An Evening with Dr. Rana Mehta, VP Healthcare, Technopak

Dr. Rana Mehta, VP Healthcare, Technopak, was at the Noida campus of IIM Lucknow yesterday (29^th July 2010) as a speaker in their Leadership Talk Series.

Dr. Mehta dwelled on the future of healthcare and emphasized the role of genomics towards the same, saying that a one-size-fits-all drug could make way for drugs customized according to an individual’s genetic makeup, as the science of genomics enters its ‘plateau of productivity’.

Costs of healthcare in the US, he also observed, have risen from 5% of the national GDP in 1960 to about 15% in 2005, but only 65% of the increase has been due to the technology; the rest has been absorbed by the insurance-premiums. Consequently, people from the US (and other developed countries) have started to prefer to immigrate into Asian countries for their major healthcare needs, making for a huge driver of growth for the industry in these parts of the world.

He also talked about the growth of healthcare sector in india. He discussed the various segments of the industry and how these segments are likely to shape up in the coming decade. He also talked about the PPP model for healthcare industry in India.

The students used the platform of the Leadership Talk Series to become aware of the challenges facing the healthcare sector, and the opportunities inherent in it. Students had a wonderful discussion on low cost healthcare in India with Dr. Rana.

The Sound of Indian Ocean

>IPMX is not just only studies but also about experiencing the rich life style that NCR offers. So, a bunch of music enthusiasts within our batch were pretty much up for it when we heard that Indian Ocean, possibly India's most original and cherished band, is going to perform at Hard Rock Cafe, New Delhi. 
And boy.. what a show! I could not fail to observe that there was such a wide mix of audience with quite a few foreigners as well; all simply worshiping and applauding the band. It just proves one point. When music is honest and soulful, people will love it, no matter what the language and style is.

Indian Ocean are continuously evolving, their sounds getting more deeper and soulful then ever. So, when they played song 'Des mera rangrej' (they composed it for Peepli Live), it just blowed away the audience. The song "Bande" (which they composed for Black Friday) also received tremendous applause and even the band was impressed by the quality with which audience did sing-along. Rahul Ram on bass guitar, Amit Kilam on Drums and Sushmit Sen on Guitar are truly rocking. The 2 hour long show ended with their biggest hit "Kandisa" and left all of us wanting for more. 
Being management students, we just can't stop being analytical about trends. So, when Rahul Ram announced that songs from their latest album '16/330 Khajoor Road' are going to be available for free download at their website, I just marveled at the speed at which digital marketing is making its inroad and how it is getting so important for even artists to ensure a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to target prospective customers. Especially for music industry, the only way to beat music piracy seems to be stop trying to beat it and think about innovative ways in which you can offer music to the consumers. So, Indian Ocean will release one song every month on their website for free download and at last will release whole album as CD. Indian Ocean definitely are looking at internet as the way to promote music and reach out to their ever growing fan base. They know the numbers and hence they are confidently claiming that it is live shows that gets them going and not the royalty for the music. So, it makes pretty much a business sense to give away the music for free and let it get popular on its own. Way to go!

Biz, Buzz and Buzy

>Whenever I think of Harry Potter movie Prisoner of Azkaban, I feel jealous of Hermione, the one who knew each and every charm. Reason is that she had Time Turner and I don’t. It helped her in reversing the time and did whatever she wanted. I can’t. The only thing which I wish at IPMX-IIML is to have a time turner or more time.
Now question is when God has already given 24 hours why I need more. The answer goes back to information I read on IPMX site. It said program is rigorous and all the activities at IPMX-IIML are student driven. After nearly 3 months into the program, I had finally understood that it meant a few hours sleep that too with a guilt feeling of going to sleep with so much balance to do. Biz is what at the centre of the universe for us and we all students buzz around it with plethora of activities.

Activities are many starting from studies, projects, assignments, discussions, finance club, consulting club, strategy club, committees, events , terms kick off get together and many more. Now question is how you see this, as a problem or as an opportunity. Edward De Bono the six hat thinker has said, “Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.” And that is what I learn here. It is all about managing, expanding your horizons, think beyond the limits and stretch (Another buzzword from Management Guru C K Prahlad.) So what drive us here at IPMX? Our drive is strong sense of learning, taking the program forward, building expertise on our experiences and achieving our goals.
The rigor is just not culture over here; it is cult at IPMX-IIML.
Biz, Buzz and Buzy are here to stay may be with small doses of booze.

-Dushyant Chaturvedi

Peer Learning and Interactivity

Well, I had heard about the concept of peer learning in B- schools. What I did not know however, was the sheer strength and impact of the same, especially in a case based pedagogy! What we have here is a pool of 48 students with work experience ranging from 6 years to 23 years across diverse sectors and industries, each carrying an enormous knowledge base. An average work experience of around 9.5 years makes it 450 years of experience and wisdom to be assimilated within a short span of 1 year!

We all have sat in classrooms before, but the learning that happens here goes three steps beyond that:

First, we are expected to read the text as well as the relevant case before coming to the class. This is good enough considering that we may have already experienced this or familiar with/ can relate to/ understand such a situation.

Then, there is a group based discussion (typically 6 members in a team) to literally dissect the case apart and leave no page unturned or concept/idea/meaning/reasoning/ strategy that is not understood. Wow, we are at a different level of learning already, one that we had not envisaged or expected to achieve.

Finally, the subject is taken up in class, the discussion/ learning facilitated by a superb faculty, and it just hits you! There is so much more in there........Why, your entire thought process may be required to be turned around. Well, you may be perfectly aligned and start feeling so pleased with yourself at having hit the nail and understanding what management really is. There is so much excitement around... to listen, to share and to enhance the knowledge levels spilling over any boundary that you may have considered.

We may not know it consciously, but we are getting there. The level of emotions due to attachment to particular beliefs runs really high, but the passion to learn surpasses everything as we get absorbed, yet stand out!

At this point in time, I would not trade this year of mine with anything else, more so now after experiencing the sheer delight of being present amidst a brilliant pool of comrades and teachers. Thank you God, for giving me this opportunity at this juncture of my life, and thank you my family, for completely supporting me.

- Parul Agrawal

Hay and Sunshine

>Make hay while the sun shines. Extract the spirit of this saying and one can come up with one's own flavors of it. For instance - 'Cheat in the quiz while the professor is not looking your way'. Though these days you can do better than just make hay in sun and use sunshine to produce what is called clean energy. Last week we performed the rites and rituals which are preconditions for entering a new term.

We had a term-2 kick-off bash. You must be wondering what term kick-off bash has got to do with hay and sun shine. If you are looking for a direct relation, there is none. If you are looking for an indirect relation, there are all the chances of there never being any chances. However, now that I have used it I have to somehow justify it.... let's see... how about -'Celebrate the start of new term while the marks of previous term are not out yet'. There seems to be some disconnect but I think I would leave the pain of living with it to my readers than to take it upon myself to make it more connected.

The bash was inaugurated with treasure hunt. The hunters went around rummaging through water tank to shrubs around the hostel in search of the treasure. This was followed by karaoke and Ad Mad. Thinking this was the moment they had been born for, the besuras like Dushyant (alias topper), Santosh (alias Jordan), Mehul (alias Professor) and many more jumped at the opportunity of karaoke. Ankur also didn't let the chance go by without showing off his tun-tuna (guitar) and singing skills.

Ad Mad saw Vamsi, Sanjeev, Preeti, Sandeep, Parul and Abhishek selling basic commodities/services such as air, railway platform and taxi service from Noida to Delhi via USA. It's not for nothing that one popular expansion of MBA is 'Maal Bechke Aa'. People did get creative and almost sold air and railway platform to us.

Everybody here is an MBA student but some of us have got more of what it takes to be an MBA. For the first time in the history of history and the geography of geography, a quiz competition was conducted to choose ‘The One’. Kaun Banega MBA. To give you a feel of formidability of the challenge, here is a sample question for you-

What is a balance sheet?

a) Something that is always in a state of imbalance

b) Something that throws your mind off balance

c) Something that you can’t balance even with both hands

d) All of the above

Notwithstanding the toughness of quiz, it was made even more strenuous by the serious prize money involved in the game. A sum total of Rs 10 for first correct answer, Rs 50 for second correct answer and grand sum of full 100 Rs for third correct answer is big enough to make anybody lose his poise. Santosh and Neha played well but failed to win any amount. The event reached its culmination with Sachin being the lucky winner who took home a 10 rupee note.

That’s all for this post. Will be back soon with another inside story from IPMX batch. Till then… ciao.

-Manish K

Is MBA “Master of Baby Affairs”?

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It happened all of a sudden!!! I don’t know from where and when I got the idea of MBA.

Obviously, it was a tough decision to come out of the family-oriented routine and look at life differently. The “mother guilt” which every working woman faces right from the day when she joins back to work after maternity leave was haunting me throughout.

After a term at Indian Institute of Management, I have started realizing that it was not that bad a decision. The new perspective that I am getting about the world around me is definitely helping me. I know that the courses that I do here are going to help me to be a better manager, and that was the prime reason why I joined the country’s most aspired B-school for my management education. But, more importantly, I feel that I am becoming a better mother and a better person as a whole. Or am I seeing things around me a bit differently?

Being a mother for the past two and a half years, I feel a baby touch in everything that I learn here. When we got introduced to the case methodology on Day 1, I was delighted to realize that I have already used case methodology to teach my son how to wait for his turn for a swing-ride in the park. As our Prof rightly said, it is our age-old theme/value-based story telling methodology which is in the blood of each and every Indian, thanks to Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The personality theories in Organization behavior sessions are very relevant to all of us, both from professional and personal perspective. We need not think of only workplaces as organizations. I strongly feel that we should have such courses from school days. I believe that our basic character gets moulded during school days and our value system gets a shape in those divine premises. Instead of conducting interviews for parents during school admission, schools can plan for such behavioral sessions for parents (frankly I feel so tensed about my interview for my kid’s admission next year). This will possible facilitate a constructive environment in the family, “the second school” for a kid.

The dedication of Professors out here is amazing. I feel like I am in a Gurukula, where I am very much part of the Guru’s family. Teachers feel free to discuss everything with us, and the level of intimacy is very high. I have to admit that IIM is a place where you feel so proud about India and its culture. The level of intimacy is directly proportional to the depth and width of learning and I am experiencing it! When learning happens around the clock, it emphasizes the importance of time management. Any working mother will admit that time is the most precious gem that she needs. If I can improve my time management skills during this 1 year, that is the most important takeaway for me.

Am I here for Master of Business Administration or Master of Baby Affairs? After Term 1, my take is that both are complementary. The “mother guilt” is reducing day-by-day, though the emotional pull is always there. I am adding value to the manager in me, and more importantly to the mother in me. As an MBA mother, I know that life is going to be stressful, but I am sure after this 1 year of value-based education, it would be eustress, not distress.

- Sreelakshmy G

It Depends

>“It Depends” were the first words I learnt when I entered the IIML- IPMX-03. At that time I didn’t understand the significance of the words, nor the context. I just took them on the face value, that these are the part of the lingo and culture of IPMX. But as second semester is stating its life and studies, curriculum and world cup football is catching with all of us, no other words were getting more pronounced than “It depends” and more and more these words are catching upon me.
Whenever we ask a question to Prof, reply begins with It Depends. Even when the groups start discussing something it starts with Holy words It Depends. Yes somebody can say it is very appropriate way to not to give concrete reply. But I ask are there any concrete replies. As usual Answer is “It Depends”. Life is not a program that works on binary digit system of 1 or 0 but a lot many machines do work. Alas! Homo Sapiens are not machines. Every living specimen of this species is the epitome of complexity with loads of perceptions and beliefs. Hence “It Depends” gains significance.


So what do these two words signify? An apt word to describe it is Possibilities. It Depends simply means that there are possibilities. In one week, mind you just one week my perceptions are getting changed to include more and more possibilities. I think what IPMX is giving us the attitude and knowledge to appreciate the various possibilities. With so much diverse people around having such wonderful experiences and capabilities, the whole viewpoint starts changing. When I was about to join the IPMX, I read in program brochure that one of the highlights of the course was interaction and learning with set of people having varied experiences and backgrounds. At that time I didn’t understand the significance. But now I think I understand it and had become open to explore the possibilities.


I have start believing that it is very much the way life goes. There are no right or wrongs answers. There are no truths and lies. It Depends.


- Dushyant Chaturvedi

What I sacrificed at the altar of efficiency

>Its official - I lack creativity!
Of course I knew that. Anyone who knew me knew that. Anyone who didn't know me but was unfortunate enough to spend a few moments with me knew that. But now, I have something that definitely, conclusively, puts the issue beyond any measure of doubt. I couldn't do my 'creativity' assignment!

It's not that I wasn't up to the stratospheresque standards expected of an IIML detainee, or even up to my personal strictly-middle-of-the-pack kind of mediocre ones, or that I absolutely sucked. I-just-couldn't-do-it!



"The above 5 sentences to be included in any kind of write-up, as long as at least one is innovatively used" is not really a tough assignment. You can pick-up a word and play on it. You can armtwist a phrase into meaning something else by interpreting it in an altogether irrelevant context. Heck, in a pinch, you can look to compulsive perverts like Shakespeare for inspiration on how to intentionally molest something into meaning it should never do.

Unfortunately, 4 hours of sitting and staring at my laptop, sometimes gently coaxing my brain to release its creative juices, sometimes letting it just have its way and in occassional moments of madness, threatening to pull it out of miserable habitat and feeding it to slavering dogs, produced nothing. Nada. Zilch!
The sentences just wouldn't make any sense other than what they did. Words obstinately stayed true to their intended meaning, and any alternate contexts simply refused to materialize.

Then it hit me! Its not me. Its what has been drilled into me over the past few decades of my life. Standardization. Uniformity. Sameness. First by way of school-uniforms, then by the rote of faithfully reproducing textbook knowledge into reams of answer-sheets, and subsequently through subjection to the grindstones of efficiency, optimization and refinement (all similar words, I know; thank you for making my point), my brain has developed a bleeding edge matched by few, but that creative stream of innovation... ideation if you will, has lost its way in the sands.

Oh well, goodbye Marketing; hello Operations!