As I look back at my two years of MBA, I feel nostalgic about the time spent there, which not only changed me professionally, but also made me a different person. I feel satisfied with myself for having taken the right decision of doing an MBA. These two years at B-school gave me ample opportunities to assess my strengths and weaknesses. The various business issues I was exposed to and the technique used to assess each issue made me appreciate the importance of teamwork. We would brainstorm for hours together on various issues and systematically discuss the merits and demerits of each argument presented and eventually come to a conclusion. The amount of research we used to conduct for each of these sessions was phenomenal.

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What is Chemical Engineering?

What is Chemical Engineering? Which of these products do you use in your daily life - plastics, metals, textiles, paper, food and beverages, toiletries, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals? Well,each of these has been created under the eyes of a chemical engineer. Converting raw (and sometimes recycled) materials into finished products that you can use is a complex process, which involves research and development, design, construction, daily plant operation and m a n a g e m e n t . Chemical engineers not only design and operate cost-effective processes; they also ensure that these are accomplished in the most environmentally friendly way. Old processes need to be adapted to meet the ever-stringent environmental standards of today. Whilst environmental scientists indicate the likely impact of a process on the environment, chemical engineers play the definitive role within their capability to design processes so as to meet these specifications.

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In the current scenario, where running an organisation along with wielding a scalpel becomes a requisite, a Masters in Hospital Administration or an MBA is proving to be the antidote to problems faced by doctors. What are the reasons for this? Why do doctors pursue an MBA?

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In April 2005, I had the good fortune to be present at a speech made by R. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director of Tata Sons Ltd. at a Mumbai seminar on “Indian Business in a Global World.” With characteristic spontaneity and insight, the speaker shed light on the qualities that go to make a truly successful global manager. Citing the example of the merger between Swedish pharma firm Pharmacia and American firm Upjohn in 1995, he explained how cultural adaptability could play a decisive role in personal as well as organisational success. This merger, predicted to be a winner, almost failed initially due to the inability of its first Chairman to deal with cultural differences. It was only after the Board brought in a new person at the helm that there was a turnaround; his urbane style, cultural flexibility, impartiality and adaptability to circumstances were the key contributors to a significant improvement in overall performance and morale. Cultural intelligence, therefore, is a skill that no manager can do without in today’s increasingly borderless business world.

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Have you worked in an organisation where the HR person tells you, “ I’ll call you back in five minutes,” and never calls you for the entire week? And the next time you call, you hear, “I am in a meeting. Can I call you later?” And a few us get disheartened with the entire organisation because HR has let us down. The HR department gives you your first impression of the company’s values. Its role is gaining in dimension and getting to be more demanding in a scenario where the employee is expected to work more like a business partner. Suhanya Aravamudhan is currently doing a Ph.D. in HR and Performance Management from IIT DOMS (Chennai) under the guidance of Prof. T.J.Kamalanabhan. With a B.Sc in Statistics, (where she earned a University VI Rank), and an MBA in Human Resources and Marketing, both from Chennai, she holds an impeccable academic record. Her thesis is a study on the Usage of Balanced Scorecard in Indian companies. We spoke to her about her research, about the role of HR and about the need for research in our country.

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Are you confused over which career path to choose, what steps to take, where to learn? Well if the task seems so frightening even to read about, let's consider a simpler task. How about making yourself so adaptable that you can pursue any career you choose. How do successful individuals mould their careers and what are the basic skills they possess which enable them to make the right decisions?

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Supply Chain Management or SCM is no longer a field practised by a few selected companies it has become inextricably associated with effective Operations Management in any organisation, which ensures that resources, including people, money, machinery, facilities, material and information are used wisely. It requires familiarity with computer technology, an understanding of quantitative methods, planning abilities and problem-solving techniques that are useful in analysing business systems.

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Are you an extrovert as well as an introvert? Do you like people and do you have good relational skills?  Are you a good listener? Can you analyse the dynamics of a situation? And, above all, are you a good communicator? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you can look at marketing as a career. Certainly a career in marketing demands all of these and more from a person. The extrovert - introvert contradiction may be puzzling but it is now accepted that an equal blend of both is a trait, which makes for a good team leader. The great Phillip Kotler, a leading name in marketing, has foreseen that some companies will be looking at personality traits which include: Competence, Courtesy, Credibility, Reliability, Responsiveness and, of course, Communications.

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The IT industry workforce has traditionally been divided into “techies” and “non techies.” This is translated as engineers = techies and MBAs = non techies. However, things are far more complex. There is a wide variety of options available for MBAs in the IT industry, each having its own nuances and requirements. Some of these roles are standard, while others may be relatively more complicated or difficult to get into. Here, we delineate some of the more prominent roles that MBAs can fit into.

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An analysis of the recent batch profiles in the top B-schools in the country shows that after engineers, commerce graduates form the second largest chunk of students in MBA programmes. Gone are the days when a student of commerce would automatically opt for a course in Chartered or Cost Accountancy if he wanted a professional postgraduate degree. Students from the stream today are increasingly moving towards a degree in business administration, after completion of their Bachelors degree. But even today, there are many who are torn between the two options. They face a difficult choice: to do a CA or an MBA or to do a CA first and then follow it up with an MBA? There are several issues involved here, and one needs to carefully weigh the alternatives and implications before arriving at a final decision.

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As mankind takes higher leaps in progress and nations increasingly add to the list of “developed” countries, newer technologies and processes emerge across the globe. Inevitably, the new ranges of technology give rise to newer challenges. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing us today (and one that is being acknowledged by experts in all fields across the globe) is that of combating the threat of climate change that could well push all of humanity into disaster and destruction. More specifically, tackling global warming and controlling increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG – see box) that can bring about climate changes are turning out to be key existential and sustainability issues for individuals, businesses and world institutions.

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What is Credit Rating
A credit rating is a formal evaluation of a company’s financial health and ability to repay debt obligations and the likelihood of the borrower to default on a loan.

Need for Credit Rating
Cash flows from Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) are overwhelming the Indian capital markets and can dictate to a large extent the future direction of the stock markets. The growth and globalisation of Indian Capital markets have led to an exponential surge in demand for professional credit risk analysis.

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In this age of wavering economy and an ambivalent job market, more and more people are heading for the B-schools.

It is observed that among the prospective MBA aspirants 80% are Engineers, but in a survey conducted by a reputed graduate school in the US the question that was mostly asked was how does an M.B.A. program help engineers?

Well an Engineering Degree trains a student to be a specialist. While being a specialist is certainly a fine career choice, for those who would like to get into General Management of a company an M.B.A. definitely gives you the skill that you didn’t get in the engineering school.

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Sujata came home dumbstruck, and sat down her head buried in her hands. Mrs Ghosh was equally stricken. For eighteen years she had ensured her girl gets the best education. So she hadn’t thought twice to enroll her for both Brilliants and the local tutor. “But not qualifying for PMT…. even your cousin Ishani made it last year”.

For a girl who had been taught to harbour the hope of pursuing medicine from the tender age of 8, it seemed like the world had come to an end…..for her mother who wanted every unfulfilled dream come true through her daughter, it was a social failure.

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