IIM TRICHY is happy to guide you with Written Ability Test Personal Interview Kit WAT / PI KIT How to prepare for Written Ability Test (WAT) ? Practice makes a man perfect. Hence, the best way to crack WAT is to practise 1 or 2 essays daily. This helps in reducing pressure while appearing for WAT. Writing should follow a definite structure as it implies clarity of thoughts. This may help in fetching more points. Generally, introduction, body and conclusion is the framework one should follow while writing an essay. Avoid: Grammatical and spelling mistakes, fanatic remarks over politics and religion, jargons etc. How to prepare for Written Ability Test (WAT) ? Keep sentences short, precise and lucid. They say: First impression is the best impression. Hence, try to start with an interesting first line or a quote. Supplement your ideas and opinions with logic. Data facts and figures can be used to support your idea. Most important, handwriting should be neat and clear. Writing should be legible. General WAT/PI topics How will the new e-commerce regulations affect the industry? Will Artificial Intelligence take over our jobs? Is sustainability important in times of heavy competition among countries? Making Aadhar mandatory is not a good idea Centralization of Indian public sector will be a boon Are conventional retail stores competing with the ecommerce market? How are video streaming services changing the entertainment market? The changing role of women actors in Bollywood Cultural diversity impedes democratic governance Is Presidential form of Governance better than our current system? Should public transport systems be privatised? Has the #MeToo movement been successful in stopping sexual harassment? Is Section 377 sufficient to bring a change in societal perception towards LGBTQ community? Impact of Jio in Telecom industry How to prepare for Personal Interview? The first question will be mostly to Introduce Yourself. Prepare an introduction for at least 4-5 minutes. Ensure you practice your introduction well, so that you sound confident. Stress on the points that you would like to be questioned when you are introducing. Prepare thoroughly on your RESUME. Questions related to academics, especially those subjects which you claim to interest you; people with work experience can be questioned on your role at your organization and any projects you may have worked on, questions related to the concerned industry etc. Confident body language and good communications skills are expected. Maintain eye contact and address all the panel members Goal Clarity: You are expected to have a reasonable clarity regarding your goals. How to prepare for Personal Interview? Do a SWOT analysis of yourself and be prepared to talk about the situations where you found your strengths useful and when you tried to overcome your weaknesses. Don’t be anxious and try to keep the conversation going. Interviewers like to know more about you. Listen to the questions carefully, ask for clarifications if required. Don’t rush into your answer. Take a few seconds to think. Basic etiquettes like seeking permission before entering the room, greeting the panellists & being polite go a long way in creating a long-lasting impression. Most important of all !!! Make sure you SMILE and stay CALM Frequently asked PI questions Resume based questions People with work-ex: Job profile details, company info, competitors, major business areas, about the recent developments in the industry etc. If there is a gap in the career or academics, then questions related to that may be asked. Questions may come on: Academic record, favourite subject in graduation, projects etc. Questions may come on: City, region, state you belong to. Be prepared with the names of politicians, prominent business people and history of your area. Frequently asked PI questions Questions about self About yourself, Strengths, Weaknesses etc. This can be answered by doing a SWOT analysis of yourself. Why should we select/reject you? What are you long-term and short-term goals? What are your hobbies? Make sure that you tell the hobbies which you were engaged with and can elaborate on. What is your biggest achievement/failure? What is the meaning of your name? How does it relate with your personality? Frequently asked PI questions MBA based questions Why MBA? Why MBA after engineering? Why MBA without/with Work-ex. Which other IIM and B-school calls do you have? Which specialization would you choose and why? If you choose specialization as marketing the following questions might be asked: Sell this Pen/Tie/Glass to me, what are 4 P’s of Marketing etc. Please prepare for basic questions in the area you would choose as specialization. What are your expectations from a B-School? What would you do if you don’t get admission this year? What is the difference between MBA & PGDM? What are the qualities of a good manager? Frequently asked PI questions General questions Questions may come on analysis and guesstimates. Such as, how many people live in your surrounding, or how many bikes are there in India. These questions don’t have any fixed answer. They are asked to test your thought process. Good approach to tackle the situation will be thinking aloud so that panel gets the clear idea of your approach Abstract questions like: Why blue is blue and not red? Some questions on basic physics, mathematics, problem solving skills. Here importance will be given to the process you follow, rather than the outcome. Frequently asked PI questions Current Affairs based questions Indian General elections – 2019 Annual Indian Budget 2019 – 2020 India’s new e-commerce rules Walmart Flipkart deal Electric/Driverless vehicles Artificial intelligence Impact of India becoming the third largest economy Section 377 of IPC Statue of Unity Ensure that you regularly read newspaper especially during the month of your interview to keep yourself up to date. Questions based on news articles published on the day of your interview are frequently asked in CAP process. Domains In MBA To help you be aware of different domains in MBA and the career options that are available, we present you the basics from every domain by the respective clubs of IIM Trichy Name of clubs in IIM Trichy Domain/ Functionality associated with Consulate The Strategy & Consulting Club Finvest The Finance Club MAC The Marketing Club Matrix The Analytics Club Persona The HR & OB Club Sigma Eta Arthaniti The Operations Club The Economics and Public Policy SIG To know more about both academic and non-academic clubs in IIM Trichy Click Here Strategy & Consulting Strategy…..What is it all about? Strategy & Consulting Strategy consists of an integrated set of choices Derived from the Greek word Strategos or “The art of the General” Strategy is the central integrated, externally oriented concept of how a company will achieve its objectives. Strategy is not primarily about planning. It is about intentional, informed and integrated choices. Strategy can comprise of answers to the questions like where the company will be active, how will we win the marketplace, how will we obtain our resources etc. Let us now see a VIDEO where Michael Porter (you will be hearing a lot about him at IIM Trichy!) explains what is strategy. How to understand Strategy? Think about a general of an army. What is special about his job? The general is responsible for multiple units on multiple fronts and multiple battles over time. The value addition of the general lies in orchestration and comprehensiveness. The general has to think about the whole picture. They uses pieces or elements of strategy to form a coherent whole. A CEO has the responsibility to have a strategy for the firm as a whole taking into consideration both the firm (its resources, capabilities etc.) and its external environment. SWOT Analysis Identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieve an objective. Used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others. Weaknesses: characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative to others. Opportunities: elements that the business or project could exploit to its advantage. Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project. SWOT Analysis The below is an example of a SWOT analysis of a typical company Try doing a SWOT analysis of yourself. It will come in handy in the future. Consulting as a career option Management consultants help businesses improve their performance and grow by solving problems and finding new and better ways of doing things. If you’re interested in how a business works – its strategy, structure, management and operations – a career in management consultancy might be for you. Consultancy firms offer services across all areas of business – from HR and marketing, to IT and finance. What’s in it for you? Rapidly Gain Exposure to Industries You'll gain experience by working on projects in a vast range of industries and with different clients, and see how your decisions affect them. Help Make Big-Picture Decisions You’ll help guide your clients in making major decisions that will affect their business. Continuous learning You’ll be working on projects that require you to continuously learn and adapt to new trends in the industry. Working in a team environment You’ll have the chance of collaborating with people in your organization and at the client’s who have interests and expertise similar to yours. Things required to be a consultant Ability to multitask Ability to work in teams Willingness to work long hours Travel enthusiast Great Academics How will IIM Trichy help you in pursuing a career in strategy and consulting? IIM Trichy offers extensive courses in strategy Competition & Strategy (core course) - An introduction course to strategy it focuses on formulating and implementing strategies Foundations of Strategy Consulting - Simulate a real-life Indian strategy formulation exercise in the classroom, along with the challenges a management consultant typically faces. Entrepreneurship - To sow the seeds of entrepreneurial thinking amongst the uninitiated while bolstering the entrepreneurial intentions of those who have already begun planning and dreaming to start their own ventures in this lifetime. Dynamics of Framing . & Executing Strategy - Involving a simulation game. “ Learning by doing”. Strategy Formulation and execution and impact of decisions over a long term horizon Strategic Leadership - For those who aspire leadership roles in an organization. Aims to cultivate a capacity of judgement and critical analysis of strategic choices. Competing in Global markets - Apply conceptual skills to design and adaptively configure a firm’s international strategy in a dynamic global environment. About Consulate as a club Consulate club is an entirely student driven initiative which has a core community of passionate management students having diverse experience and who work to offer the students a platform to develop an interest and inclination towards the fields of strategy and consulting at IIM Trichy. How can we help you? As a member of the club…. You will have the opportunity to conduct various events like case competitions, workshops & guest lectures. You will have the opportunity to interact with experts from the industry and the academia. You will have the chance to work with a diverse team that shares an interest in strategy and consulting. You will be a member of a club that has consistently been voted as the Best club on campus. Most importantly : YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF FUN As a student of IIM Trichy… We offer live projects that provide you the chance to work as a pro-bono consultant We conduct workshops on how to approach case study competitions. We provide industry exposure through guest lectures. We provide industry updates to keep up to date. We conduct various competitions throughout the academic year to help you hone various skills like thinking strategically, research, analysis of data , presentation etc. You can connect with Consulate Club consulate@iimtrichy.ac.in https://www.facebook.com/ConsulateIIMT/ https://twitter.com/consulateiimt https://www.linkedin.com/in/consulate-the-strategy-andconsulting-club-of-iim-trichy-723ab3a4/ The latest industry updates are available in our BLOG Finance What does a MBA-Finance do? The primary focus of a business is to increase its value – and it mostly zeroes down on how much money it makes and manages, which is when finance managers come into picture. Finance professionals (in Corporate Finance) are accountable to manage the money of the organization i.e. to know from where to source it, deciding how to spend it to get the maximum returns at the lowest possible risk. They seek to find ways to ensure flow of capital, increasing the profitability and decreasing the expenses. They explore the best ways to help company expand whether it is through acquisition or investing internally. Additionally, there is a different career profile of finance professionals in Investment Banks who need to have clear viewpoints on investing, stocks and how to value companies, and how to design their portfolios to minimize risk. Yes, a career in finance does get a lot of the glory and salaries can go sky high, but you’ll have to work hard for it. Basic concepts in finance Financial Statements Financial statements are a collection of reports about an organization's financial health, its financial condition and performance. They are useful for the following reasons: To determine the ability of a business to generate cash, and the sources and uses of that cash. To determine whether a business has the capability to pay back its debts. To track financial results on a trend line to spot any looming profitability issues. To derive financial ratios from the statements that can indicate the condition of the business. To investigate the details of certain business transactions, as outlined in the disclosures that accompany the statements. There are 3 core financial statements Balance Sheet Income Statement/ Profit and Loss Statement Cash Flow statement Balance Sheet Balance Sheet summarizes a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s equity at a particular point in time. It presents a snapshot of the financial position of the company. It is based on the following accounting model: Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders Equity Assets are of two types: 1) Fixed assets- Assets which are purchased for long term. Eg.- Building, Land etc. 2) Current assets- Assets which can be quickly converted into cash. Eg.-Cash Liabilities are obligations of the company, payable to another entity. Liabilities are incurred in order to fund the ongoing activities of a business. If the obligation is due within the next 12 months, it is classified as current liability. Shareholder’s equity represents the amount of business holdings that weren’t purchased using debt(loans). Income Statement Income Statement reports how much revenue the company generated, the expenses it incurred and the resulting profits or losses during a period of time (usually the financial year. The basic equation underlying the income statement is: Revenue – Expenses = Income Revenue which is also known as “Top Line”, is the amount of money the company actually receives during the particular period. Expenses are summarized and charged in the income statement as deductions from the income before assessing income tax. Income is the increase in net inflow of cash or other assets during an accounting period. Cash flow statement Cash flow statement tabulates how much cash is coming in and going out of the firm. There are three major elements in the cash flow statement: Cash flow from operating activities- It encompasses cash generated from a company’s day to day operations. Cash flow from investing activities- It pertains to the purchasing and selling of investments which include property, plant and equipment. Cash flow from financing activities- It covers obtaining or repaying capital. This include the sale of stock, stock repurchase and issuance of dividends. Basics of stocks To understand what is a stock market we will need to understand the types of companies. Please go through the below video at once for an understanding You tube - How the Stock market works Please note that companies whose stock prices you see in the newspaper or in news channels are public limited companies. What is a share? In very simple terms, A share is an ownership of a company. Lets suppose the company Oil Drum Mfg. Co is divided into 1000 shares. So, 1 share = 0.1% ownership of a company. In case of Public limited company the shares are registered and traded over a stock exchange. In case of Private limited the shares are not freely traded. They can be bought or sold among existing holders or by the company Thus, the companies we see being traded (bought/sold) at various exchange like NSE and BSE are public companies. Share trading Now shares of companies can be traded in two ways: Primary Offer or Primary Market (IPO/FPO) Secondary Offer or Secondary Market Different offerings to public: In a primary offer the company sells the shares of a company to the general public through IPO or FPO. IPO or Initial Public Offer is a primary offer in which a company offers for sale its shares to the general public for the first time FPO or Further Public Offer is a primary offer in which a company offers for sale its shares to the general public after the first offer is made. In such situations the shares are already being traded. New shares are issued to market. Please be abreast of latest news & events. In case of further queries, feel free to reach us at finvest@iimtrichy.ac.in. You may also ping us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FinvestIIMT/ Marketing & Sales What is Marketing? “The activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.” - American Marketing Association What is a market? Market is a place or common platform where buyers and sellers come together for exchange of goods, services & information. When the exchange of goods happens in return of money then it is called transaction. Market Segmentation A market is segmented to identify the correct consumers to cater a product or service by grouping them on the basis of geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors which have different needs and characteristics. This process is called Market Segmentation. Geographic Demographic Segmentation Psychographic Behavioural Marketing Mix The 7Ps helps companies to review and define key issues that affect the marketing of its products and service. • Products/Services: How can you develop your products or services? • Prices/Fees: How can we change our pricing model? • Place/Access: What new distribution options are there for customers to experience our product, e.g. online, in-store, mobile etc. • Promotion: How can we add to or substitute the combination within paid, owned and earned media channels? • Physical Evidence: How we reassure our customers, e.g. impressive buildings, well-trained staff, great website? • People: Who are our people and are there skills gaps? • Partners: Are we seeking new partners and managing existing partners well? PESTEL Analysis A PESTEL analysis is a framework or tool used by marketers to analyze and monitor the macro-environmental (external marketing environment) factors that have an impact on an organization. The result of which is used to identify threats and weaknesses which is used in a SWOT analysis. PESTEL stands for: P – Political E – Economic S – Social T – Technological E – Environmental L – Legal Product Life Cycle The product life cycle describes the period of time over which a product is developed, brought to market and eventually removed from the market. The cycle is broken into four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Introduction: These are newly introduced products that are trying to achieve product-market fit. Growth : Products in this stage have found an audience and are growing rapidly with increased sales and profitability in mind. Mature : Products are now well established and their revenue streams or ecosystems are often leveraged to find new products Decline: Products in this stage experience unrecoverable declines in revenues or usage Porter’s Five Forces Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis were developed by Michael E. Porter as a framework for assessing and evaluating the competitive strength and position of a business organization. This theory is based on the concept that there are five forces that determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. It helps to determine where power lies in a business The five forces are: 1. Supplier power: An assessment of how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven by: number of suppliers of each essential input; uniqueness of their product or service; relative size and strength of the supplier; and cost of switching from one supplier to another. 2. Buyer power: An assessment of how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. This is driven by: number of buyers in the market; importance of each individual buyer to the organization; and cost to the buyer of switching from one supplier to another. If a business has just a few powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms. Porter’s Five Forces 3. Competitive rivalry: The main driver is the number and capability of competitors in the market. Many competitors, offering undifferentiated products and services, will reduce market attractiveness. 4. Threat of substitution: Where close substitute products exist in a market, it increases the likelihood of customers switching to alternatives in response to price increases. This reduces both the power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the market. 5. Threat of new entry: Profitable markets attract new entrants, which erodes profitability. Unless incumbents have strong and durable barriers to entry, for example, patents, economies of scale, capital requirements or government policies, then profitability will decline to a competitive rate. Five forces analysis helps organizations to understand the factors affecting profitability in a specific industry, and can help to inform decisions relating to: whether to enter a specific industry; whether to increase capacity in a specific industry; and developing competitive strategies. Marketing as a career option The number of jobs in the marketing is the highest ever, almost 10-12% growth year-on-year, given that the number of brands is increasing (with e-commerce and foreign players coming in). Because of this, the demand for marketing professionals is increasing and also as it is a people-driven role, it can’t be replaced by automation. Hence, it is a great time to be in marketing field. Apart from this, as there are a lot of branches in marketing itself based on the kind of product or industry it functions in, it allows people to move within marketing but into varied categories, thus providing a lot of scope for career development. The companies initially provide roles like Management Trainee, Area Sales Manager or in Business Development - which allows the individual to learn about how market works, empathise with their customers, etc. After a few years, marketing personnel is allowed to either stay in the sales field and can go up the sales hierarchy or can switch to brand management or business development management. IIM Trichy Alumni in the Marketing Domain MBA degree is like a menu card. You have a host of options for subjects or electives available to explore like dishes in a menu card, but you cannot know how it tastes unless you eat it. So, my tip would be to keep an open mind for learning and not to stick to just one option. Students should try to learn and understand more in other fields in order to have crossfunctional knowledge. It will help later on as a person will have to interact and understand other departments as well while working since there are no isolated jobs in the corporate world. - Mr. Rajat Ramesh (Batch 2014-16) Global Product Manager – Buhler Group MAC - The Marketing and Advertising club MAC - The Marketing and Advertising Club of IIM Trichy provides a platform for students interested in learning and exploring the everchanging world of marketing. The club focuses on keeping the students updated with the latest happenings in the marketing arena and aims at development of skills necessary for a career in marketing/sales to the students by providing various opportunities such as Inter-College competitions, guest lectures by experienced and seasoned talent from the industry, tutorials, workshops, etc. The club conducts a variety of events on campus as well as online which includes: BrandWarz: It is MAC’s flagship case study competition conducted during the Annual Management Fest of IIM Trichy – Dhruva in which participants from top B-schools solve real-time business problems Market-O-Mania: Market-O-Mania is an online marketing competition open for B-school students which consists of various rounds which the teams need to clear in order to become the ultimate marketing champion. MAC- The Marketing and Advertising club Flip-it: In order to encourage out-of-the-box thinking in marketing enthusiasts present in IIM Trichy, MAC conducts an exclusive IntraCollege Marketing Competition designed to identify and promote alternative utility of products and/or services FMCG Sales and Digital Marketing Workshop: Well- trained and experienced professionals from the industry come on campus to provide extensive information and hands-on learning related to real-world problem solutions in the area of FMCG Sales. Apart from these, the club is open to suggestions by the students on campus and regularly explores for more opportunities to network with CMOs and Marketing Heads of various companies in order to improve the marketing position of the institute amongst its peers. Follow us on: https://www.facebook.com/MACIIMT/ Operations Management Operations Management Operations management is the study of set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. It is concerned with planning, organizing and supervising in the contexts of production, manufacturing or the provision of services. It is delivery-focused, ensuring that an organization successfully turns inputs to outputs in an efficient and effective manner. The inputs themselves could represent anything from materials, equipment and technology to human resources such as staff or workers. Cycle Time: Cycle time is the time gap between two consecutive outputs from a process, as defined by you and your customer. Lead Time: Lead time represents the time between the moment the customer places the order and the moment he receives it. Bottleneck: Bottleneck is the resource/activity which has the highest utilization in a process. Lean Manufacturing/Production: Integrated activities designed to achieve high volume production using minimal level of inventory. Supply Chain Management Supply chain management is the streamlining of a business' supply-side activities to maximize customer value and to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Supply chain is a multi-firm approach and it covers everything from production, to product development, to the information systems needed to direct these undertakings. Bullwhip Effect: The Bullwhip Effect occurs as orders are relayed from retailers to distributors, to wholesalers, to manufacturers, with fluctuations increasing at each step in the sequence. i.e. the variability in demand is magnified as one move from the customer to the producer in the supply chain. Logistics: It is the science of obtaining, producing and distributing material and product in the proper place and in the proper quantity. Supply Chain-Upstream & Downstream: Upstream in SC indicates supplier side while downstream in SC indicates goods movement to customer side. Reverse Supply Chain: Also known as Reverse Logistics, encompasses all operations involved in the reuse of products and materials from the consumer to the vendor. This is done to retain any use of a defective product. Inventory Management Inventory management is the process of ensuring that a company always has the products it needs on hand and that it keeps costs as low as possible. Three types of inventory: Raw materials, Work-in-progress, and Finished-goods. Raw material Inventory: Materials that are usually purchased but have yet to enter the manufacturing process. Work-in-progress (WIP): Products or components that are no longer raw materials but have yet to become finished products. Finished-goods inventory: An end item ready to be sold, but still and asset on the company’s book. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ): A type of fixed-order-quantity model that determines the amount of an item to be purchased or manufactured at one time. It is an inventory-control technique that minimizes the total of ordering and holding costs. Quality Quality is the ability of a product or service to meet customer needs. Total Quality Management (TQM): It refers to a quality emphasis that encompasses the entire organization, from supplier to customers. It is a continuous process that seeks to improve the quality of products and services. Benchmarking: It is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Just-in-time (JIT): It is one of continuing improvement and enforced problem solving. JIT systems are designed to produce or deliver goods just as they are needed. i.e. It is an inventory control system in which the materials are delivered just in time before manufacturing, not before, not after. Poka-yoke: It is a fool proof device or technique that ensures production of good units every time. It avoids errors and provides quick feedback of problems. Quality assurance is a set of activities for ensuring quality in the processes by which products are developed. Quality Control is a set of activities for ensuring quality in products. The activities focus on identifying defects in the actual products produced. Preventive QC: Addresses the potential for a non-conformity or error to occur even before the product is manufactured. Six Sigma Six Sigma is one of the most important concept of Operations management. It is a process driven approach which emphasize on continuous improvement and focus on customer needs. It is an approach to achieve less than 3.4 PPM defects by continuous improvement. There are two types of Six Sigma Processes: DMAIC: It stands for – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. This is used for existing processes. DMADV: It stands for – Define, Measure Analyze, Design and Verify. This is used for new processes. Following table gives the difference between compliance level of 99% and 99.99966% (i.e. Six Sigma) process. 99% Good (3.8 Sigma) 99.99966% Good (Six Sigma) 5,000 incorrect surgical operations per week 1.7 incorrect surgical operations per week No electricity for almost 7 hours each month One hour without electricity every 34 years 200,000 incorrect drug prescriptions each year 68 incorrect drug prescriptions each year Lean Operations Lean operations eliminate waste through continuous improvement and focus on exactly what the customer wants. Seven wastes: Overproduction, Queues, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Over processing and Defective product. 5S: Sort, Simplify, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. It is a checklist for lean operations and provides an easy vehicle with which to assist the culture change that is often necessary to bring about lean operations. Kanban: It is the Japanese word for card, which means “Signal”. A Kanban system moves part through production via a “pull” from a signal. Kaizen: It is the Japanese word for change for the good. Continuous improvement in manufacturing, engineering and business improvement processes. Statistics Population: Population is the collection of all individuals or items under consideration in a statistical study. Sample: Sample is that part of the population from which information is collected. Descriptive Statistics: Descriptive statistics consist of methods for organizing and summarizing information. Inferential Statistics: Inferential statistics consist of methods for drawing and measuring the reliability of conclusions about population based on information obtained from a sample of the population. Variable: A characteristic that varies from one person or thing to another is called a variable, i.e., a variable is any characteristic that varies from one individual member of the population to another. Quantitative variables can be classified as either discrete or continuous. Mean: The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. Statistics Median: The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers must be listed in numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to rewrite your list before you can find the median. Mode: The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no number in the list is repeated, then there is no mode for the list. Population variance (σ2): If the data are for a population (N), the average of the squared deviations is called the population variance. Sample variance (S2): It is a point estimator of the population variance σ2. Sample Standard deviation (S): It is a point estimator of the population standard deviation σ. Latest Trends in Operations Following are some of the latest trends and buzzwords in Operations and SCM: Supply Chain Trends for 2019 https://selecthub.com/supply-chain-management/supplychain-management-future-trends/ Important E-Commerce Logistics Trends to Watch in 2019 http://www.supplychain247.com/article/important_ecomme rce_logistics_trends_to_watch 10 Supply Chain Trends for the Next 10 Years https://www.supplychain247.com/article/10_supply_chain_t rends_for_the_next_10_years Latest Operations management and supply chain management news http://www.supplychain247.com/topic/category/new http://www.scdigest.com/ http://www.scmr.com/topic/category/news Systems & Analytics What is Analytics all about? Analytics is the scientific process of turning raw data into insights to make informed and meaningful decisions. It relies on the application of operations research, statistical methods and programming to interpret and communicate meaningful patterns in the available data. What is Management Information System all about? A management information system (MIS) is an information system particularly used for decision-making purpose as well as for the coordination, control, analysis and visualization of information in an organization. It helps in examining people and technology in an organizational context. Advantages of MIS: Improves decision making, Improves efficiency, Provides connectivity between departments Types of Data Analytics Descriptive Analytics (What happened?): It processes raw data to give valuable insights of past events. Diagnostic Analytics (Why did it happen?): It gives in-depth insights into a particular problem by understanding the reasons and identifying patterns and dependencies. Predictive Analytics (What will happen?): It is used for forecasting purpose. It uses data to determine the probable outcome of a future event. Prescriptive Analytics (What action to take?): It suggests actions to benefit from the predictions by showing the decision maker the implications of each decision option. Types of Distribution Bernoulli Distribution: It is a distribution with only two possible outcomes, namely 1 (success) and 0 (failure), and a single trial. The random variable X which has a Bernoulli distribution can take value 1 with the probability of success, say p, and the value 0 with the probability of failure, say q or 1-p. In other words, Uniform Distribution: A variable X is said to be uniformly distributed if the density function is: Types of Distribution Binomial Distribution: A distribution where only two outcomes are possible, such as success or failure, gain or loss, win or lose and where the probability of success and failure is same for all the trials is called a Binomial Distribution. Each trial is independent since the outcome of the previous trial doesn’t determine or affect the outcome of the current trial. Normal Distribution Curve Some of the properties of a normal distribution curve are as follows: • The curve is bell shaped • It is symmetric around the mean • The mean divides the area under the normal curve into halves • The total area under the normal curve is 1 • It is determined by its mean and standard deviation Analytics as a career option What’s in it for you? With big and bigger data making a significant role in our country today, we’ve decided to share the top careers that are currently revolving around this domain: Data Science IT Consulting Business Intelligence Business Analytics What things are required of you to be a business analytics consultant? Quantitative Aptitude Visual Modelling Critical Thinking Problem Solving Time management How will IIM Trichy help you in pursuing a career in MIS? Courses offered by the institute Quantitative Methods IT Consulting Marketing of IT Data Mining for Business Decisions E-Commerce & Digital Markets: Technology and Strategy Software Project Management Managing Digital Platforms Big Data Analytics Economics, About Matrix as a club Matrix is an analytics & technology club of IIM Trichy. It’s a techie hub where technology freaks gather together with an objective of proliferating technology awareness among MBA graduates at IIM. For every academic year, Matrix conducts following events and competitions: Guest Lecture Series Workshops Live Projects 6 Degrees : It is the flagship analytics event held each year during Dhruva – the national level business and cultural fest of IIM Trichy. Human Resource Management Human Resource Management (HRM) is the term used to describe formal systems devised for the management of people within an organization. The responsibilities of a human resource manager fall into three major areas: staffing, employee compensation and benefits, and defining/designing work. Essentially, the purpose of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. This mandate is unlikely to change in any fundamental way, despite the ever-increasing pace of change in the business world. Why the name 'Human Resource Management'? Human: refers to the skilled workforce in the organization. Resource: refers to a stock or supply of staff or assets of the organization. Management: refers how to optimize and make best use of a limited and scarce resource so as to meet the ordination goals and objectives. Roles of HR Managers HR functions and the traditional role of HR managers: Recruitment Attract Talent Hire Resources Training Professional Development Appraisals Maintaining Work Culture Resolving Conflicts Employee Relations Rewards and Incentives Legal Knowledge Organizing all functions Payroll Management How does HR system work? Concepts related to HR: Management by Objective: Management by Objectives (MBO) is a personnel management technique where managers and employees work together to set, record and monitor goals for a specific period of time. Organizational goals and planning flow top-down through the organization and are translated into personal goals for organizational members. It aims to improve the performance of an organization by clearly defining objectives that are agreed to by both management and employees. Performance Management: Performance management is a process by which managers and employees work together to plan, monitor and review an employee’s work objectives and overall contribution to the organization. More than just an annual performance review, performance management is the continuous process of setting objectives, assessing progress and providing on-going coaching and feedback to ensure that employees are meeting their objectives and career goals. How does HR system work? Concepts related to HR: 360-degree Performance Appraisal: A 360-degree appraisal is a type of employee performance review in which subordinates, co-workers, and managers all anonymously rate the employee. This information is then incorporated into that person's performance review. The feedback is often used as a benchmark within the employee's development plan. Balance Scorecard: The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and non-profit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on. This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs). Big Five Model of Personality What is Personality? Personality is an easy concept to grasp for most of us. It’s what makes you “you”. It encompasses all the traits, characteristics, and quirks that set you apart from everyone else. Human resources professionals often use the Big Five personality dimensions to help place employees. The Big Five traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism or OCEAN: Openness: Openness includes traits like being insightful and imaginative and having a wide variety of interests. Conscientiousness: People that have a high degree of conscientiousness are reliable and prompt. Traits include being organized, methodic, and thorough. Extraversion: Extraverts get their energy from interacting with others, while introverts get their energy from within themselves. Extraversion includes the traits of energetic, talkative, and assertive. Agreeableness: These individuals are friendly, cooperative, and compassionate. People with low agreeableness may be more distant. Neuroticism: Neuroticism is also sometimes called Emotional Stability. This dimension relates to one’s emotional stability and degree of negative emotions. Economics Basic Terminologies Economics: Economics is the social science which deals with prioritization of options available by individuals, society and government for using the scarce resources to meet the various needs of life. Microeconomics: Microeconomics is the branch of economics which deals with decisions made by individuals to use the resources, interactions between the individuals for utilization and distribution of the scarce resources. Macroeconomics: Macroeconomics is another branch of economics which deals with the aggregate behaviour of the economy(regional, national or global) in terms of performance parameters such as inflation, GDP, national income, price levels etc. Capitalist Economy: It is the economy where the decisions about what to produce, how much to produce and the price at which to sell are solely taken by the market or the private enterprises in the system and the state has no economic role. This concept was originated in the famous work of Adan SmithWealth of Nations(1776). State Economy: It is the economy where the decision production, distribution, supply and price is solely taken by the state. Mixed Economy: It is the economy where some elements of the economy is controlled by the state and rest of the elements are regulated by the market. In other way, it can be said that it is the combination of capitalist economy and state economy. National Income: Income of the Nation can be calculated in four ways: GDP, NDP, GNP, NNP, which is also a subject in ‘National Income Accounting’. GDP: Gross Domestic Product is the value of all the final goods and services produced within the boundary of the nation during the period of one year. It is the summation of national private consumption, gross investment, government spending and trade balance. NDP: Net Domestic Product(NDP) is the GDP minus the depreciation of the goods and services produced. GNP: Gross National Product is the summation of the GDP of a nation and the income of the nation from outside of the nation. GNP indicates both the quantitative and qualitative aspect of economy. NNP: Net National Product (NNP) is the GNP minus the depreciation of the economy. Inflation: Inflation is the quantitative measure of the increase in the general price level of goods and services which results in the decreasing of the purchasing power per unit of a currency. Stagflation: Stagflation is the situation of an economy when inflation and unemployment both are at higher levels that is opposite to the conventional situation. The conventional belief is that a trade-off exist between inflation and unemployment rate according to Phillips Curve. GDP Deflator: It is the measure of price behaviour. It is the ratio of GDP at current price and GDP at constant price. Fiscal Policy: The policy in which the nation’s economy is regulated and monitored by government’s adjustment in spending and taxation. Monetary Policy: The policy in which price stability and money supply and inflation rate regulation is taken by the central bank of a country to achieve the macroeconomic objectives. Cash Reserve Ratio: Cash Reserve Ratio is the mandatory percentage of share a bank has to keep with the Reserve Bank of India in liquid cash to combat the inflation and keep the liquidity in check. SLR: Statutory Liquidity Ratio is the share of a bank’s deposits kept with RBI in the form of Liquid assets to ensure bank’s solvency and money flow in the economy. Bank Rate: Based on the monetary policies, commercial banks can borrow loans from banks from the central bank. The interest rate charged by the RBI on these types of loans and advances to the banks is known as bank rate. Repo Rate: Repo rate is the interest rate at which RBI lends money to the banks for short term. With the help of Repo Rate, RBI can regulate the inflation and liquidity of the economy of the country. Reverse Repo Rate: Reverse Repo Rate is the rate at which commercial banks give loans to the RBI. Reverse Repo Rate helps to regulate the money supply in the economy. Direct Taxes: The tax amount levied directly on individual or organization’s income or property by the imposing body. It is based on the principle of ability-to-pay, which means the entity with more resources have to pay more amount of tax. Indirect tax: It is the tax collected by an intermediary and paid to the government by passing the tax burden on the consumer buying that good or service. It is the tax imposed on the goods and services instead on a person or organization’s income, earning or property. Good and Service Tax: It is a destination based indirect tax that is imposed on the value addition at each stage till final sale to the consumer. It has replaced many indirect taxes in India. The Goods and Services are divided into five tax slabs for the collection of the tax: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. Corporate Competitions There are various corporate and academic competitions which you will be able to participate once you join IIM Trichy. Some of the prominent competitions are: Mahindra War Room Amazon Ace Yes Bank Transformation series L&T Out Think ICICI Bank Beat the curve References Heizer J., Render B., Munson C., & Sachin A., 12th edition, Operations Management Anderson, Sweeney, Williams Camm & Cochran, 12th edition, Statistics for Business and Economics Investopedia KPMG Lean Six Sigma Advisory http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/jmisotal/BoS.pdf https://www.kbmanage.com/concept/reverse-supplychain-reverse-logistics www.inc.com www.sumhr www.whatishumanresource.com www.techopedia.com www.hrcouncil.ca www.teamtechnology.co.uk www.analytictech.com www.simplypsychology.org https://hbr.org/2015/05/what-is-strategy-again https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU!!! https://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/off icial-iim-trichy-pgpm-aspirants-2019-21admission-queries-5251749713018880 mediarelations@iimtrichy.ac.in https://www.facebook.com/IIMTiruchirappalli https://twitter.com/IIM_Trichy https://www.instagram.com/iimtrichy/ https://www.linkedin.com/school/iimtrichy/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMk 9MRdGrNHIK6HN2JeLCQ https://iimtrichy.home.blog All the best! Hope to see you at IIM Trichy !!!