What basket ball did to west indies cricket, T-20 is going to do to world cricket...God Save my favourite game

Is 20-20 would kill test cricket and one day cricket.

Why let us understand the demise of West Indies Cricket because of basketball.


The game was short, had a lot more money, fame, instant success, attractive, people loved it more...more kids took up basketball.... cricket was left for left overs.... And all the malcolm marshalls and curtly ambroses of the Carribean today are sweating it out on the basket ball courts leaving the cricket fields for B-rung players.

Now, Similarly we haev started seeing players fringing injuries to avoid longer version games. No one is desperate to play for national side, they are more bothered to be for for IPL and recently launched champions league.

So what this would lead to

The face of cricket would totally change just like the face of west indies cricket has changed.....test cricket and 50 overs cricket will lose their importance.....Afridis would be bigger stars than Dravids.... Lot more money would come in... Entertainment top class, Yuvraj hitting six sixes in an over.... but we would no longer see laxman ... and dravid fighting out the aussies the whole day, Kumble taking all ten wickets..... and just like the carribeans may come up with a gayle or a sarwan... but not a richards, ambrose or marshall..... A Deccan Chargers could be a more popular team than Indian Cricket team.... like LA Lakers is more popular than USA basket ball team or Manchester United is more popular than England football team.... etc etc.... not debating on whether its good or bad.... but this is how i see the future of cricket...

Now, this would make sure there are no cover drives on the carpet, you are encouraged to play lofted shots. Bowlers need not work a batsman out as a bowler only have 4 overs and a batsman scoring 25 of 15 balls is a class batsman.

Recession: A Time to hold on to your job or explore your inner self

Before starting this piece of thought, we would like to mention that this space as the book is applicable to people who are not living on month to month and have enough savings/wealth to last a few months comfortably. Secondly, this should be read by people who think that they are in their job because of their qualification, experience, intelligence and hardwork. If someone knows that he is there because of sheer luck, timing or a favor from a relative, better stay away from this.

We keep on hearing this these days all around us. Hold on to your job !!

Be it your office colleagues, HR managers, Mass Media or even Radio Jockeys advising people on this burning issue or at least it have been made to sound one. It is so funny actually when these RJ’s who themselves are 23-25 year old kids advising people in general about what they should be doing in life but that is case with anyone who have got that authority.

Anyways, let us come back to the topic. Before writing this, we actually spoke to few CEO’s and asked a simple question.

Who is on a beneficial side during Recession: Employer or Employee and all of them were kind and honest enough to say Employer. They are getting the best talent, making them work 12-14 hrs a day and paying peanuts because the people are scared and they have been advised to “ Hold on to Your Job” by the world guru’s including RJ’s.

And we the employees do just what the capitalists want us to do. See, we are not against the capitalism but the inhumane face of it. Inspite of such a strong recession, we haven’t heard about mass suicides in USA. People who have lost their jobs still seem to go along nicely in their lives, many in India these days on vacation. Because they have a very strong social security in place and that is why we had to give the top warning. If India had same social security like USA, we shall have proposed the same with much louder voice and reaching far wider audience LEAVE THE JOB

May be this is time when you should plan for that long 1 year India trip which is your childhood dream. May be that Restaurant which you always wanted to open can be started right now or spending 6 months to renovate your house as per your likings. And anyways, your opportunity cost is lesser. Your salary has recently been cut by 30% and your working hours have increased so much that your monthly medical bills ( present and future in anticipation) are taking another 15% of your salary. So you are working at 50% of your worth. Why not use this time to pursue your dreams and once, things are normal again, we can join some Employer again if we ever need to.

So guys, here is the final word. This is the time to enjoy yourself ..Start your dream venture and do not hold on to a job which makes you miserable.

Note: We again repeat that this should be read by people who think that they are in their job because of their qualification, experience, intelligence and hardwork. If someone knows that he is there because of sheer luck, timing or a favor from a relative, better stay away from this.

( Taken from www.beceooflife.com)

Why Taking Online Tests is necessary in preparation for CAT

The preparation for CAT is incomplete before taking a lot of practice tests. Full length practice tests/Mock Tests helps a student in multiple ways:

1. Practice to work in real test conditions, so real stress, real anxiety and real tiredness

After CAT’08, one of the student brought the paper back to show to its faculty. The faculty started looking at questions and found them very easy. His first reaction was ‘ such a easy paper”. It was for sure if you also see the questions in the situation of the faculty sitting in his cabin with no stress in his mind. But when the same paper was with Student in CAT examination hall with his future in stake, the same questions looks very different. When the entrance to one the premier institutes depend upon this once performance which can take your life to new summits, things are totally different.

2.Solving 90 ( or more) questions simultaneously is a different art than solving one at a time in home

When you start studying or even working in the morning, the first 30 minutes are perfect. After that, most of us take a coffee break which keeps on happening after every 30 minutes subsequently. During CAT or any other exams like XAT, SNAP, GMAT or SNAP, you do not take coffee breaks. You need to prepare yourself for long extended hours of concentration without coffee.

3.Developing the art of leaving questions and using options

Remember CAT and almost all the entrance exams of this world are relative and objective. You need to score better than others and you need to mark one out of 5 options. There are no marks for most scientific solution so why bother to find one. If you can eliminate 4 options in a question, the last option has to be correct though you do not know why. Secondly, though you need to get over 99 percentile in CAT, the actual marks needed to get this is hardly 50%. So you are supposed to get only 50% questions correct. Unlike your school and college exams where you are habitual to score 90% thus attempting all the questions for sure, here you are supposed to get 50% marks only. So if you leave 3-4 tough questions, no harm is done to you so do that. Do not fall in love with any question.

4. Benchmarking yourself with others, as the success criteria is relative and not absolute(Percentile system).

As mentioned briefly in point 3, CAT and other MBA entrance exams follow relative grading. So you are not trying to get 50 or 90 marks out of 100, you need to get more marks than 99% of students taking that test be it 50 marks or 90 marks. In CATsinglequote06, when the quant paper was dirt easy, many of students being trained by coaching institutes were happy after attempting 10 questions correctly and movign to other section. But incedently, the CAT paper that year had a very easy Quant section adn cut off was higher than last 10 years. So you were supposed to attempt 15 questions out of 25 minimum. Hence there is no startegy regarding the expected cut off marks in a section. The expected cut off would be decide by you and other CAT takers only. So you need to know your percentile scores vis a vis the entire bunch of CAT takers. It would be real helpo if know for the past 5 months so that you can strategise your preparation accordingly.

And most importantly, you can CAT only once a year, why to take the chance in that. Practice as many tests as possible so that CAT is just an another day in office for you.

( This article is taken from www.topCATcoaching.com)

The Success Mantra--C2B Portals/Media Platforms

The Success Mantras of Internet Portals—Introducing C2B portals or Media platforms

Since joining the Internet/Media bandwagon about 2 years back, everyday seems to throw a new thing to me.

We all agree on one thing that it is always easier to make money from people who make money by giving you some money rather than those who have to shell out money and buying stuff to consume. In Simple language, it is B vis a vis C. So any transaction which involves B at both ends is most likely to succeed. On the other hand, a transaction which involves C at both ends find very hard to complete.
So, we have B2B businesses, transactions or in Internet, portals making lot of money. On the other hand C2C portals are facing the toughest times. The B2C portals which are in majority falls in between (All major sites Yahoo/Rediff or even Google) falls into this bracket.
Now, all this is very common and known worldwide. So what is new that I am trying to share? Here I Go.

Within B2C portals, have you ever wondered why Job portals are generally very succesfull, loan generation portals (apnloan.com) are next, whereas some others are not ( Matrimonial, Real Estate etc).

I observed a very interesting thing. In the B2C portals also, we have two segments. In one segment, Business asks Consumer to buy/respond to something for which he/she needs to shall out money but in other segment, they pay consumer in the end. So it is a reverse model, should I call it C2B. Let me explain

In job Portals, it is the business side which pays the media house to get C and C gets the most coveted thing in life ‘Job’ free of cost. Yes, as a consumer, you never pay in the entire transaction , you are paid eventually when you get a job.
Similarly, the bank loan lead generation is a similar example. The consumer is getting loan ( money) from the banks especially the personal loans. I now most of you which are reading this blog do not want to receive unsolicited calls but there is huge chunk of Indian population who would like to get as much as loan as possible and then personal loan for which you need not give any guarantee. So, they would be jumping to get these loans.
This is the model where B chases C , pays media company also to do so but eventually pays to C also when he gets them. So, media models where Business’s pay Media to get Consumers but eventually also pay consumers in the end ensures maximum success to Business and eventually to Media.

ACE CAT--Some last Minute Tips

ACE CAT

Come November and students are frenzied lot! After days or even months of constant burning of the light lamp, it is time to fight the ferocious CAT. Anxiety pangs are a frequent phenomenon. But is CAT really as tough as it is perceived to be? Many a times the not – so - intelligent lot of students are able to crack CAT while the consistent high scorers come out of the examination hall broken – hearted. The truth lies in the unseen. Unlike other entrance test, like JEE for engineering or medical entrance test, CAT does not test your mettle in math formulae or your prowess in Queen’s English. Instead, Common Admission Test or CAT is essentially a race against time – a race which you can win.

Given below are a few tips which can turn you into Formula 1 racer for CAT!

Analytical skill: Being an application – driven test, CAT would test your analytical skills. It is mandatory to develop strong problem – solving skill rather than memorising the age – old math formulae and grasping the theories. Instead, you should grab hold of a good CAT preparation book and start practicing with the unsolved questions. Follow the 48-hours to analyse it. You are free to seek outside help during this time. If you are still confused then only see the answer. The most common mistake students can make is to look at the solved answer as soon as they realise that they are unable to work out a question. This hampers the building up of their analytical power. It is necessary the building up of their analytical power. It is necessary that you strain your brain to solve a question. As a result you would be able to understand the concept in – depth as well as develop sound problem solving skills.

Think long – term: Our brain functions like a computer’s memory. Whatever we learn either gets stored in the short – term or long term memory. One critical mistake which most students make is that whatever they learn gets stored in their short – term memory. This is why students forget about the concepts and principals which they have learned before the exam. To tackle this problem, follow the ‘Times 3 principal’. According to this principal, practice every concept/question three times. First is an attempt, then a solution and finally the last one makes for revision. Revision is an integral part of any preparation. You must not take this lightly.

Start speeding up: As mentioned earlier, speed is a major factor while appearing for CAT. You will not be able to suddenly start solving questions quickly at the time of the examination. Once you are through with the entire course, start giving mock entrance tests. The higher the number of tests. The better it is. However, do not err by thinking that this solely would increase your speed. Rather, you need to analyse every mock examination that you take to ensure that you don’t end up making the same mistakes again. Keep a note of time that you take to solve the paper and the marks that you attain in every mock test. A better option would be to track your rank at a national level.

Work smart: Good decision – making skills go a long way in helping you crack CAT. It would be a better idea to deal with simple and less time – consuming questions. Once you have attempted the easier ones, your nervousness would take a back seat and you would be geared up to handle the difficult questions. This in turn would also increase the probability of getting the right answers for such problems. With the CAT exam going online, the test pattern might change considerably. Hopefully, it would follow the structure of GMAT and GRE entrance examinations. It is thus critical to familiarize yourself with the computer and internet as the test is conducted online. For this, you should take numerous CAT mock tests which are easily available on the Internet. please visit http://www.quantaptitude.com/ for some os these.

Note: This article was published in the Educations Special Megazine of Mail Today, An India Today group newspaper.

Online Education in India

The scope of Online Education in India
Although online education has been a comparatively new entrant in the field of Indian education, it’s already gained a presence in the education sector. And why not, its common knowledge that the current education system with its state funded colleges and universities cannot keep up with the demands of the students. Lack of infrastructure, crowded classrooms and understaffed faculty add to the dismal state of public education. The exorbitant tuition fees of the private colleges and universities have further affected the reach of education for many sections in the society.
The need of the hour is an interface that can make good use of the available resources and provides guidance and creative learning solutions at an affordable price. Online education certainly fits the bill for the above requirement. The online educational products are targeted at school children, as well as students who are preparing for national and international competitive exams. The products can be classified into the following segments:
Online curriculum based programs
Learning solutions for school students
Online tutorials for school children and students of competitive exams
Online test matter for competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, GRE, AIPMT, AIEEE and more

Online curriculum based programs are targeted at children from classes IX to XII. Greycells 18 is one of the companies involved in a similar venture although they use both television and the Internet as their product medium. By hiring people with teaching experience in top institutes like IIM Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Delhi and Pittsburg University; the company intends to provide secondary Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics learning solutions for CBSE and other related state boards.
Educomp Solutions is another well known name in the online education business. One of its product module, Smart Class is a technology-enabled learning solution that caters to private schools in India under the BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) model. The Smart class system includes a virtual school, where parents, teachers and students can communicate with each other. Teachers can upload assignments that students can download, as well as make available important information for parents to view. In the financial year 2005, this segment alone contributed INR 2.95 Crore of the total revenue.
But it’s the online tutorial product which is the golden child of the virtual education sector. 2008 witnessed a 150% growth in demand for online tutorials in comparison to 2007. Currently, the online tutorial market in India is worth $27 million (INR 105 Crores). As per the report by brokerage firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets, in four years, this value is predicted to reach around $280 million (INR 1,092 Crores). Online tutorials not only provide good content, multi-media modules, test papers and recorded sessions; it also facilitates live real time communications between students and teachers. www.2tion.com is one company which has won the student’s loyalty for online tutoring.
Online tutorials have captured the students’ attention as it allows them access to the very best of tutors, geographical locations no bar. A student living in Sangli can have access to tutors teaching in IITs. Thus, a student’s area of choice has widened to include different cities and countries in his selection of tutors. The flexibility of online tutoring is immense. As students can attend the tutorial sessions from the comfort of his homes, travelling with all its incurred costs can be cut down. Besides that, it also saves time and energy. Students also have the provision to clarify their doubts anytime of the day or night through email or chat.
The online availability of test papers for competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, GRE and AIEEE have led to massive online following by various student communities. Web 2.0 interface has further opened up the channels of communications between students and their peers. This means that students can now get feedbacks and recommendations from fellow net users about test matters, online solutions, tutorials, institutes and much more. Perversely, if a company engaged in online educational products or services tries to cheat its user base, then his credibility can take a big hit in forums and blogs. Some of the more popular sites in terms of active user base include pagalguy and goiit.

In spite of the progress of online education, there is still much ground to be covered in India by this sector. The first hurdle that they face is the lack of computer education. The computer is still an item of luxury and it will take some time before we can expect a PC in every home in India. Another important point to be considered is the dismal broadband penetration. The July 2008 report by the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) testified that only 4 million users have access to broadband connection. For a country with a population of over 1.1 billion, this figure is indeed dismal.

The success of online education is limited to the metros and tier 1 cities where students are more net savvy and have access to personal computers. For all its worth, online education is still very much in the periphery of the education system in India. This is partly because most Indian schools still follow a didactic system of teaching where the use of technology and multimedia is limited. Parents are also not too aware of the benefits of online education. This means that online education remains a backend support which cannot replace the traditional method of classroom teaching. Only time will tell whether online education can make proper inroads into the heart of the educational system of India.

Demystifying MBA

I have been asked many times by MBA aspirants about job profile of a Operations MBA and its job prospects. This blog is an attempt to clarify these questions for the larger community.

MBA in Finance

Career: With global trends impacting the financial sector, there is a demand for finance professionals
• With a new set of skills, resulting in careers such as Financial Analysts, Financial Planners, Financial Advisors and Financial Managers
• People who have an eye for detail & are research oriented can go for a finance MBA.

Skills Required: Finance calls for a unique set of skills.
• It is ideally suited for you if you are outgoing and inquisitive by nature.
• You will use your mathematical aptitude and ability to take your organization's or individual client’s goals, resources and options into consideration while making suggestions for their continued financial growth.
• This is one area where employment opportunities are influenced by your academic performance and previous professional environment success.
• Finance people-the bean counters, as they are called-are viewed as pessimists.
• If you are good at number crunching, have a flair for juggling numbers & think you can manage the party well, then finance is the job for you.

Salary Package: Starts from INR Rs 10.35 lakhs Per annum for a fresh MBA and according to foreign standards can earn around US$75,000 salary in the US $ depending, of course on skills & experience.

Famous Colleges: All the IIM’s. i.e. IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Kolkatta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikhode, FMS, ISB

MBA in Marketing

Career: Those who have excellent communication skills & have an outgoing personality should opt for marketing.

Sales Management - responsible for achieving of sales target of an area
• In sales & Mktg., there are 2-3 areas where an MBA is recruited for
Brand Management - responsible for successful management of brands through various strategies and achieve market share.

Skills Required: Ability to plan and execute marketing ideas
• Ability to develop ideas which lead to growth in sales
• Ability to mobilize resources to achieve the set objectives
• Communication skills - written & Oral
• Interpersonal skills
• High energy levels and enthusiasm to work
• Analytical skills
• Marketing people- the optimists.
• In short, if you are creative & have zeal to sell, then there’s no doubts you should be in marketing.

Salary: Starts from Rs. 4lakhs per annum approx and in foreign standards of US $67,000 approx

Famous Colleges: Beyond IIM’s, Mica is a very good college for Advertising and Marketing.

MBA in Human Resource Management

Career: One very important trend in the recent times has been the growth of human resource outsourcing.
• HR outsourcing is the outsourcing of peripheral but necessary administrative tasks such as payroll, benefits, education/training, recruiting personnel, administration, to realize economies of scale and achieve standardization of services .
• With an increased focus on people issues, HR guys have everything going for them.
• Ever increasing demand for experienced HR professionals.

Skill required: Ability to understand and deal with people of all levels
• Ability to cope with unstructured situations
• And the person should have the 4 Cs –Creativity ,Calmness, Conceptually sound ,Convincing ability .
• Need patience & perseverance.
• Someone who is passionate about resolving people issues will be the right candidate for pursuing a career in HR

Salary Package: Average Salary start from is 3.5 Lakhs per annum and as per the foreign standards it goes up to US $67,000 & above approx per annum.

Famous Colleges: Sadly, none of the IIM’s are famous for this specialization. So if you very keen on MBA in HR, look for XLRI and Symbiosis as your first choice.

MBA --Operations

Career: 'Operations' in the management world encompasses almost all the areas that reflect the efficiency of the organizations in the area of background work and execution.
• It includes inventory management, vendor development, purchasing management, and also a few other areas.
• It demand multi-disciplinary skills viz. supply chain management, enterprise resource planning and also all cost optimization initiatives.
• A typical career would see one handling a few plants/ vendors initially, followed by the responsibility for an entire factory and eventually undertake a more strategic view like global sourcing / alternate materials / imports etc. but, at each stage there is a lot of responsibility and risk.
• Demand for operation management in the areas like BPR (Business Process Re-engineering), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), supply chain management, which integrates all functions offer a great scope for a cross functional specialist .

Skills required: Integrity, ability to negotiate, ability to remain calm in the toughest of situations (there is a fire almost everyday, somewhere) and lastly good coordination skills coupled with technical knowledge

Salary Package: Starts from 7.14lac approx onwards. In abroad maximum salary is between$25000 to $60000 per annum. Approximately.

Famous Colleges: NITTI, Mumbai leads the show for MBA in operations

MBA in IT

Career: With a sound understanding of business concepts is seen as ideal for the job of a project manager in software development activities, such as developing an on-line network with company distributors across the country.
• A fresh MBA(IT) starts at the level or a software development engineer (almost at par with an engineer or an MCA) and is actively involved in coding.
• Students interested in careers in management consultancy, software or database development, enterprise management systems, telecommunication and business analysis.
• They are prepared to help shape twenty-first century organizations in a rapidly changing, globally competitive, technologically sophisticated environment.
• Students usually acquire positions in the top management consulting firms or as strategic analysts in the transportation, telecommunications, and financial sector.

Skills required: Graduates are expected to possess the appropriate knowledge, experience and skills to adapt to change in this dynamic field through a lifelong learning process.

Famous Colleges: Pick any IIM

• IT graduates play essential roles on the business team, typically designing and implementing hardware and software solutions to business problems.
• The program is designed to develop a diverse and integrated group of experts armed with the necessary skills for buildiwwwng new entrepreneurial ventures.

Salary Package: Starts ranges from 10-lacs onwards approx per annum and by foreign standards around $63210 per annum

MBA in Retail

Career: Indian retailers underwent an experimentation phase wherein new formats (department stores like Shoppers' Stop and Pantaloon) and product categories (consumer durables retailing, music retailing etc) were introduced.
• World wide, the retail segment has performed exceptionally well since its inception in the 20th century.
• Retail is currently the biggest industry in the world and 25 of the top 50 “Fortune 500 companies” are in the retail.
• Introducing new marketing strategy as the country marched into the new millennium, the organized retailing scenario began to stabilize, specially over the last 3-4 years when players like Big Bazaar, Barista, Pizza Hut, etc became successful in establishing a national footprint.
• This was also the stage when international retailers like McDonald's, Subway etc adopted a mix of global and India-specific strategies in order to entice the local population.
• The students for starting a career can work as a Trainee Manager in Stock Control, Shop Floor, Sales, Merchandising, Administration, or Purchasing and Brand Management

Skills Required: Excellent Oral and Written Communication Skills
• Good Interpersonal & Negotiation Skills
• Profit Development against Target
• Should be involved in the Marketing survey

Salary Package: Ranges between 4.5lacs to 12 lacs

Famous Colleges: NMIM in Mumbai, Symbiosis Pune.

I hope this would be useful for students.