Toastmaster Club at MISB Bocconi – Where Leaders Are Made
The auspicious occasion of Teacher’s Day marked the inaugural of our very own TYHO MISB Bocconi Toastmasters Club. We had the benign presence of Area Director B5 District 98 Toastmaster Kannagi Mishra whose evaluation and guidance showed us a path of bright future of being an effective leader. The session started with the President of TYHO giving a brief vote of thanks to the management for facilitating us with such an opportunity continuing with an enthralling session and ending up with enthusiastic and smiling faces with a vision to develop our leadership and communication skills. Also profound thanks was devoted to our club mentor Toastmaster Vishal Khatri from JP Morgan, Powai for guiding us and getting us acquainted with the importance of Toastmasters. Here is an insight of toastmaster KannagiMishra, Area Director – B5, District 98 Toastmasters International &the former president of TCS Maitree Toastmasters experience of the very first session of TYHO MISB Bocconi Toastmaster club. As I entered the contemporary and stricken premises of MISB Bocconi, I saw pepped up students running along the corridor and a few stayed put to welcome the guests. MBA students can teach you a thing or two about how to manage time & resources efficiently. The first Toastmasters meeting of MISB Bocconi was impeccably planned by the students and was nothing short of a ‘perfect Toastmaster meeting’. I was elated and surprised to see that each role bearer had researched well about the role and presented their best on stage. The three P1, ice breaker speech, speakers were a delight. Needless to say that the club members aim nothing less than the best to hone their communication & leadership skills. Fighting against time, they plan to go a step higher and conduct their first speech contest within a month of charter. Now that’s how you get the ball rolling! Let me take this opportunity to wish the club mentors – Shruthi Sharma & Vishal Khatri, and the entire executive committee of the club for their commendable efforts. I am extremely fortunate to have this club under my wing – Area B5. At the end, I would like to share a message with all the members of MISB Bocconi Toastmasters club – Give this platform time to grow on you and you will see incredible changes without any conscious effort. The only effort I wish you to put is your heart to the program laid out by Toastmasters International. Visit conferences, other club meetings & be a part of this amazing network filled with opportunities to grow. Spread out your wings & fly high! We hope that the time spent in Toastmasters will turn out to be one of the best and the most transformational time of our lives when will see ourselves turning from small buds to full bloomed flowers under the sunshine of our mentors and peers and will be able to give an enriching aura to the society.
The Future of Luxury in India
The term Luxury defines creativity and research while maintaining your aura and interdependence. It is about making an identity worldwide with that swift label you own and make every consumer in the world envy the resource that you keep in your hand. Everyone is familiar with most of the luxury brands in the world like Louis Vuitton and Mercedes which have made a subtle mark all over the world and originate from the western world. The real question is, What is the future of India’s luxury market? The retail sector contributes to about 10% of the GDP of India and gives employment to 18% of the working population. This industry is certainly estimated to grow to $1 trillion by 2020. The current Indian luxury market size is $18.5 Billion. The luxury sector has encompassed an impressive growth of 340% in the number of Indian Ultra High net worth. Taking an overview of the ground reality till date, Mumbai & Delhi lead in the figures of Ultra High Net worth Individuals, with the great Indian middle class being the most important driver of luxury in India. There has also been a considerable rise in shopping malls coming up with luxury showrooms, accompanied by premium and super-premium stores. Products such as accessories have become the stairway to an elite aspiration for masses. It is this desire that has led to the exponential rise of the market for knock-offs and first copies. Luxury retailers clear a large chunk of inventory during the sale period which showcases how the awareness and importance of the luxury brands are rising. What lies ahead is the growing automobile industry. It is growing at a rate of 15% Per Annum with 35,300 units and is estimated to grow to 87,300 units by 2020. What is driving this growth? There are some new product launches across price points which enhance dealer network beyond the metropolitan areas. Due to this increased focus on localization of parts and availability of robust financing options, we see the market paving its way and coming out like a star, ruling the automobile market. As for apparels, accessories, and footwear, analysts have predicted that Italian luxury brand stores are set to open about 200 stores by 2020. About 150,000 high net worth individuals, with a net worth of $600 million-$3.1 million and with earnings more than $1.5 million per household, have been fuelling this unprecedented growth across the top 10 cities in India. The good news is total luxury goods retail value in India is expected to grow by 63% (ahead of China on 59%) by 2018. As the wise men say, Nothing can be achieved without hardships and hurdles. The Luxury sector has to overcome a lot of challenges such as counterfeits, lack of infrastructure and pricing. Despite such challenges, the future of luxury in India seems bright enough to make a mark amidst the Indian population and culture. Written by- Ms. Pranjal Pravin, Post Graduate Program in Business Class of 2019 Bocconi is a Top B school offering Luxury Courses. Luxury management Courses in India are few. SDA Bocconi Asia Center is now launching Executive Program in Luxury -http://sdabocconiasiacenter.com/executive-education/executive-program-in-luxury
Leadership Series Mr. Neeraj Kulshrestha, COO of Bombay Stock exchange
Saturday, 29th July 2017, the students of PGPB6 had an opportunity to meet a person of immense stature in the finance industry. Mr. Neeraj Kulshrestha; he is current COO of Bombay Stock exchange, popularly known as BSE. With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry ranging from General operations to Stock Exchange operations, Mr. Kulshrestha provided us with some knowledgeable insights on the recent IPO of BSE, Ltd. which analysts predict was seeking to raise as much as ‚¹1,243.40 Crore. He began his session by giving us a little backdrop of BSE. In a country with so many states, everyone wanted access to resources – so at one point almost every state in India had its own Stock Exchange. This made brokers prone to manipulation, said Mr. Kulshrestha in retrospect. BSE is a 142-year-old stock exchange which happens to be the world’s fastest trading platform, with a median trade speed of six microseconds. He also gave insights on the tremendous volume of transactions at BSE on a daily basis; with about 230-250 million orders each day, approximately 15 million converts to transactions. He further explained that in order to overcome certain inefficiencies of the BSE, National Stock Exchange (NSE) was set up in 1992 as the first demutualized electronic exchange which revolutionized trading by introducing a modern, fully automated screen-based electronic trading system. Together, BSE and NSE are the main stock trading platforms in India. Another interesting concept Mr. Kulshrestha touched base upon was the four important factors in the world of stock trading today – People, Technology, Distribution, and Products. While trading is mostly analytical, people play a major role in this field – especially the right kind of people, who ensure transparency. On the topic of technology, he elaborates, Change in technology is the toughest decision to be made as there are too many stakeholders involved. In terms of distribution, he mentioned the need to expand and to have a collaborative future for stock exchanges across the globe. Finally, on the factor of products, he mentioned an intriguing theory of Red Ocean/Blue Ocean the Red Ocean refers to existing products in the market which makes the competition tough as there is a market leader already present, and Blue Ocean, refers to a new area or a green field which is untouched and has plenty of scope. BSE has thoroughly adopted the Blue Ocean strategy. On the topic of the IPO, he mentioned it was a necessary step to be taken after demutualization, as stock brokers had to sell down. To ensure no erroneous activities took place, and since a stock exchange cannot regulate itself, a decision was taken to go public on NSE, on January 23rd, 2017. He also mentioned that insider trading is being curbed by timely regulations through important institutes like SEBI and NSE. To sum up, Mr. Kulshrestha gave the students of PGPB6 a delightful opportunity to learn more about Asia’s largest stock exchange. He left us with food for thought – If you are a leader anywhere, make sure you don’t focus only on the market share. Governance of the company is equally important. Written by Devika Poduval and Miloni Shah | Post Graduate Program in Business Class 2019 Read more: Leadership Series Mr. Suvamoy Roy Choudhury, Director of Human Resources at Vodafone
Convocation EPBA Class of 2017
Convocation | Executive Program in Business Analytics Class of 2017 On Sunday, 23r July 2017, MISB Bocconi & Jigsaw Academy celebrated the completion of its 3rd batch of EPBA (Executive Program in Business Analytics). Gracing the occasion were Prof. Veronica Vecchi, Director Executive Education, MISB Bocconi, Prof. Maurizio Poli, Director for EPBA program, Gaurav Vohra and Sarita Digumarti, Founders of Jigsaw Academy, Faculty, and Staff. The program provided in-depth knowledge on the tools and technologies that are most sought after by the industry, like predictive modeling, data mining, Big Data analytics, marketing, operations and risk analytics, among other analytics areas. The participants of the program also work on the capstone project, where they applied their learning, benefitting both participants and the organization. Drawing analogy to the films, Prof. Poli, Program Director, said that just like for any film the success is dependent upon the actors & in a program like EPBA the students are the main actors and their success is the success of the program. A Director can only guide the actors, in this case, equip the students with latest tools and technologies in Analytics, it is up to the students how to best utilize these learnings and grow in their career. “MISB Bocconi’s partnership with Jigsaw Academy is a perfect opportunity to experience, explore and experiment with a mix of advanced management and data driven statistical tools. Excellent place to start for a real Analytics & Big Data aspirant. It was perfectly scheduled as it did not disturb my office work and I loved the way the classes were organized. The course goes beyond just mastering Big Data & Business Analytics, and gave a business context to what we were being taught”. Pius Coutinho, Avenue Supermarts Ltd For more information on the Executive program in Business Analytics: Click Here
#Leadership Series – Mr. Suvamoy Roy Choudhury, Director of Human Resources at Vodafone
The batch of PGPB6 had an opportunity to have a session with a prominent HR personality from the telecommunication industry – Mr. Suvamoy Roy Choudhury. With over 25 years of work experience in different domains such as healthcare, FMCG and most recently telecommunications, Mr. Choudhury is currently the Director of Human Resources at Vodafone, India. He is an alumnus of the esteemed Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. In today’s guest lecture, we discussed the Future of Work. Mr. Choudhury threw light upon some crucial topics regarding the near future of service industry. Below are three key points from the discussion: Easy access to technology – Mr. Choudhury stressed on the technology is the driver of life in today’s era. Technology has made the world so accessible that the line between the have and the have-not is diminishing at a fast pace. In order to keep up with this trend, we, as a generation, must adapt to the paradigm shift. To quote him, Democratisation of workplace leads to the democratization of technology, which eventually leads to the democratization of aspirations. Globalization Today, India has a limited multi-national culture. We are the kind of people who always want to flock with our own kind. This perception needs to change, and the only way that can happen is if our generation becomes more accepting of the global behavior. Fluid Organisations Another interesting insight Mr. Choudhury provided was on the concept of Halocracy. He suggested that in organizations, equality is of paramount importance and it should be followed thoroughly. Every contributing member of the organization should have an equal stake – regardless of whether they are men or women. He put it very beautifully – Human Resources should be more accepting of the Pink. In conclusion, the session provided the students of PGPB6 with a great learning discourse on the importance of change and that the onus lies on our generation to revamp the work scene as we know it. We’ll leave you with an empowering quote by Mr. Choudhury himself, Leadership is the ability to motivate followership. To be effective, use authority rather than power. Written by: Devika Poduval and Miloni Shah | Post Graduate Program in Business 2017-19
MISB Bocconi Automotive Conclave 2017
The aim of this Automotive Conclave is to drive a series of elaborations and discussions in the field of automobiles. Beginning with business disruptions, we shall explore the change in business model and strategy throughout the value chain of the automotive industry. From suppliers to OEMs, diving down to dealerships, our intent is to analyze the developments and modifications in this fast growing industry. Digitization, automation, and new business models have revolutionized many industries and the automotive industry will be no exception. These forces are giving rise to four disruptive technology-driven trends in the automotive sector: diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity. Many industry players and experts believe that automotive industry is saturated and ripe for disruption and that these four trends will reinforce one another. This panel discussion aims to discuss the feasibility and effect of these disruptions on the automotive sector and possible changes in the business model. A short video on challenges faced by the auto industry in last few years and the key disruptive elements. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO What is the battle fought in the last 3 Years? The biggest challenge was how to transform from Heavy Breaking to Brake Assist. We must teach the customers not to brake. This is the disruption by itself quoted Chandra Natraja. Mr. Prashant Sankeshwar, Deputy General Manager at Mercedes-Benz discussed the challenges in auto industry said “Amongst the challenges for the auto industry is digitization. The role of digital channels has become vitally important in the buying decision of the car.Almost 70% of car sales are influenced by digital media. Changing customer journey or buying behavior has been one of the disruptive trends in the auto industry.” Adding here he also mentioned the three keys accordingly for the competitive environment for auto industry in India. The potential is the population and area. 1. No competitors have been able to crack the Indian-specific code 2. With government policies, India has a competitive advantage 3. Focus on infrastructure and connectivity With the focus on these, the auto industry would do well in India. Mr. Chandra Natraja, Managing Director Knorr-Bremse said “10 years ago we had 1 % Electronic Engineers. Today we have 20% of them working on electronic systems. This is the disruption.” In India, luxury cars are used when the owners go to socialize and not for the daily commute according to Mr. Sankeshwara of Mercedez Benz. “People change cars every 3 years as they see it as an extension of their own personality. In terms of data, Lamborghini knows every single user that they have sold cars to which is about 3457 cars as we have a small dealer network. Feedback of input from our top 100 customers has led to the development of a new car which is the Urus SUV” Said Mr. Gautam Madnani, Business Head Lamborghini. “Old generation used to see owning an automotive as an asset while newer generation being more Finan savvy treats it as a liability “added Mr.Chandra Natraja Whereas Mr. Madnani brought up the hot topic of how GST affects Lamborghini, GST has made a lot of things easy and smooth for Lamborghini India though the road tax has complicated things as it can differ from 3% to 24% depending upon the state. To the end “Who owns the customer first is the decision maker in the future” added Mr. Prashant Sankeshwar of Merecedes Benz
What is the best time to apply for an Executive Program?
The best time for applying to IEMB, the MBA for Executives in Mumbai? During the last couple of years, we have met a lot of senior Executives and HR Managers during the enrolment and one to one consultations and lot of discussions happened around what is the best time to do an EMBA (Executive MBA) and what is the expected impact of such program. An EMBA is a fundamental milestone to advance the personal leadership path and to strengthen managerial skills to accelerate the development of high-potential leaders. There are different reasons beyond the decision to attend an EMBA and therefore there is not a one fits all moment for this decision. An executive MBA requires a minimum of 5 years of experience and it is fundamental to have the aspiration to make a change in one’s own professional life: for example, re-start the career after a maternity break; moving to a multinational company to get a better exposure and international opportunities; becoming an entrepreneur; strengthen and relaunch a family business; upgrade yourself to the next phase of your professional career. Our current Executive Master students have told us that they have considered a variety of factors before making the decision to pursue their masters with MISB Bocconi, Mumbai. One of the students was not able to decide whether to pursue an EMBA from a European Business School like MISB Bocconi or stick to an Indian Executive MBA since the student already had an MBA from an Indian Business School. In the end, the student decided to join Bocconi IEMB because he felt that the Indian EMBAs are not able to provide the necessary global exposure which is very much required for an international career. Another student was contemplating between Full-time, by pausing the career, or Part-time where he will have to take extra load of work and effort. In the end, he chose the part-time as this will keep the career accelerated, giving the opportunity to apply the lesson learned immediately and to provide an advantage to the company. Another student felt that if she didn’t upgrade herself, she wouldn’t see a lot of momentum in her career. For another student, it was much more cost effective as compared to doing an EMBA from any top business school based outside India, as IEMB the International executive masters in business has the same curriculum and same faculty that provides the same certification as SDA Bocconi school of management, Italy but at a third of its cost. We are here to help you make this decision and it is always a pleasure to meet the candidates to discuss the same. Please feel free to reach out to us at +91 7738821343 or exedu@misbbocconni.com. – Veronica Vecchi [Update] SDA Bocconi Asia Center, formerly named MISB Bocconi, is a pan-Asian hub in Mumbai that has been delivering Top Executive Education Programs designed by SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy since 2012. SDA Bocconi is a Top Business School in Europe and is among the few to have gained the triple accreditation EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB which puts it in the élite of Business Schools worldwide. It is ranked in the top 10 for its customized executive education. SDA Bocconi Asia Center also runs top executive education programs such as Executive Program in Luxury amongst others. The International Executive Master in Business is similar to other Executive MBA in Mumbai.
LEAD WITH HUMOUR
You don’t want co-workers laughing at you, but sharing a laugh at the workplace can pave the way to success. Here’s how to strike a balance.Reaching the end of a job interview, the HR person asks a young applicant: And what starting salary are you looking for? The applicant answers, In the neighbourhood of one crore a year, depending on the benefits package. The interviewer says, Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks paid vacation, full medical and dental insurance, and a company car leased every two years, say Range Rover Sport? The applicant sits up straight. Wow! Are you kidding? Interviewer: Yes, but you started it! Marco Sampietro, a professor at the SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and at the Mumbai International School of Business (India) offers this example of workplace humour in the introduction for his new book Humour at the Workplace, published by Rupa. In the book, he outlines how it’s possible to use humour at work to ease stress, break the ice with new colleagues, promote camaraderie and even simply to make work more fun. Sampietro, who has authored and co-authored six books on management, has attempted to turn humour into a science, offering theories about what makes people laugh, explaining the many types and patterns of humour and even pointing out why and how what you think is funny can have disastrous results. But can humour be learnt at all? Sampietro believes so. “Well, in the book I skipped linguistic theories of humour that sometimes really try to find the secret formula of humour, he says with a smile. There are people that are able to plan humour. For example, comedians know what is funny and what it is not, what works and what does not work they, essentially, leverage the theories of humour depicted in the book. It does not mean that they’ve studied these theories, more likely that they learnt them from experience and discovered successful patterns of humour. Humour is learnt, Sampietro says, as many other skills, as part of our development process. But it’s really part of one’s personality and based on the way you interpret the world. If these variables do not change, your style of humour probably won’t either. What can be learnt, however, is to refrain from using humour types that can offend. And of course you can learn jokes, but the effectiveness of jokes depends on many factors such as your voice, body language and rhythm. A few points to keep in mind: Humour and age Sampietro cites several studies to demonstrate how humour changes through the different stages of one’s life. He writes: Jennifer Stanley and some other researchers had 30 young adults, 22 middle-aged people, and 29 senior citizens watch a variety of different sitcom clips. The subjects rated how socially appropriate and funny they found each clip. Stanley also used facial electromyography to determine how much the clips caused their facial muscles to move to form a smile. What the authors found was that senior citizens were much less likely to be fans of the aggressive style of humour. Sampietro offers an example of aggressive humour: Colleague 1 (to Colleague 3, while waiting for the elevator with Colleague 2): The elevator is coming. Would you like to ride it? Colleague 3: No thanks, the elevator already has a lot of work with you two. Jokes like that, he says, fall flat on an older audience. The 64 to 84-year-olds found a specific clip about 23 percent less funny than the middle-aged people did, and about 19 percent less funny than the 17 to 21-year-olds did. Young adults, he writes, preferred self-deprecating humour, while older participants favoured affiliative humour, the kinds of jokes that bring people together through a funny or awkward situation. The gender divide Generally, men and women use different types of humour, and perceive humour in a slightly different way, Sampietro tells us. Male humour is usually more aggressive and targeted against someone, while female humour is more conversational and less focused on specific people, especially if they are present. To enhance workplace chemistry, Sampietro therefore recommends sticking to jokes that aren’t directed at anyone. Sampietro offers the following example: One colleague notices another waiting for the elevator with a bunch of books and snacks in her hands. Food for your thoughts? he asks. No, she replies, It’s a survival kit for the elevator. What gets India giggling? Sampietro believes that humour is becoming freer and more adventurous in India. He’s dedicated an entire chapter to humour on the subcontinent, in fact. Explaining the reason behind this emphasis, he says, I’ve been working in India since 2012. The idea of writing this book only occurred to me while there. I was interviewed by a newspaper and had mentioned how humour was an integral part of the skillset of a good project manager that’s when I thought about it, hence the focus on India. Citing other studies, Sampietro reveals that Indians favour affiliative humour and seem to enjoy aggressive humour less. Hurtful humour was disliked the most. Local stand-up comic Tanmay Bhat, who came under fire for the Sachin vs. Lata Civil War video he posted on Snapchat in July last year would, likely, confirm this to be true. Why do corporate leaders need humour? Humour is often associated with leadership, team effectiveness and leaders ability to elicit changes in subordinates, writes Sampietro. Several successful companies such as Ben and Jerry’s, Southwest Airlines and Sun credit higher degree of employment commitment, group work cohesiveness and their excellent performances to their leaders use of humour at the workplace. But Sampietro also says that using humour can be tricky when you hold a position of authority. For one thing, many leaders worry that using humour may diminish their authority or fear that being funny doesn’t align with their status. “On the other hand, if your leadership style is very focused on achieving goals and performing tasks, humour can still
How to seek the support of your employer for Executive Education or Executive MBA?
With an Executive Education program like International Executive Masters in Business (IEMB) at MISB Bocconi, Mumbai you can continue to work full time whilst pursuing an international Executive education. However, participants want to make the most out of the Executive education by giving the necessary time and effort to attend the executive program. This requires the employer to support for the time off to attend classes, the two immersion weeks in Milan, Italy, and an optional week to attend international electives too. Sometimes the participants are also able to secure financial sponsorship for their Executive education in India or abroad. So what should the participants do? They should sit down with their Manager and explain the benefit of Executive education or specific executive programs like ours “the International Executive Masters in Business” and the benefits for the company and the team. One way could be explaining this as a business case, as in how Executive education could benefit more to the organization rather than focusing on your personal development. Before you sit down with the manager, make sure you answer these questions: Why this executive program in Mumbai? Why Bocconi’s International Executive Masters in Business -IEMB? How does this program fit in your overall development? How can this executive program help the organization? What’s the cost of the executive program and how do you plan to fund it? How much of company sponsorship is required? In the case of sponsorship for an executive MBA, what will you commit to the company? Answer these questions and you might be able to understand how much support you can get. MISB Bocconi is available to support you by meeting you or your managers in person. Read More: What is the best time to Apply to for an Executive Program?
Learn Business Analytics with Prof Poli
“Well, Business Analytics, the dream job for a lot of students, is taking over the world. Companies like Tinder, Amazon, and Netflix are heavily using #BusinessAnalytics to not only make more revenue but also to maximize customer satisfaction. In this video, we have Prof Maurizio Poli from MISB Bocconi, explaining how this geeky little subject that’s taking over business schools and engineering colleges, helps you find the right match on #Tinder, the perfect merchandise on #Amazon and the next show to binge watch on #Netflix.” MISB Bocconi Courtesy:Insideiim.com