Regatta

The last weekend of July was dedicated to Regatta. This time it was the 20th edition of Cranfield Regatta, with schools like LBS, Insead, Manchester participating. Insead was the winner this time, and Cranfield came second.

Ours was one of the 20+ boats that Cranfield had and we fared very badly, perhaps ranked 30 out of the total 37.

But it was pure fun, and a lot of work.

 

Sailing is fun !

Worlds biggest companies

Here is a list of worlds biggest companies in terms of revenues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_by_revenue

Walmart leads the chart with more than 400 billion in revenues. Quite astonishing. Some more personal observations and trite remarks:

1. None of them have yet reached 1 trillion USD. Why not a single of them, is it too huge ? Considering that GDP of India is 1.5 trillion (USD), it looks a big number, isn't it.

2. Largest Indian company, IOCL is 139th in the list with 54 billion, and then Reliance at 180. Quite a lot of catching up to do for Indian companies to be somewhere in top 10. China is already there - with 2 companies in top 10.

3. How is Walmart at the top ? How can a retail company generate more revenues than oil and gas ? Difficult to imagine. But then the scale and geographies in which Walmart operates is bigger than any other company. Also it proves how much the Americans consume !

 

I am back...

After a long long break , I am back to my blog. It has been a busy period. A lot has happened in between. And among all the distractions, the MBA goes on.

And yes, an amazing last term awaits. Here are a few things that are going to happen.

1. IBE - As part of the mandatory International Business Experience, am going to Mexico with 3 other people. Will be a fun filled week ahead.

2. Wimbledon (probably) - After I spent 3 hours seeing Federer lose in French Open (and I lost a lot of pounds on my beer at the social), I am so looking forward to the Wimbledon where I can possible watch him win the title. (At least get in and watch on the big screen, thats the plan)

3. Regatta - Cranfield Annual Regatta is during the last week of July, and we are sailing ! Has to be fun.

4. Lords - India VS Eng - 1st test - last week of July, must watch game. Tickets booked and we are definitely going.

This is just a list of planned things, and a lot of unplanned things will come up for sure.

During the last 2 months or so, I have been busy as well. Here is a list.

1. Visited Wales - 3 day trip to south Wales, Cardiff etc.

2. Visited Lake District - lovely place and a lot of good drives. Amazing.

And also visited a lot of places in London, like touring the Big Ben, London Eye, Greenwich et al.

Also went to a visit to the London Metal Exchange to see live trading. Awesome.

 

Planning a trip to Amsterdam ?

One of my dutch colleagues, Floris has charted a tour program for visiting Amsterdam during the long weekend in April end. It is the Queen's day celebration weekend with live music and a lot of drunk people on the streets. Seems like a good fun.

 

• Guided tour through the Red Light district (I will be the guide)


• Boat tour through the canals of Amsterdam, passing Anne Frank house, the Western tower and the houses of everybody that matters in today’s world of journalism, TV, media, art.


• Lunch Pick-nick in Vondelpark, the hippest place in summer


• Visit to Van Gogh museum, the world’s largest collection of his paintings


• Guided walking tour through the Jewish quarter, Rembrandt House, Amstel River area with famous bridges, theatre, John Lennon Bed-in Hotel, 17th century trading places and shipyards (17th century is Holland’s Golden Age); again I will gladly be the tour guide.


• And of course I will take you guys to a coffee shop for hashish or in my case space cake.


• Visit to Keukenhof, the large tulip exhibition that is open from end of march until the beginning of May. It is about 30 km away from Amsterdam and requires public transport or car

Then of course there are some special programme items for this weekend because of Queen’s day:

• On Friday night 29 April there is a large party with live music in many places in The Hague and in Utrecht (both are about 35 minutes by train from Amsterdam).


• On April 30 Amsterdam is the place to be with live music, free market and lots of drunken people.

 

 

 

Asia: The next destination for higher education

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12671198

Asia, more particularly India and China are going to be the most sought after destination for higher education in the coming decade (if not earlier).

China increasing its quality of education - China has been trying to attract foreign students since a long time and more importantly to retain its students who go abroad for studies in huge numbers. The quantity of schools and universities is not a problem for China, but the inherent quality of education to match with the Harvards and Oxfords of the world is a key challenge. However, with Capital in hand it can reform this and make itself the next best option after US and UK and may be exceed them in near future.

India - with reforms in the education sector which now provides permission to foreign universities to setup campuses and courses in India, we are already seeing foreign universities setup in India. We might soon see a Harvard and Cambridge in India, and coupled with the quality of facutly India has, it can be a very lucrative destination for foreign students.

UK set to reduce immigration levels - with UK set to curb immigration for non-EU citizens from April 2011, which might impact students coming for higher education (UK's education export amounts to almost £40billion). We will definitely see more students choosing to study at home in Asia rather than going abroad.

We have already seen decline in number of student intakes in the last few years in Australia due to visa/work restrictions and other reasons. And with a fear of double dip recession still looming over USA, we might see a decline in people opting for the states as the destination for foreign education (however, I believe USA will still remain the hottest destination for near future).

Another factor to consider is the level of opportunities people are exposed to after they come out of universities with MS, MBA, PhD and other degrees in hand. Pay levels (which are higher in USA/UK) are definitely a factor and if we start seeing such levels in Asia (Singapore/HK already have such levels), this can be a defining factor in attracting people to study and work in Asia.

Also read - India- the next university Superpower?

Almost half way through my MBA

Yeah, I am doing an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and already neck deep into it. Next week, we have mid term exams and I will be half way done through my MBA.

Here are a few musings from my MBA so far:

Its fun : Those who think doing an MBA is tough, competitive and way too difficult after lots of work experience, I would say its not. Its quite a lot of fun actually. The work load is manageable, competitive and we do have lots of parties here (especially since we live far away from London).

There is always something happening here: We are always upto something. We had the VCIC competition recently, some people are doing Hult global challenge, a few are deep into preparing for Regatta, Ski Trip, Eastern european extravaganza etc. We had pancakes day last week, having a St Patricks day this week, an auction for supporting London Marathon this friday apart from Career's fair tomorrow, and Venture capitalist's briefing, Exam reviews, couple of assignment submissions, and job interviews for a few of us. Boy ! Its a lot to chew.

And if I add what all we had in the first term, I would be going on and on about it... People here have amazing levels of energy and are extremely supportive.

 

Vote for Project 'Paani' (Water)

http://apps.facebook.com/hultglobal/contests/101940/voteable_entries/17796207



A few of my colleagues are working on Project Paani for a Hult Global Case challenge.

Sincerely request you all to vote for this amazing idea of solving water crisis in countries around the world that need it.