THE VISIT OF THE MAGI

On a silent night in Bethlehem, inside an old stable full of animals, a child was born. There was no bed for the baby, so his mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. The ignorant world was oblivious of the fact that the delicate child sleeping in a manger was the son of god.
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Then three wise men from east (also called The Magi) came to Bethlehem to see the holy child. They carried with them three offerings, namely, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gold was symbol of prosperity, frankincense stood for godliness and myrrh meant mortality. They enlightened the world about birth of Jesus. The visit of Magi brought new hope and confidence in people of Bethlehem, as they realised that their saviour was born..........
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But why am I telling you this story? Well ... With Christmas bells ringing all around us and Santa’s sleigh zooming in the sky I could not help joining the chorus of Christmas carols.
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But wait a minute, it’s not just that. For I wonder was it a mere coincidence that in the month of December three of our Alumni of ‘07 batch visited us? While we were lost in our own world, clueless and paranoid about our future Sujoy, Abhishek and Sunil came to the campus........ Came to boost our morale and provide the much needed impetus to our placement activities. They gave us hope, they gave us confidence and they gave us the winning mantras. The two days of togetherness acted as an elixir to our monotonous life marred by hectic study schedules.
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Their visit was ‘The Visit of Magi’ for the GMPians, they came to give us the message of hope and prosperous future. It was great to know that there are people out there watching us, reading our blogs, praying for our success. It was great to know that we are not alone; we have a family, a family of successful GMPians. And each one of us is proud to be a part of the family.

Ma Foi CEO shares his experiences

We were fortunate to listen to Mr. K Pandia Rajan, Founder and CEO, Ma Foi. He was here in XLRI for silver jubilee reunion of 84 batch . It was interesting to listen to peppered talk and his reminiscences of years gone by. He shared his cherished memories of XLRI and his entrepreneurial venture, Ma foi which has grown to size of 700 crore turnover company.
With placement season in the air, He guided us on approaches for placements, industry expectations from GMP batch which has got average work experience of 7.2 years and growing opportunities in entrepreneurship.
It was a great privilege for us to interact and learn from him.

XLRI GMP and Directi

Found this article on Directi site and it says evrything. I need not elaborate. Just posting it here for preserving one more thing that we have done at XLRI.

Blue Ocean Vs Used Apple

Often class-discussions bring very interesting and unnoticed events or happenings.

As 'Beer and Diaper' phenomena (discussed in MIS class), there was another striking story came in class (this time it was Strategic Marketing class):

Mohans had to run its plant 4-shifts to meet demand of Kelloggs Cornflakes Indian market

An example of 'Second Mover Advantage' from marketing class:

How:

1. Kelloggs (termed Pioneer in Marketing concepts) created market of Cornflakes in India.

2. It took years of Kelloggs marketing efforts to change (even little) Indian breakfast preference over Paratha, Idly and VadaPav to Cereals.

3. It must be a time to reap the first mover advantage for Kellogg in Indian Market.

4. Mohans (termed 'Early Follower' in Marketing concepts) introduced a cheaper version of cereals to reap the new market.

5. Indian Customers asked for cornflakes in shops but not Kelloggs but Mohans (price-sensitivity).

6. To meet higher demand of Mohans cereals: Mohans had to run its cereal plant 4-shifts in a day.

So which strategy do you vouch for: a) Blue Ocean (Kelloggs') or b) Used Apple (Mohans')

Walk the Talk: Interview Series is on XLRI GMP Channel on YouTube

Walk the Talk: Interview Series is on XLRI GMP Channel on YouTube

XLRI GMP Students visit Embassy of India, Philippines

The much anticipated visit to Indian Embassy in Manila concluded with greater insight into bilateral relations between India and Philippines, Historical perspective and contemporary issues facing both nations.

AIM Manila arranged meeting with Mr. Amrit Lugun, Councilor, Embassy of India, Philippines. We were delayed by 15-20 minutes because of heavy traffic and security checking. Nevertheless, we reached and had interesting and engaging discussions with Mr. Lugun. He gave historical perspective on development of Philippines, Indian community’s contribution in Philippines and queried us on our backgrounds, future plans and experiences in Philippines.

Some of insights were:
• Philippines is heavily dependent on rice imports and agriculture needs lot of attention.
• He shared that there is huge potential in tourism industry.
• English Language and strong customer orientation are key to success of Filipino BPO industry.
• Trade between India and Philippines is doubled but balance of trade is in favor of India. There is huge scope of Filipino exports to India.
• Philippines is strategically located with proximity to Japan, China, Korea and ASEAN countries but because of greater distance from India, Indian businesses have been restricted to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand etc.
• There is strong Sindhi community who has excelled in alien land as they have in their home country.
• There are many companies from India including Infosys, Wipro and Sutherland having operations in India. Embassy of India facilitates Indian companies who want to start operations in India
• Philippines executive and judicial setup is heavily influenced by American System. Hence, a re-haul in bureaucratic setup is expected after next year’s presidential elections.

Some links
http://www.embindia.org.ph/
http://www.rpindia.info/news/

We normally visit embassies of other countries Indian for getting visa but this was the first time for many of us to visit Indian Embassy in other country.

Overall, it was another Manila experience that we would cherish forever.