Chapter 1

Alright folks don’t go by the title as I am not here to lecture on something but to share about my first semester experiences.  We had several modules including Marketing, HRM and Finance. Most people shy away from finance but if you get the pulse of it, it is real fun. Best thing about the course is students from various backgrounds and professors stimulating the debate among ourselves and lot of learning as a result. MBA is a true eye opener for me in lot of aspects like how management evolved over the decades and where it is heading to. The lectures are mixed with discussions, presentations and lot of arguments. Most of the times it doesn’t appear as a lecture session but a board room meeting where everyone contributes and the professors leave you with lot of questions to do reflective thinking. We also had couple of industrial trips to Port Sunlight and Jaguar-Land Rover plant. Port Sunlight taught what real Corporate Social Responsibility is, Jaguar factory was fun to visit with lot of robotics and you can’t help but observe how technology is replacing man power in every possible way. These trips were of great sources of learning for the students. We then had couple of assignments on Marketing and Organization Theory which needed lot of research and reading but thanks to the tremendous databases we have access to - we were alright at the end. Then came the big one, the mother of all assignments – Business Plan. We were asked to come up with a turnaround plan for a hotel in Manchester that went bankrupt. We were split into groups to work on it and were required to cover all areas of a business like Operations, Finance, Marketing etc. This was a killer; we spent many sleepless nights in the library scanning through every possible book, article, journals to make it a perfect business plan. Not to mention the conflicts and healthy disagreements we had which only made it better. Then the presentation, lot of rehearsals with the timer on to make sure everyone gets an equal chance and finally we delivered it. It was a great team effort and we showed the compassion while answering all the questions after the presentation. Not worried about the results as we all enjoyed in the process and it helped us realize nuances of a business plan and also the joy of working in a team. Don’t want to go overboard now and will continue about the exam preparation and Xmas break in my next..till then – Adios !!