GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE

MANAGEMENT
EMPIRICAL STUDY ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

of

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

BACKGROUND ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

PGDM (IIMC) 1983-85

Primary Specialization in Marketing.

Secondary Specialization - Finance

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

LEARNINGS AT IIMC THRU PROJECTS

Behavioral Science Project Organizational Behavior Project Marketing Management Project Sales and Distribution Management Project Market Research Project Summer Project
ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

BENEFITS TO SELF AND PARTNERS FROM THESE PROJECTS

Understood immediately how concepts learned in classroom worked in the real world. Learned how to write reports and make recommendations. Learned to present. How to argue a case. More importantly, how to accept criticism and improve. Learned how to think originally. DID NOT LEARN TEAMWORK PROPERLY. IIMs are not geared for this.

If any of you have pretensions to consulting, project work is not just invaluable. It is imperative.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT - PLACEMENT

How do people who come for placement interviews judge you? They are scarcely likely to ask you academic questions:
They may not think these relevant. They would have forgotten their academic fundas. Fundas change over time.

The best way to judge is to ask/speak about projects as these deal with the real world. In all my interviews, projects played a very valuable part.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

THE THREE QUESTIONS RECRUITERS HAVE

Can he/she do the job?

Will he/she love his/her job?

Will he/she hit it off with the organization and the other employees?

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

CAN YOU DO THE JOB?

Generally, students tend to wish to change streams after their MBA. How is the potential recruiter to know that you can do the new job? Even if you wish to stick to the same stream, Eg., Supply Chain Management, how is the recruiter to know that you have increased in value after GLIM and therefore, deserve a higher salary?

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

WILL YOU LOVE YOUR JOB?

How is the potential recruiter to judge whether you love the job and career concerned? How is he supposed to judge your passion? How is he to judge your depth of knowledge and understanding? How is he to judge your commitment to his organization?

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

WILL YOU HIT IT OFF WITH ORGANIZATION EMPLOYEES?

Are you a team player at all? Do you fit the organization culture?

Do people in the organization like you?

Is there a slot ready for you in the organization?

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

How How How How How How many projects do you get to do? much interest do you take? much do you learn/know about the subject/issue? well do you present your views? original is your thinking? do you compensate for lack of originality?

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

EMPIRICAL STUDY
Your best opportunity to showcase your own quality in terms of:
Subject Knowledge. Analytical Ability. Workability Presentation Skills Career Interest.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

HOW TO SELECT A TOPIC

First and foremost, you must have a very deep interest in the topic concerned. Ideally, it must be connected to the career you plan to make. You should either know something or else be prepared to learn. You must NOT know too much about the topic. If you do, what will you learn? The topic must enable you to showcase yourself to your most desired companies. Remember, the Empirical Study is not a general write-up. It has a specific format that needs to be respected. Ideally, the project should be sponsored by a company. Ideally, the company should be one you would wish to work for.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP?
In the 5 years that I have mentored students for the Empirical Study, I have found that individual project submissions are far, far better than group projects. Where submissions are required to be presented to an audience, quality is far better. There are other exercises which might help develop group activity.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI

QUALITY STANDARD
It should be something that IBM, Accenture or say, Yale or Harvard would be proud to showcase as their work.

Please read the projected project submission of Kala Ravindran to get some idea of the standard we would be looking for. Kalas submission is being shared on the understanding that it will not be used directly in your project.

ARJUN CHAKRAVERTI