First Internship stint.... with TAS

Today appeared for TAS ( TATA ADMISTRATIVE SERVICES) internship position along with 7 other MBA batchmates. TAS is one of the most prestigiuos comapnies of the big indian conglomerate TATA. All of us were first disappointed as the team from TAS got delayed by 2 hours. I didn't expected this from one of the most reputed companies of India. Anyways the team arrived at around 11.30 am finally. They had a very unique way of group discussion(GD) which I experienced for the first time. They had a list of 8 business case scenarios in which managers of an organization faced a certain dilemma which they were suppose to discuss. Each one of us was suppose to pick up 1 at random, go through the breif of the scenario and then take as the lead in discussing the issue with 7 others, about 8 minutes were given for each case discussion and in the end the one in the lead would sum up the final decisions agreed among all . So far my experience with group discussions ( during undergarduate campus placement) was that they were very noisy , with every one very egoistic about his/her point of view. The discussions never ended up in conclusion. People had an illusion that more you speak ( no matter what:-)), the greater are your chances of clearing the GD round.
Todays experience was completely different, everyone of us got a chance to lead and to act as a participant as well. The discussions were more fruitful, disciplined and smooth. I really admire this form of GD after experiencing it first hand. Got to know some of my weaknesses as well retrospective of others. :-)) . Another plus point wrt this form of discussion. We did 8 GDs in a span on an hour.
Finally, 2 of us(Sachin and Jaewoo) were selected for interviews. In the end Sachin cleared the interview round as well.

GOOD EXPERIENCE :-))

Some insights on Google

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, top, and co-founders Sergey Brin, left, and Larry Page at company headquarters in Mountain View , CA, USA.

Meaning of Google : 10 to the power of 100 , i.e 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Today, according to my view, the word Google has become synonymous with internet search. So I thought to give some time reading about the company who has made my internet search (esp. related to MBA life) much simpler . The first serach engine I ever used was YAHOO! sometime back in 1998 when I got my home PC. Dont remember exactly how I came to know about Google but once I used it, I have never used any other search engine. Its fast, accurate and the look and feel is too cool.

I read the book named SEARCH ME, THE SURPRISING SUCCESS OF GOOGLE , Author: Neil Taylor,PUBLISHER: CYAN publishers., at first I decided that I would just read first 2 chapters , but once i started reading , the book was so magnetic that i remained glued to it till from 11.30 AM to 4.30 PM. It is a fascinating book to read. The book is primarily based on the concept of Google as a product or brand. Founders Larry Page( an American, son of a computer whiz) and Sergey Brin( a russian,son of a maths professor) have a profound influence on the way coapany works even after going public through special IPO.

Below are some of the notes which I made during reading, thought to share them :
1.Google asks its empoyees to spend 20% of time, thinking on what other services it can offer. This keeps up the continuous innovation process.
2.There is an disliking community for google called google`watch.http://www.google-watch.org/. Ironic thing is that it appears first on the result when you type google watch. Just goes to show that google is impartial to even its critics.Living its philosophy of "DONT BE EVIL".
3. Whatever u search on google, google has a record as it has put in a permanent cookie in your hard drive which dosent expire till 2038.it also knows your ip address.
4.Google's DNA- its playfulness, its openness, its commitment to search,its focus on user and its spirit of public service.
5. Larry page and Sergey brin both drive toyota prius , a car that runs on combination of electricity and traditional energy.
6. Eric Schmidt is the current CEO of Google.
7. Dose not allow gun ads, hard liquor adds
8.It came up with an ipo which encouraged more individual shareholders rather than institutional investors.
9.The best marketing is often a matter of giving people what they genuinly need with a minimum of fuss.
10. elements of a brand are logo, a look and feel, a way of talking, and some fundamental principles .
11. brands arent about mrtg and advertising, brands are about relationships between organization and customers.
12. surprise and innovation are the 2 competitive advantages of google .
13. when microsoft said it new search engine in making searches 5 billion webpages, 700 million over google, google doubled the number of its searched webpages to around 8 billion.
14. gmail and froogle are result of 1/5th policy( see point 1)
15. Learnings from Google story
i) You cant have a great brand without a product people want.
ii)word of mouth is better than advertising
iii)be clear about what you stand for
iv)Stick to your guns
v)the barnd and the company are the same thing
vi) think long term
vii)try things but keep them at arms length

A good book to read , very user friendly even for non techies. Written by an ex brand consultant of UK. Not too long(162 pages), you can finish in one sitting.

Photo Session for resume book( Internships) -14th Feb

Picture taken just outside Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library at NUS( National University of Singapore)

All those dressed out in formals .

Freaking out, like all got internships.....:-))

I was the first one to get shot....exactly at 10.05 am. I guess you can make out how I am so sure on timing. You will get hint in the pic.


That day it felt like that we were really doing MBA. All dressed up tip top. Professional look. Frankly, people look so different in professional dress up from casual outfit.

FM and OM......... what to say

Well , I must admit, first time i am really realizing the need to give up my engineering habits of studying .. 2nd sem really getting harder and harder as the number of assignments workload is increasing . Over and above that Financial management(FM) and Operations management(OM) are giving a hard time. Finanical management lectures are quite understandable but the assignments are somewhat out of the world..beyond my understanding ... huh.I wonder if those where individual assignments i would have doomed......., well the same goes for OM. Have to read the assigned case 3-4 times in order get some gist out of it... looks like real MBA has just begun... 1st semester looks much easier now. Real hard days ahead......need to become more organized is exponentially increasing.....

PULAO UBIN visit on 4th Feb.2006

PULAO UBIN (the GRANITE ISLAND) is a small island situated just off the northeastern corner of mainland singapore. Resident population of 100 and area of 1000 football fields.
The island is home to Singapore's last villages or "Kampongs". Ubin residents rely on wells for water and diesel generators for electricity.

Starting point, PGP in NUS ,with( from left) Manish, Sachin , and Meena .


On Ferry from Changi Village



at Pulao Ubin shore....

Exploring nature .....

Mangroove trees...

Bicycling in rain.... exploring island on our own after brief guided tour.

All drenched out after bicycling...waiting for ferry to head back.

Journey ends.....FUN TRIP....

Visited SHELL refinery in BUKOM

We had a tour to SHELL biggest refinery in the world- PULAU BUKOM Refinery in Singapore . First time sat in a ferry. The refinery is spread over the island of BUKOM.Though cameras were not allowed inside the premises, managed to pick a few snaps on the way while I was in ferry.



This one was just before we landed on the island. Looks like a supplier of crude oil . First time had a chance to view these ships so closely.

After the bus tour of the refinery , Ta Heng Hai, the Technological Manager at Shell gave a presentation on the refinery industry , with data on SHELL mostly and the future outlook of the oil industry. One thing he mentioned in particular which seemed to me strange at first but after his explanation on the same I was in aggrement.

He said that the prices of the oil should increase further from current rate of around $68 per barrel.Till now the effort has been minimum to conserve these natural reserves of oil and look for alternative and more environment efficient resources becuase the cost of alternative sources of energy is high. The increase in prices will force people to look for alternate and equally or more efficient means of energy.The people will learn to use the resources more efficiently and effectively. On the other end he said high prices might put severe pressure on the countries which are high importers of oil .

The current CPU at this refinery is around half million barrels/day. The total length of the pipelines laid at this refinery is an awesome 700KM. Never imagined that even in my dreams. One of the oldest oil storage containers is of 1900. The gas products of refinery are kept in sperical containers from safety point of view as the pressure is equally distributed .
Really thrilled by the overall experience.

Fun month Over.....

Well fun month Jan is over , hard study times are ahead , I am feeling the heat as we enter February,in week 1 there are 3 assignments to submit.The study pressure is gearing up slowly. Though will keep the badminton habit going on... club size is increasing slowly. Try to be more organized... lets see...