B-school
In the nethers of an SV somewhere in gachibowli, india
3.30 am…4 hours before class...enough with the procrastination…sidle back from the sv1 café…flip open bulkpack...
20-25 pages..groan…title is the name of a 120 yr old company
Sections: Industry Background, Company history, Competitors, Present-Day Scenario
Exhibits: Consumer preferences, margins etc etc
Strategic Options: available to company X - Consolidate, Big bet expansion, controlled growth (pros and cons as appearing in the ceo's mind listed systematically)
Solution: Pick one of the three options after having worked out the margins (ok ok…once in a moon approaching the colour of aquamarine I did analyze those cases) and those of competitors based on the topic in the article (mostly HBS, sometimes other). Run highlighter over appropriately spaced lines so you look enlightened. Quaddies says the other option is what works…but then in B-Schools….always “it depends”…feeling of accomplishment…sigh
In the nethers of an SV somewhere in gachibowli, india
3.30 am…4 hours before class...enough with the procrastination…sidle back from the sv1 café…flip open bulkpack...
20-25 pages..groan…title is the name of a 120 yr old company
Sections: Industry Background, Company history, Competitors, Present-Day Scenario
Exhibits: Consumer preferences, margins etc etc
Strategic Options: available to company X - Consolidate, Big bet expansion, controlled growth (pros and cons as appearing in the ceo's mind listed systematically)
Solution: Pick one of the three options after having worked out the margins (ok ok…once in a moon approaching the colour of aquamarine I did analyze those cases) and those of competitors based on the topic in the article (mostly HBS, sometimes other). Run highlighter over appropriately spaced lines so you look enlightened. Quaddies says the other option is what works…but then in B-Schools….always “it depends”…feeling of accomplishment…sigh
Alt + F4..u
Real-life
In the nethers of any number of cities you could think of…wake up bright and early..shower…shave…crisply laundered formals…tie…flip open proposal…
what pages? do your own frikkin' research.
Sections? (see previous answer).
Industry Background - who to include, who not to? if potential substitutes are part of the same industry, the list could be endless, gotta draw the line somewhere!...
Exhibits (you don't learn do you?) read articles, some not worth the silicon that went into making the transistors that went into storing the bits of data that constitute them. Find 'expert' analysis, only to see footnote at the bottom saying he's ceo of one of the firms. makes sense now why he predicted 300% y-o-y growth over the next two decades. damn! Whitepapers from miscellaneous websites, ditto. Margins? might as well dream up that kind of information...'estimate'.
Strategic options available...what? not listed? yes, industry definitely looking good, some capabilities there, gotta obtain the rest, easy - M&M..no no..M&A! wait! what about that company that filed for bankruptcy after doing that exact same thing...gulp...hope client doesn't have a troublesome memory. or maybe slow-and-steady is the way to go...but then where's the razz-meh-tazz in my ppt? oh chuck it, just tell them to divest the darn business and setup a handicraft store.
Small matter remaining of coming up with a 300 slider by day-before-yesterday for the final meeting…sigh
Real-life
In the nethers of any number of cities you could think of…wake up bright and early..shower…shave…crisply laundered formals…tie…flip open proposal…
what pages? do your own frikkin' research.
Sections? (see previous answer).
Industry Background - who to include, who not to? if potential substitutes are part of the same industry, the list could be endless, gotta draw the line somewhere!...
Exhibits (you don't learn do you?) read articles, some not worth the silicon that went into making the transistors that went into storing the bits of data that constitute them. Find 'expert' analysis, only to see footnote at the bottom saying he's ceo of one of the firms. makes sense now why he predicted 300% y-o-y growth over the next two decades. damn! Whitepapers from miscellaneous websites, ditto. Margins? might as well dream up that kind of information...'estimate'.
Strategic options available...what? not listed? yes, industry definitely looking good, some capabilities there, gotta obtain the rest, easy - M&M..no no..M&A! wait! what about that company that filed for bankruptcy after doing that exact same thing...gulp...hope client doesn't have a troublesome memory. or maybe slow-and-steady is the way to go...but then where's the razz-meh-tazz in my ppt? oh chuck it, just tell them to divest the darn business and setup a handicraft store.
Small matter remaining of coming up with a 300 slider by day-before-yesterday for the final meeting…sigh
Alt + F4..u
7 comments:
you're a liar mister..getting me all excited about this for all the wrong reasons :p
wtf is alt + F4..u????
I seriously used to think sometimes - why the hell do we have everything available in the case. We hardly reqd any real research. But then the course had to be wrapped up in a year - warna pade hote abhi bhi kisi SV ke kisi andhere kone mein :)
pratik...woh last waala line in ur comment...wud that really be a bad thing? :)
Nobody from ISB is ever gonna say NO to that :). Gimme a corner on campus and I could waste my life on it. No regrets, no complaints!
And of course will need a bit of cricket :)
i think u just described utopia!
I knew it ... ISB has rendered all of us totally incapable of being happy anywhere else on the planet ... Pratik , atleast you shouldnt complain .. I hear the stip bars in Texas are the best ...
come back...
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