Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas! Sab Clear Hain! Congratulations!

Semester III results are out... All members of our group are "all clear":-)

Lets say that cool line of Sprite one more time (remember our presentation in Brand Management subject during Semester III?)...

"SEEDHI BAAT, NO BAKWAAS! CLEAR HAIN?!"

Yes, boss! Saab Clear Hain:-)

Congratulations to all my dear friends (Anand, Anshu, Namita, Nitin, Prachi and Lakshmi)!

Keep Rocking!

It's Rock On season! While Rock On (movie) fever is still on, our 'band of boys and gals' has also been rocking throughout the semester III of MPE.

Yesterday was last day of semester. The most exciting and learning experience in business school is working on projects and making group presentations. We presented on many interesting topics this semester:

(Subject / Presentation)

• Brand Management: 1. Positioning of Sprite 2. Hyundai i10 Product Launch in India
• Business Sustainability: Sustainable Asset Management (SAM)
• Corporate Finance: 10 Ways to Create Shareholder Value
• Macro Economics and Global Economy: Hyperinflation Crisis in Zimbabwe
• Operations Management: Application of Lean and Agile Principles in Software Development
• Strategic Marketing Management: Marketing Models of Consumer Behavior

We ended the semester on a high with an interactive presentation of Hyundai i10 Product Launch in India. Nitin came up with this idea of doing a role-play of business news channel covering Hyundai i10 Launch event. The entire team worked on preparing slides, thinking through the screen-play, assigning roles and setting up IBC News - Indian Broadcasting Corporation. In studio, we had Lakshmi as News Reader and Rajesh as Auto Industry Expert (Analyst); at the launch site, we had Nitin as IBC reporter, Anand as Marketing head of Hyundai Motors and Prachi as independent car reviewer. Anshu did a great job of shooting the entire event on Video Camera. It was real fun!

If topics were interesting and presentations were fun, the feedback from professors was immensely encouraging [except for one subject where expectations got to be modest:-)]. Some of them are quoted here...

• Positioning of Sprite: "Superb presentation... the best presentation of class...!"
• Hyundai i10 Product Launch in India: "The delivery was superb... everyone contributed... I'll give them full marks...!"
• Sustainable Asset Management: "Excellent presentation... The topic was very well brought out...!"
• 10 Ways to Create Shareholder Value: "Very good presentation...!"
• Hyperinflation Crisis in Zimbabwe: "Excellent presentation...!"
• Application of Lean and Agile Principles in Software Development: "It was enlightening presentation... very new concept... excellent presentation... it was learning experience for me as well... the time spent on listening to this presentation was worth it... very well done!"
  
  It gives us sense of satisfaction! What has been even more satisfying is the kind of support, motivation and appreciation that we have received from our class-mates.
  
  An SMS read, "Rajesh, I know im repeating but you guys totally rocked today.. Im sure u guys wud have put in a lot of efforts... Trust me it was all worth it."
  
  Thank you very much! Your appreciation means a lot to us!
  
  I must thank my entire team for running that extra mile every time to give our best! Lets keep rocking!!!
  

A note of 100 BILLION DOLLAR! And Inflation of 12.5 million percent. It's Zimbabwe 4 U!

What would be reaction if I give you a currency note of 100 billion dollar?

And what if I say it's not enough to buy even one loaf of bread? (as of today, July 27, 2008)

Before you even think for a moment that I must be kidding, let me assure you that it's fact of life in Zimbabwe today!

• Central Bank of Zimbabwe released a new 100 billion dollar bank note last week.



• Official figure of inflation in Zimbabwe as of now is 2.2 million percent a year, but the same is estimated by independent analysts to be closer to 12.5 million percent. (Source -Associated Press)



• It also has become virtually impossible to get access to cash as the country's economic collapse worsens.



• The Zimbabwean Govt is reported to have run out of paper to print money

Inflation in India had just reached 12% and there was big hue and cry. Now, think of Zimbabwe!!!

So, what's the reason behind the crisis that lead to world's highest inflation rate?

Here is a good article that analyzes the situation very bluntly.

• "First, it is important to recognise that probably just less than a third of Zimbabwe's population is out of the country, and a sizeable percentage of these Diasporans is domiciled in hard-currency "Western" countries such as Britain, Canada, the US and Australia.



• The Diasporans, as self-serving as ever, have facilitated the sucking out of large amounts of cash from the mainstream economy, and placed it within their own mini-economy within Zimbabwe, from which they and their associates at home only benefit. How does this happen?



• We Diasporans send money home through some criminals running "money transfer" agencies. These people are criminals, in the sense that they are committing a crime called money laundering.



• We deposit pounds and other forms of hard currency into these criminals' bank accounts, and they deposit Zimbabwean dollars into our relatives' accounts back home. This money escapes the legal, official routes and finds its way straight into Zimbabwean banks as Zimdollars, exchanged using the parallel market rate, which is even higher in the Diaspora than in Zimbabwe.



• Thus, there is an extremely high demand for cash that cannot be accounted for, in any way by the Reserve Bank as it represents the illegal transactions carried out abroad and within Zimbabwe via the Zimbabwean-based money exchangers and the naive banks.



• It is not surprising, therefore, that miracle money in turn creates a very high demand for goods and services in the country, which has the inevitable effect of pushing up prices, and that is what inflation is all about!



• The very high demand for cash necessitates the printing of cash on the part of the Reserve Bank, which maintains and nurtures the environment of very high inflation figures."
  

Just a couple of days back, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono has announced that "Zimbabwe Central Bank Plans Measures to Address Cash Shortage".

Lets hope for the best and keep an eye on this crisis. How about selecting this as topic for our presentation in 'International Micro & Macro Economics'?

Time Value of Money: 10 Calculations to Know

Howdy! If first couple of lectures for various subjects are anything to go by, I think we are going to have a great learning experience in this semester. It's an impressive set of subjects that we have in curriculum.

• International Micro and Macro Economics


• Corporate Finance


• Operations Management


• Strategic Marketing Management


• Brand Management


• Business Sustainability

I was amazed to see the level of class participation in Corporate Finance lecture this Saturday. A pof the reason behind it was the topic of discussion - Time Value of Money. Dr. Vrinda Kamat related it to Personal Financing decisions so very well. On the very same topic, I came across a good resource on Net.

Outlook Money recently published a very good piece on "10 Calculation To Know" for money management. It explains following concepts very briefly, but in such a simple language.

1. Compound Interest


2. Compound Annualised Growth Rate


3. Internal Rate of Return


4. XIRR


5. Post-Tax Return


6. Pre-Tax Yield


7. Inflation


8. Purchasing Power


9. Real Rate of Return


10. Doubling, Tripling of Money (Rule -72, Rule -69)

The author has made a very good attempt to highlight that "The value of investments is only as much as their returns. So, it is critical to know how much your money is worth to plan your financial goals!"

Your thoughts?