london-business-school on S Anand

I talk to a business consultant at London

Tue, 30 Jan 2001 12:00:00 +0000

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 hschandra@ftnetwork.com
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 sanand@iimb.ernet.in 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

In the middle of this conversation, two brief conversations came up. One with flowergirl23

flowergirl23: hi there
anand_m26blr: Hi. ASL? (OK, Joseph, you’ve spoilt me. I should say, “Hello flowergirl, my name’s Anand. What’s yours?)
anand_m26blr: Hi flowergirl23, you PMed me a while ago. Want to chat? My name’s Anand.

No further response from flowergirl23. rose_v came up after a while….

rose_v: hi
anand_m26blr: Hi rose_v, my name’s Anand. What’s yours?
rose_v: rose
anand_m26blr: That’s the first time I’m meeting someone with your name. Where are you from, Rose? Bangalore?
rose_v: no from mum
anand_m26blr: Sorry? What was that about ’no from mum’? Didn’t quite understand…

No further response.

Comments

KAILAS 10 Apr 2007 8:48 pm: HI THIS IS 23 YR BOY

Dynamics of strategy

Wed, 25 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

McKinsey PPT

Thu, 19 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.”

So we went over and talked. I mean, I hate networking, especially if I don’t have any questions to ask. But still, I’ve been instructed to collect visiting cards. So may as well. I walked over to a lady called Sacred, who told me what she was doing at the Business Technology office at London. Sounded like fun. Then I met this partner at the Kuala Lumpur office, called Alex Smith. He was wearing a terribly funny looking shirt, and I figured he just couldn’t be from McKinsey. But he was. So I asked him how he ended up in Kuala Lumpur? I guess it kindof embarassed him, because he started of with how his significant other was there, and that he moved there, and she moved to Paris, and how it was a long story, and let’s not get into it. Fine by me. Anyway, I spent the next half-hour just listening to him. It was a nice experience, and I walked away without bothering with a card.

I haven’t mentioned the other high point, though. Chocolates. The people at Lord’s handed out these HUGE balls of chocolate that was shaped like a cricket ball. I ate mine in a flash. When I was leaving, I found another on the floor. I mean, this is getting to be a habit. But this time, there were no qualms. The wrapper was on, and I hadn’t stepped on it. Sure was a feast that night!

Bain PPT

Wed, 18 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

But the lesson was not without its benefits. While I was sitting in this train, with nothing better to do, I decided to see what people were wearing. I was wearing a suit and a jacket, carrying an umbrella with a book in my hand. I looked at they guy in front. He was wearing a suit and a jacket, carrying an umbrella with a book in his hand. I looked around. The description seemed to fit quite a few of the people on the train. I guess it’s their uniform or something.

The Bain presentation was fine. Since I came in late, I couldn’t follow much, so I whiled my time looking at the people in the presentation. The hall was packed (over 150 people), and yet I couldn’t find a single soul (apart from myself) with a moustache. The reason I was looking was that the guy on the train had a moustache, and it was a fairly rare sight. I figured I may as well prove that he’s a statistical anamoly.

Speaking of statistics, I had some time to kill at Baker Street. So I sat down and surveyed the crowd. I noted the racial characteristics of the first 100 people whom I saw. Here’s the breakdown:

Ethnicity	Count
African	8
Chinese	9
Indian	5
Caucasian	78
Total	100

Certainly can’t find this kind of a mix in most cities, I’m fairly sure. London is cosmopolitan.

We spent the afternoon with Pierce Brosnan. Awfully nice chap. He even posed with us for a snap.

Comments

ricky 18 Oct 2000 12:00 pm: it’s really a nice job

Not an Indian

Mon, 16 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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…

One of my first such experiences at London was when I got out of the station and was looking for a cab. A man came over and said “Salam aleikum”.

I said “Huh?”

He thought I hadn’t heard him. “Salam aleikum,” a little louder.

Even normally, I’m not very sharp. This was at 11PM UK time, and that’s 3:30AM India Standard Time. So I said, quite eloquently, “Huh?”

“Salam aleikum”

“Huh? What?”

At this point, that fellow lost his patience and said “Aap Pakistani hein?” (Are you from Pakistan?) After having learnt that I’m from India, he said he’d mistaken me for a Pakistani, and if I wanted to call somebody or something, I could use his mobile and all that. Very nice.

Today, a red Ferrari (I think) was zooming down the road as I was walking to the station. All of a sudden, it braked near me, and stopped quite close. The window rolls down, and a moustached man sticks his head out and asks, “Yoo speek eetahliyen?”

“Huh?”

“doo yoo speek eetahliyen?”

“No, I’m afraid not, sorry.”

“Oh-kay.” And drives off.

That afternoon, I mean this girl from Western Ontario, who’s also on an exchange programme at the LBS. We talk for a while. Then, she asks, “So, are you American?”

“No I’m Indian.” (She could’ve thought me an American Indian, so I clarified) “From India.”

“Oh. But you accent is so American.”

Make your own conclusions.

The more I think about it, the more I feel IIM’s obsessed with grades. That includes me, of course. Today we got back our first assignment: Koito Manufacturing, from the Mergers & MBOs class. We got a 10/10. Britta and Atsushi, my team-mates, were thrilled. But then I had to ask: “What did the others get?”

Britta’s instant response was: “Who cares?”

Good point. You see, at LBS, everybody knows their own grades, but not the others’. The don’t get to know their ranks either. They are forbidden from mentioning grades in their resumes, and LBS certainly doesn’t tell any of the recruiters their students’ grades. Naturally, the competition is quite low. In fact, I think the only reason people are studying is the fact that they’re paying 20,000 pounds or something to study here. Sounds like a good system, if you ask me. But for a hard-core IIM-B product like me, it’s all too easy to drift into an easy life. In fact, I think I already have!

In case I hear any murmers of dissent, here’s proof. I’m going to “The Phantom of the Opera” tonight. Madame Tussaud’s tomorrow. The Lord’s Cricket Ground and a party (the Sundowners) day-after. ‘The London Eye’ on Friday. Oxford and Cambridge on Saturday. Westminster Abbey and the Big Ben on Sunday. On to Europe next week. See?

A tiring day

Wed, 11 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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 B-school rankings

Wed, 11 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

British and animals

Tue, 10 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

That was a leading question, naturally, and someone disagreed. So Prof. Higson quietly murmurs, “Perhaps there’s someone from France in this class?”

Prompt comes the response from the back row. “Yeah. And we don’t give a f*** about animals.”

Global classroom

Mon, 09 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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?”

A while later, he gave an example in China. One of his friends, a consultant, told him that the Chinese sometimes picked a well-running company and forced it to go bankrupt, just to show the World Bank that their bankruptcy system was working fine. A Chinese practically shouted out that bankruptcy protection was needed, because otherwise 20,000 labourers would be in the streets, and this stupid consultant obviously was not aware of what really happened, because the Government had lots of bad companies to make bankrupt, so why would they pick a good one?

Today’s case discussion was on a Japanese company called Koito. A Japanese is in our team, and he was often asked to comment on what he felt was the situation. He didn’t speak much in class, really. During the break, he came over to me and said, “You know, I would like to speak much. But I cannot. My English is not very good.” As with most Japanese, his entire education was in Japanese, and while he did have some courses in written English, there were almost none in Japanese.

One of the slides was a comparison of market capitalizations of various countries. India was not found on the list. So the Japanese turned to me, politely, and asked “Where is India?” Naturally, I didn’t feel like telling him that the Bombay Stock Exchange had a market capitalization so small that it wouldn’t have been possible to put it on the table.

Well, so much for globalization!

The standard of class participation is extraordinary, though. For example, when we were discussing the EMI-Warner Music merger that was called of recently, one person commented, “Last week I was talking with a Director of EMI, and he said the reason was such-and-such.” I mean, we have people who’ve actually been involved in some of these deals in class! I feel like a baby when I open my mouth.

But that proved not quite the case, actually. We were discussing the Koito case and I did open my mouth on a couple of occasions. During the break, Prof. Volpin comes up to my desk and says, “So, Anand, you seem to know quite a bit about the Koito case. How come?” I mumbled something about Internet searches. Guess there’s something to be said for IIM-B after all…

Scanned Target magazine

Mon, 09 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

LBS vs IIMB

Sat, 07 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

Today, I saw a train coming late for the first time. The British Rail comes to the Ilford station at minutes ending in 3 (11:03, 11:13, etc.) Today, the train was TWO MINUTES late. Two whole minutes. Probably because it was raining. I hear people complain about the punctuality of these trains.

Well, most of the day was spent at the computer center doing assignments. If you want a flavour of what I’m doing, check out my report on Koito, which is about Pickens trying to take over Koito.

Another day at LBS

Fri, 06 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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!

We had the second group meeting of our ‘Dynamics of Strategy’ group yesterday. The group has 2 Indians, 2 Germans and a Mexican. The first meeting of our ‘Mergers & MBOs’ course was today, and that group has 1 Indian, 1 German and 1 Japanese. Actually, the accent is the least of the problems. It’s getting to figure out a way of working that’s the real hurdle. But the good part is, everyone’s focused, willing to take initiative, and follow guidelines. No problems so far.

BCG gave their presentation today. Extremely impressive. About 3 managers, 2 partners and 5 consultants came for the presentation. 2 of them presented, and the presentation was entirely about the life of a consultant. Not the technical life – no. It was largely insights into the social life. They explained why they came to consulting, how they felt the thrill in consulting, how they balanced their family life, had to make compromises, etc. It seemed very balanced. The best part was a video which involved BCG’s clients, family members of BCG consultants, and ex-BCG employees, but no BCG employees at all. That proved an excellent way of telling us what it’s really about. I’ll hand it to BCG for doing things in style.

A day at LBS

Wed, 04 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

Today we had a lecture on ‘World Economy: Problems and Prospects’. Professor Andrew Scott was awfully funny. We discussed the reason for the growth of the US Economy today. Well, we’re still not too sure why it grew, but IT may be part of the reason. Following the lecture, Nick Craft, a guest lecturer from the London School of Economics, came and gave an interesting talk on the same. Bit of a problem with his slides, though. Self-admittedly, he failed arts in school, and his combination of a bright green gradient against a purple background can leave no stomach unturned. Looks like this course is going to have guest lecturers in each class, and they all look like big shots.

Deloitte PPT

Tue, 03 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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!

After about 20 minutes of a snappy presentation (the usual stuff, telling us about the companies), I took out my notebook. I wanted to see if LBS was really as ‘aggressive’ in asking questions as all these people made them out to be. Once the floor was thrown open to questions, no one jumped up. Slowly, one guy stood up, and said, “I’m in the Masters in Finance programme. I want to know how you can use us people in Deloitte Consulting. Or are you here for recruiting MBAs only?” To which they said they’ve got financial services consulting, their own corporate finance department, and they value the analytical skills & valuation capabilities of finance people anyway.

The other questions (and answers) were:

When you joined Deloitte Consulting, you must have had an impression about consulting. How has that changed? (“Good question.” Then they proceeded to give a vague answer.)
How are projects and consultants assigned to each other? (I asked this. They told me their system. Sounds pretty much like what we had at IBM. Meaning, you know the right guys, you get what you want. Apart from that, keep trying.)
Do you really do implementation? (Yes, yes, yes. They were emphatic. Seems to be their key point.)
We’ve heard the same thing from all consulting companies. What distinguishes you? (End-to-end consulting, willingness to listen to customers. The same guy then said, “It sounds the same…”)
How do you segment your services? (They’d covered this in the presentation, and went through it again. Basically, by function, by industry, by geography.)
Could you comment on your turnover? (It’s 20%. It’s shot-up, largely because of the dot-com fever. But lots of people who left are coming back. They handled this question extremely well.)
What will the SEC say to your staying together as a firm? (Good question. DC believes there’s value in staying together.)

My observations are: no, they’re not that much more aggressive. But their questions were better. In the sense, they were asking stuff that they really wanted to know, and they wanted to know a lot. Secondly, the good questions were either those that addressed something a lot of people wanted to know, or pointed out something interesting about the company that might affect our careers. Guess research pays – both into the company as well as into ourselves!

Anyway, today we had a class on ‘Advanced Financial Analysis and Shareholder Value’. I don’t know why, but Prof. Chris Higson reminded me quite a bit of Dustin Hoffman in ‘Hook’. The same accent: something to do with the way he held his teeth, I think. Anyway, the class was interesting.

One thing about the classrooms is, they’re closed and sound-proof. So sound really travels. Which means, of course, that there must be pin-drop silence in the class. The lecturer is heard even when mumbling, and so are the front-benchers (who thereby avoid cries of ‘Loudly, please!’ :-)

Incidentally, Prof. Higson mentioned that Gary Hamel (whose room I walked passed and nearly fell at the doorstep) has patented the word ‘core competence’. So every time we use it for non-academic purposes, he can send an invoice!

Projects are starting up. We’ve had 3 classes so far, formed 3 groups, and are looking for 3 companies to do projects on. Some things never change!

Infrastructure at LBS

Mon, 02 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

Their IT isn’t all bad, though. In fact, it’s rather good. They have mail terminals scattered around the place for people to check e-mail, without having to go to the Computer Center.

The computer center isn’t far away, though – just across the road – about twice the distance from the IIM-B hostels to the Computer Center.

What’s lovely, though, is their audio-video system. They have one in each room, and the control panel looks lovely.

Their chairs are awful, though. The seats are cramped. There are no arm-rests. They don’t move. They’re too close to the table. (OK, I’m fat.) They aren’t shaped to my back. Anyway, to sit there for 3 hours on those chairs for a fidgety guy like me is tough.

Couldn’t tell much about the Professors. So far, they look just like IIM-B professors. The students on the other hand, are something exceptional. Each has tremendous work experience (a prerequisite for getting into IIM-B in the first place). There’s

a Russian consultant who used to work for BCG for 5 years (before you ask: he wants to become an I-Banker – that’s why he’s here)
an English lady who started a company called WorldCom (no, not that one: she sold the name to THE WorldCom :-)
an American IBMer who worked at Lehman Brothers for summers (his name is Stephen, and he’s not me, and I’ve never heard of him)
an English VP from Lehman Brothers
a French film production expert about to join UBS Warburg

and lots more.

LBS experiences

Mon, 02 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

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.

Student Exchange Interview

Sat, 20 Nov 1999 12:00:00 +0000

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.

One standard question acroess panels was on aspects of Indian culture – particularly in Prof. CM Reddy’s panel. Questions ranged from “What was the Yaksha’s last question to Yudhisthira?” to “What is the essence of Indian spiritual philosophy?” Other standard questions were “What will you do for IIM-B once you come back?” and “How will you serve as the ambassador of IIM-B?”

Interview

How did you break your leg?
Do you think businesses have a social function?
What will you do for IIM-B when you come back?
Tell me more about your social contributions. (From my resume.)
What is the central message of Indian philosophy?

Prof. Mahadevan and Prof. Prakhya interviewed me. Both were IITians, and I discovered that Prof. Prakhya was also my school senior. Prof. Mahadevan was genuinely seeking an answer to all his questions. That is, he was really interested in how exchange students could improve IIM-B’s functioning. Prof. Prakhya was pretty sharp, and tried pricking holes in my arguments. Before I left, Prof. Mahadevan commented, “This is nothing to do with the interview, but I just wanted to say that, based on your resume, you have a great future.” Pallavi and I were selected for London Business School.

Learnings

I had ready-made answers to all their questions, and that helped.
I was passionate about all the answers. I think a feeling of genuineness came through.
As always, the resume counted for a lot.

Comments

Ramya 18 May 2007 8:15 am: Can I ask you to guide me thru the interview processes in Insead.In addition to this , they also have asked me to sumbit a brief yet all inspiring essay to avail the scholarship that can help me negate atleast 25% of the course fee..Thanks - Ramya
Gopinath 31 May 2011 7:06 am:Hi Anand,Just to trace back, can you just post as to what answers you gave to these questions.
Gopi

london-business-school on S Anand

I talk to a business consultant at London

Comments

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Student Exchange Interview

Comments

Gopinath 31 May 2011 7:06 am:Hi Anand,Just to trace back, can you just post as to what answers you gave to these questions.