lady who is helping us with our dinner: “You look a lot like my nephew !”
Strike Two:
Classmate1: “You look like this guy I know from Delhi..”
Strike Three:
Classmate 2: “Dude, you look a lot like this south-indian politician….”
Me: “Really ? ” “Who ?”
Classmate 2: “Jayalalitha.”
While marketing has been talking about product differentiation, I have realized that my face is not going to help me achieve any of that…this is turning out to be a look which is good for the north and the south, good for the women and the men…so when I look into the mirror these days, all I see is a template…
A man walks down the street
It’s a street in a strange world
Maybe it’s the Third World
Maybe it’s his first time around
He doesn’t speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah!
- Paul Simon.
“A Three day break !!! Really ! When ? Why ? How ? Have your EPGP people got a glitch in their calender or goddamn scheduling software or something?” – said an exclaimed inner voice.
Inner voices are funny. They are inside you but still not a party to all the arguments that your brain dishes out. I don’t recall the day since I first started talking to myself but ever since I have reached the age of reason, I am in search of a book that deals with the universally accepted protocols associated with talking to oneself. And haven’t found none so far. In my opinion, it is the most under-researched, under-developed psychological subject. And there is a lot of confusion. For instance, I’ve always wanted to know that when you are talking to yourself, are you allowed to say ‘You know’. Or for instance, are their people in this world who have not been talking to themselves for some time now because last time they did, they had a fight. You see, these are the kind of things that keep me awake at night and prohibit me from making any real progress in life.
Anyhow the feeling finally sank in. It was unbelievable. I was going to have 72 hours all by myself. I don’t recall the exact emotion now, but I think I was happy. Soon the feeling changed. It turned into a morbid fear. Should I go out somewhere ? Will I be able to to adjust to the civilization once again ? What if the outside world refused to accept me as one of their own ? What if they are not able to understand my language which has been royally contaminated by corporatese now ? What if this newly acquired IIM tag made all the girls that I met on the way involuntarily scream “Make love to me Mohit” ? Alright – that last point did not contribute to the feeling of fear. But still the feeling of fear won 3:1 on point basis.
Decided that I’d face my demons and I’d go to Goa. What is the point in learning management if you can’t apply it to the outside world. Moreover, the economy needs a stimulus. Called up a friend of mine whose father had a hotel in Dona Paula in Goa and booked a room over there. I was moving towards a feeling of self-actualization and was already imagining myself sitting pretty in the top of the Meslow’s pyramid. Poor Meslow – little would he know that one day his once-in-a-lifetime theory would be used to justify a mundane jaunt. Did my packing in 15 minutes flat and off I was to Goa.
“Majestic Chalo Yaar” – I said to the autowala. As soon as the rotor blades of the auto ruffled, it reportredly prompted late Mr Meslow to spin so fast in his grave that he drilled his way out, launched himself skywards, and if the reports are to be believed, is currently resting disgustedly in a low orbit over Bannerghatta road, shaking his fists in anger and dodging ISRO’s satellites. Reached Majestic, booked the bus ticket and I was all set for a 12 hr long bus journey. The bus conductor came to me and asked me something. My worst fears came true. I was not able to understand a word that he was saying. Having no contact with the civilized world had taken its toll and the magnitude of destruction was much higher than I had initially imagined. I resorted to sign language. He switched to Hindi from Kannada in response to my super-lame response.
Anyhow, the rest of the trip was smooth. Reached Goa at 7 in the morning. Time to haggle with another auto-walah again.
“Donna Paula ka kitna ?”
“70 Rs Sir.”
“Arre yaar yahi paas hi mein to hai …”
“Nahi Sir 70 Rs.”
Hmmm…. so it all had to boil down to this. So much learning in the past three months and I am not able to win an argument from an autowalah. Damn ! I had to win this argument. Had to repay the faith that IIM-B had shown in my abilities when they admitted me to this prestigious program. Immediately resorted to Prof Roy’s style.
“Suppose you have 100 Rs floating in the entire economy. Okay ?”
“Hain ??”
“Okay ??”
“Okay…”
“To saale us mein se 70 Rs tum auto chalane ke hi le loge…. baaki desh ka kya hoga …”
The knowledge of MPPO told me that the guy was at his wits end and did not want to continue with this argument. After a lot of deliberation, the auto walah made a sign with his hand which roughly translated into Prof RaviKumar’s “Can we move on Sir.”
He agreed for 50 Rs. Great Success !!! 20 Rs recovered from the investment, I had made into the program. Had I been carrying a pen and paper, I’d have definitely made a journal entry for that. Professor Roy rocks !!!
to be continued ……
Our HR professor just busted the use of bell curve in performance appraisal systems…It’s funny how you sometimes just accept some things as norm when they may not be appropriate at all …here’s why the bell curve is flawed…
Reasons:
The bell curve seeks to slot human beings in a standard normal distribution which has the following properties:
a) The objects picked are random
b) The objects picked are homogenous
c) The sample size should be greater than 30 preferably
considering that human beings being evaluated under performance management systems are neither homogenous , nor random, using the bell curve may not be the brightest way to evaluate and grade your team. Interestingly, bell curves were first deployed historically in performance management systems in late 90’s, and their use coincided with companies wanting to get rid of employees in bad economic cycles…
Professor Explaining Authority:
When you go to a dentist, you completely submit to him and here is how the transaction evolves: Drilling-> Filling-> Billing
Teamwork:
What’s the change when one moves from being an individual contributor to working in a team ? One goes from playing solo to polo
Explaining people who are high in Political-Aesthetic values:
This was a result of an instrument administered in the class. When it came to interpreting the results, this one had a lasting impact: People high on these values go from Gaali to Ghalib 
Gaali describing how someone might express himself politically and Ghalib to satiate the aesthetic values…
Elucidating on the similarities between various medicinal systems:
It doesn’t matter if it is Allopathy, Naturopathy or Homeopathy—they all lead to Tirupathi
Explaining Discriminant Validity:
The class being fairly competitive and curious, the professor wanted to explain it to people that when he awards different marks to different assignments then people should be able to tell the difference in assignments by taking the marks to illustrate discriminant validity. . when some of us drew a blank, here is how he explained discriminant validity: remember the guy shrieking in the VIP frenchie ad where the macho guy jumps off the window and walks away with the girl: What has he got that I ain’t got ?
Professor responding to best time to write an assignment:
Don’t write assignments when you are in an emotionally charged state. Take a break, and do it over a period of time. Hopefully over a period of time, your emotions would level out and you won’t pour all of them in your assignments. Laying it on thick with an example: When people are emotionally high they really shouldn’t write, look at what happens to all those letters that people write when “true love” strikes.
Discussing Evolution of Congress over a period of time:
Pandit Nehru had a Vision, Ms. Gandhi a Mission and Mr. Rajeev got us the Television
Explaining self fulfilling prophecies:
As students you should be very careful with self fulfilling prophecies, they come true and sometimes people end up getting married to them (spouse)
Professor explaining the difference between profit and cash:
Cash is a reality while profit is an opinion.
Economics professor introducing himself in his first class:
Basically I am a very nice guy….
Economics professor on how students may respond to feedback on his class:
Just say that the supply of classes far exceeded their demand and I would understand…
Understanding Sunk Costs in Cost management:
Student 1 : what’s this sunk cost ?
Student 2: You know how you get that sinking feeling sometimes, before the exam ?
Student 1: yeah..so ?
Student 2: that’s your first installment.
Explaining inelasticity of demand:
When matching feet and shoes, demand can be extremely inelastic. Half an inch is the difference between heaven and hell.
His book is called “Bankruptcy to Billions”, and when he came on stage, he asked us what we want him to talk about. Leadership, change management, resource management, public sector management, or all of the above.
He is Sudhir Kumar, the Officer on Special Duty in Indian Railways, man on Lalu Prasad Yadav’s personal staff, and widely recognized as the man behind the transformation of Indian Railways from near-bankruptcy, deep in debt and loss to billions in profits and reserves (How does the figure of Rs90,000 Crores grab you?)
He was the latest in our seminar series, a unique feature of EPGP where some eminent personality talks to us about his life experiences. Will try to talk about the previous ones when i can, but I HAD to talk about this right now.
Mr Sudhir Kumar is an IAS officer of Bihar Cadre, and has been doing fascinating things for last 27 years as a civil servant. But this has to be the feather in his cap. He did what Rakesh Mohan Committee said couldn’t be done, what Lalu wanted done, what the oppposition is finding hard to poke holes into, and what any business leader should be proud of.
Humble, and brutally honest, he refuses to take more credit than he thinks is due. Even though he was no fan of Lalu before joining him, Lalu gets more credit from him than anywhere else. He quotes Drucker & Welch with as much ease as scriptures, and he is in his element having a back and forth. For hours after the seminar, we basked in the glow of a brilliant intellect, who is a brilliant doer as well… the rarest combination.
A few takeaways, relevent in business and beyond:
1. Ethos. What helped him achieve was staying within and leveraging the ethos of railways.
2. Look for changes in structure, they will outlast you, and will change the opportunity for corruption/other undesirable activities. A simple example will illustrate this. It was found that the freight bogeys were carrying more than permissible tonnage, with the extra being skimmed off. Mr Sudhir Kumar persuaded the railway board to increase the permissible amount. lo presto, not only is the railways earning more, the scope for corruption is now almost negligible.
Most Importantly, he emphasizes that honesty is appreciated in this age more tha it ever was, but it has to be delivered with politeness and humility, not arrogance. He says people who pick fights want to be like Shaheed Bhagat Singh, show that they died for a cause. Whats needed are people like Gandhi, who work within the system, never getting corrupted, and win not only the battle, but the war.
This interaction was over several hours, and will leave a lasting impression on all of us. We talked of theory v/s practice, politicians and democracy, moving towards light in a bleak scenario, and much much more. We will always remember this evening for the insight into this brilliant and humble man. By the way, the book is supposed to be fascinating (reliable reports, not read personally, yet.)and Mr Kumar asks us to read the Chapter 2 especially well, its about politics and democracy, and feels has special relevance if we want to progress as a nation.
