london-business-school 17

A chat with Business Consulting on chat.rediff.com as anand_m26blr. Right through this conversation, Business Consulting keeps pumping in news about the world to everyone. anand_m26blr: Hi! How come you call yourself Business Consulting? business_consulting: Why no***** just another name anand_m26blr: Fair enough. ASL? business_consulting: Male here. You? anand_m26blr: M, 26, Bangalore. Still want to chat? :-) business_consulting: Sure, what do udo inBangalore? anand_m26blr: I’m studying at IIM-B. And you? business_consulting: IIM-B? which year? anand_m26blr: Second. What about you? business_consulting: Hey do you have any news from IIM-A? like how’s the scene at the campus and are they ok? anand_m26blr: Sure. One of our profs gets regular updates on IIM-A. Only one person is hurt, and no one badly. One dorm (D, I think) is pretty much wiped out. Otherwise, things are fine. Want me to mail you the updates? business_consulting: 2nd year..Finance-Marketing or Systems? anand_m26blr: None. I just picked the courses that looked good. Come on, you’re asking all the questions. What about you? business_consulting: Sure mail me anand_m26blr: What’s your e-mail ID? business_consulting: Basically in to systems-ERP. I work on Peoplesoft. anand_m26blr: Neat! I used to work at IBM myself. Never worked on Peoplesoft products, though, but we were planning to integrate it with Lotus Notes at one point. How long have you been here? business_consulting: ok.. u can mail me at [email protected] anand_m26blr: Mailing you… business_consulting: Here? are u in London too? anand_m26blr: I didn’t know you were in London. No, I’m in Bangalore right now. I was in London a month ago at LBS on an exchange programme. How come you’re in London? business_consulting: IBM That’s business_consulting: Wow that’s great LBS @ CanaryWarf anand_m26blr: No this is London Business School – near Lord’s. business_consulting: IBM that’s good. My Bangalore friend is doing his PG at IIM-A. After hearing aboutthe earthquake Imailed him and so far no news from him. business_consulting: So are you specializing in finance? anand_m26blr: Nope. I’m interested in technology still. So looking at any IT consulting firms that are coming along. Where did you study? business_consulting: I did all my education inBangalore. Are u from Bangalorean as well? business_consulting: Sorry, from Banglaore not Banglorean!! anand_m26blr: I’m from Madras, basically. Studied there right through. You might know some of my classmates, though. When did you finish your undergrad? Was it from BMS? business_consulting: It was way back in 95 mate. Long time 6 years now.. Just thinking of CFA as well.. anand_m26blr: Not all that way back. I passed out in 1996 myself. Where from? business_consulting: So youwere @IBM Bangalore or somewhere else? IIM-Btied up with SAP long ago I think anand_m26blr: I was at Bangalore most of the time. Yeah, IBM tied up with SAP, but I was with the Lotus Notes division, and we were integrating will all the products around. business_consulting: You can do that since its doing pretty well in the US right now. And later onu can shift to CRM too anand_m26blr: That’s probably the plan right now. So you’ve been working for Peoplesoft at London all along, is it? business_consulting: Have you done the LN certification ? anand_m26blr: Yeah, I’m a certified Notes instructor. business_consulting: Currently , are u working @ IBM or studying PG @ IIMB?? anand_m26blr: Studying. I left IBM in June 99. business_consulting: Thanks mate, Igot your mail just going through it anand_m26blr: No problem. Do you chat here often? business_consulting: I do come here quite often, But Iw ill be inBangalore onthe 10th. Moreover I will be at the campus to meet my friend. Your senior though anand_m26blr: Oh… whom are you coming to meet? Fair chance I might know him. business_consulting: Am coming on a 3 weeks holiday. We can meet at the campus too anand_m26blr: That would be nice. My name’s Anand. What’s yours? As in, I get the HSChandra, but what does it stand for? business_consulting: Yeah U will definitely know him- he is Narendra Bansod- 99 batch anand_m26blr: Oh, then he’s two years senior to me. Haven’t met him. Anyway, it’ll be good to meet you. business_consulting: I think he still comes to the campus ontheweekends. So am planning to come there on a weekend. Do you stay in the campus or at home outside? anand_m26blr: I stay on campus. Room C-42. Feel free to drop over. BTW, didn’t get your name… business_consulting: am Chandra Hassan. What’s dorm? anand_m26blr: No dorms. The block is C, and room number 42. That’s it. business_consulting: Chandra Hassan. Chandra for short. anand_m26blr: OK Chandra, great chatting to you. Do mail me at [email protected] when you’re coming over! business_consulting: And you are Anand right anand_m26blr: Yup, this is Anand. Let me know when you’re here. You can reply to the mail I sent you. Bye for now! business_consulting: Sure Anand,I will meet u up at the campus.. Nice talking to u. and Good Luck business_consulting: sure I will on the 10th Feb(Sat) @ around 11:30Am. I might come and meet the next day on Sunday anand_m26blr: That’ll be just after exam time. Should be fine! business_consulting: Also I will be coming and meeting my friend he said he is inroom# J308 ...

We’re doing a course on Dynamics of Strategy, and using some system dynamics software for this. Vensim and Ithink are powerful simulation tools to think about business.

The McKinsey presentation was this evening at Lord’s. Yes, that’s the Lord’s Cricket Ground. So at 7PM, there was this huge crowd of people strolling over to the Nursery Pavillion, wondering why Lord’s had a square cricket pitch. Google and AskJeeves haven’t given me an answer yet. McKinsey’s presentation had two high points. First, it was mercifully brief. The entire presentation was for 2 or 3 minutes, and all that this partner said was, “Hey, we love LBS. You know about us. So we’re all standing here, here, and here. Come over and talk to us.” ...

I had to attend the Bain presentation today at 10AM, so I tried getting to LBS early. I started at 8:45AM. But for some reason, the train crawled on. The engineer couldn’t figure out why himself. Anyway, as a result, the train was nearly half-an-hour late. Now, if the Bangalore Mail came in half-an-hour late, I’d be thankful. But here, it’s gotten to the point where one makes appointments relying on the efficiency of the British Rail. Well, it’s a lesson, I guess. ...

Yes, I haven’t been updating for a while. Problem is, I’ve been doing too much and writing too little. Let’s see if I can fix some of that now. First of all, people can’t seem to tell where I’m from. This is despite the fact that I’m the only one with a moustache in the whole batch, and am therefore the one person whose name no one forgets. I mean, I lost my name card after the very first class. Yet all the Professors talk to me like long-lost friends. Anyway… ...

A rather tiring day. 09:00 am: Wake up, and still feel sleepy. 10:00 am: Leave for LBS 11:00 am: Reach LBS. Check mails. These days, it takes a couple of hours. 12:30 pm: Attend India Club meeting for Diwali celebrations. Very well organized. 01:15 pm: Presentation by Booz-Allen & Hamilton. Pretty good. Manage to stay awake. 02:15 pm: Eat lunch. Stupidly eat prawns without seeing the labels. Almost vomit. 03:00 pm: Group meeting. Discuss Dell. 04:15 pm: Fall asleep in AT Kearney’s presentation. 05:15 pm: Stay away from anything that looks non-veg during tea. 06:00 pm: World economy class. Excellent professor. Terribly funny. Everything makes sense. 07:00 pm: Guest lecturer. Fall asleep. 08:00 pm: Back to Prof. Scott. Wake up and listen. 09:00 pm: Answer more mails. 10:00 pm: Chucked out of computer center. Go home. 11:15 pm: Have dinner. midnight: Crash.

Business Week’s B-School rankings ranks LBS as the #2 non-US school (behind INSEAD). IIM-A is not listed even in the third tier, while IIM-B is not even included in their survey.

I had my first case interview today. Four of us (3 exchange students and one LBS MBA grad) sat together and tried giving each other cases. It’s an excellent learning experience. Had I gone in for a case interview without this preparation, I’d have flunked. Our class on Financial Analysis was good fun – and an exposure to yet another illustration of internationalism. Prof. Higson (in his perfect British accent) mentioned that he was part of a programme on TV for some society of animals. (Not as a caged animal that looked sorry, he assured us. He was talking about stocks – no idea why.) We were discussing the ‘Body Shop’ company (the one that sells natural cosmetics), and apparantly this company was blacklisted by the programme, for failing to be ‘animal-friendly’. Prof. Higson was mentioning that one of the reasons for Body Shop’s success was the British obsession with being kind to animals. He suggested that, therefore, Body Shop may not have been as successful elsewhere. ...

The reality of international interaction really came through today in the Mergers & MBOs class. Prof. Paulo Volpin commented that ‘So, eefectively, ve see Germany has a pooor accounting seestem." To which, immediately, a German pounced up and said, “I don’t go with this result,” and proceeded on a defence of why the system was right for Germany. A few other Germans joined in. Poor Prof. Volpin had to make a hasty retreat. Later, when making a similar comment about Belgium, he first clarified: “Are there any Belgians in the class?” ...

I’ve scanned a couple of more pages of Target that have the job profile of the LBS graduating class of 2000 and the summer of MBA 2001. Incidentally, this magazine also publishes a complete list of who’s joined which company. Really neat idea, great for contacts.

How would I compare LBS against IIM-B so far? Let’s see. Faculty: LBS probably wins marginally. More famous faculty, more industry experience, better communication. But like I said, marginal. IT infrastructure: IIM-B wins! IT management: LBS wins. They manage what they’ve got extremely well. Companies coming for placement: LBS wins. Placement process: Debatable. IIM-B definitely has a more student-friendly process. Library: Books-wise, IIM-B wins. Electronic resources-wise, LBS wins. Students: Comparable. Too early to tell the difference probably. The point is, however, that everyone in LBS has a lot of work-experience. Campus: IIM-B wins hands down. I mean, LBS faces Regent’s Park and all that, but it doesn’t really have a campus. Lecture rooms: LBS wins marginally. Slightly better rooms, better equipment. Hostel: IIM-B wins. LBS doesn’t have one. Location: LBS wins. Heart of London. Exchange programmes: LBS wins. LBS is ahead, but not by far. ...

We made some vatha kozhambu at home this morning. Now, you’ll have to take my word for it, because we ourselves weren’t very convinced. But it was hot. It was thick. And though it had too much tamarind, it tasted great (or so we say). After that heavy bruch, it was time for LBS. I think I’m the slowest typist at LBS. The speed at which the keyboards chatter around me is incredible. So fast, in fact, that I lose my nerve and tend to make mistakes or type slowly. The guy to my right, for example, is glued to the monitor and is typing about 3 characters for every keystroke of mine. So far, he hasn’t pressed backspace. Luckily, the lady to my left is using the mouse more than the keyboard! ...

Well, apparantly LBS has just had its lecture theatres (LTs) newly made! Which is why they look so good, I hear. At least, the Professors keep commenting about how new the LTs are, and how they’re unused to it and all that. This afternoon, Pallavi, another exchange student, an MBA 2001 student and myself, got together and ran a series of mock interviews. LBS’ consulting club has some very good material on case interviews. ...

Deloitte Consulting gave a presentation today for campus recruitment. Apparantly, we have to be in business suits to sit in any of the presentations! But luckily, since Deloitte has an informal culture, they said ‘business casual’ was OK. I squeaked past with just a tie. Need to buy a suit! The hall could seat about 100 people, and was full. Of course, you had to sign 24 hours in advance to get in, and they take attendance outside the hall. I took a copy of their annual report (which they were distributing outside) and sat in the front row. A huge contingent had come for the presentation: 1 big shot from manufacturing, 1 senior HR person, the liason for LBS and DC, 3 managers, 2 senior consultants, and 2-5 others who had recently joined! ...

The session on Mergers, MBOs and other corporate reorganizations by Paulo Volpin started 5 minutes late. Reason: They had a problem with the computer projector. Fixing it turned out to be a hi-tech exercise, though. A guy came in with some kind of a hand-held device, pointed it around like a remote control, and the projector was on. 6:05PM – 5 minutes lost. 5 minutes later, “IP address conflict”. The Professor gives up and moves on to trusty slides. He came prepared. ...

Today was my first class at the London Business School, and I’ve written up my experiences on day 1. I plan to keep updating it.

There were 22 vacancies, and 45 were shortlisted (out of less than 70 applicants). We were interviewed by 5 panels, each with 2 professors. We had submitted our resumes, a writeup on why we were applying for the programme, various declarations and our grade sheet. Though it was rumoured that grades played a 50% part in shortlisting, it was not so. Each panel ranked their candidates independently (in which grades played only an implicit part) – so it was the interview that really counted. After ranking, they pooled the rankings across panels (this is probably where grades might come in) and allocated the first available preference by rank. If the universities you opted for are not available, you would not be considered for other universities even if your ranking is high. So it makes sense to fill out all the universities of your choice if you’re keen on going. ...