Online Interactive Live Session on Economics for mini MBA Students

Professor Chandu Nissa, Head of Economics for UG at Stella Maris College, conducted an awesome interactive Live Session for the mini MBA students. She conducted the live session in the Online Social Learning Platform of myBskool. Students asked questions via chat and she answered the questions about Economy with good examples. Students could see the video of the Professor.

Prof Chandu explained risk and uncertainty, demand and supply, elasticity of demand, equilibrium of demand, Bandwagon effect, and Diamond-Water Paradox.

When asked how knowledge of Economics helped a Manager, she said that while entrepreneurs focused on dividends to investors, managers focused on perks and employee benefits. Having an economic bend of mind will help the manager to put himself in the shoes of the business owner.

When asked if raising prices lowered the demand she said that people addicted to certain products will buy the product even if the price rises. e.g. tobacco smokers

Prof Chandu also answered questions about FDI, inflation, and more. She said that a person has to pay money for whatever they buy or use. But many Indians carried a ‘begging bowl’ and wanted freebies or paid less for a costly product. She told that Indian RBI was respected worldwide and India will come out with flying colours!

It was a very interesting and informative Live Session on Economics. Prof Chandu was very relaxed, friendly, and sportive. myBskool plans to organize many such Live Sessions. So, please stay tuned.

Register here to be part of this unique learning experience. 

Business Communication - myBskool

Nature and Scope of Business Communication module for myBskool PGDM course has been delivered by Prof. Uma Gopalakrishnan , Founder SpringBoard Career Development Services & Corporate Trainer. 

Online vs Face-to-Face Education - Learning Outcomes

Key report findings include:

• Over 6.1 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2010 term, an increase of 560,000 students over the previous year.

• The 10% growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth in the overall higher education student population.

• Thirty-one percent of higher education students now take at least one course online.

• Reported year-to-year enrollment changes for fully online programs by discipline show most are growing.

• Academic leaders believe that the level of student satisfaction is equivalent for online and face-to-face courses.

• 65% of higher education institutions now say that online learning is a critical part of their long-term strategy.

• There continues to be a consistent minority of academic leaders concerned that the quality of online instruction is not equal to courses delivered face-to-face.

What Stephen Covey can Tell Executive MBA Aspirants?

Stephen Covey, the author of the famous book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is no more. We have lost a great trainer and management guru. But, aspiring management professionals can learn a lot from applying Covey's seven habits.

1. Be Proactive: Say you enroll for an online PGDM from myBskool, then you proactively increase your knowledge of management principles and practical tactics used in the shop floor and market.

2. Begin with the End in the Mind: Ultimately, as you grow up the career ladder, you will become a manager. The highest post you can reach is a CEO of a company or start your own successful business venture. Keeping this end destination of your career in mind, you can equip yourself with an online management education program.

3. Put First things First: First, qualify yourself with a management program from a top-notch institute like IMT Ghaziabad, before you become a top-notch manager. Degree first, job role next.

4. Think Win, Win : When you get to do an online management program, you can continue working and also continue studying. So, your employer wins and you also win.

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood: When you study management strategies, you understand what your seniors are trying to do. You understand the dynamics behind everyday decisions that your managers make. So, you understand your management before you become a manager.

6. Synergize: You synergize or learn along with other experienced working professionals and interact with them in the virtual chat rooms. You, get to see video lessons delivered by professors from IIT, IIM, and doctorates too. 

7. Sharpen the Saw:  You need to constantly improve yourself. To be a sharp and active manager, you need to sharpen your management skills. 

Stephen Covey - Author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

MBA vs PGDM - Which is a Better Option for You?

The MBA degree is seen as a time-tested tag that can open avenues to all types of career aspirations. But, PGDM, its nearest competitor, is more novel, flexible, and practical. myBskool offers PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad that is approved by the Joint Committee(JC) of India. The JC comprises UGC, AICTE, and Distance Education Council(DEC).  Let us understand the basic difference between MBA and PDGM in India-:

1) Only Universities can offer MBA: In India only those management institutes which are affiliated to a university can offer an MBA degree. For this reason institutes like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies or Faculty of Management Studies can offer MBA degree, as they are affiliated with Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi Universities. Also IIMs, though being the best of the lot, can’t offer MBAs as they are not affiliated with any university. Institutes which are not affiliated to university are autonomous and can offer PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) degree. However, some of these programmes are approved by regulatory bodies such as AICTE.

2) Difference in Focus of Curriculum: While there are huge similarities in the curriculum of both MBA and PGDM, there are finer points of difference. While MBA focuses more on theoretical aspects of management and is more exam-oriented, PGDM has a focus on building soft skills and is industry-oriented. It prepares you for the job market.

3) Curriculum of PGDM is Flexible: Since an autonomous institute does not have to follow university standards, it is free to change its curriculum according to industry standards and change in business environment. Also a PGDM gives you an industry exposure. Whereas it will take time to change the curriculum for MBAs as it is affiliated with a university and it will essentially follow the university guidelines and changing this curriculum is a very slow process. 

4) Difference in Target : An MBA will help in developing technical skills and business knowledge whereas a PGDM will prepare graduates for senior level positions in industry and paves the way for a strong corporate career. Hence, if you’re looking for a career in the challenging area of management, you should go for PGDM.

5) MBAs are more Affordable: In compared to PGDM, generally MBAs are more affordable as the fees is almost similar to university standard. You can get a rough idea if you compare the fees of IIM and FMS. myBskool offers PGDM at a nominal cost of Rs,60,000. 

Be Your Own Education DJ

myBskool offers a variety of learning materials - videos, powerpoint presentations, printed course material, and social media learning. A student can pick and choose from the different materials and be his/her own educational disk jockey(DJ) to complete a management program.

17 Thoughts for a Marketing Strategy

Marketing takes your product to your customer or consumer. Without marketing, the reach of your product is limited and the profits may be low. But, marketing infuses life into the selling cycle and brings huge profits.

Let us look at few points to develop a good marketing strategy.

1. Identify your target market/customer: An useful acronym to remember is aeiog that stands for age, education, income, occupation, gender, and geographical location of your prospective customers. Describe your customer in about half a page and talk to this imaginary customer. You need to make a psychographic study and know the hobby, interests, and quirks of your customer.

2. Your USP: The next step is to identify your "Unique Selling Proposition", For e.g, the USP for Domino's Pizza is "a pizza at your doorstep within 30 minutes of placing an order."

3. Do a SWOT Analysis: Analyze your internal strengths and weaknesses and also external opportunities and threats. 

4. Pricing and Positioning: Narrow down your target customers and focus your efforts towards this target group. Keep in mind that 76% of people do not believe your advertisements.

5. Distribution : Decide if you will sell directly to customers or to distributors or use a combination of both.

6. Your Offers: Free offers, discount, packaged offers, guarantee offers, act now offers.

7. Marketing Material: All marketing material such as banners, blogs, newsletters, and paper advertisements will talk to the target customer.

8. Promotion Strategy: Decide if you will do Trade shows/ Direct mails/ WOM/ Podcasts / Radio advertisements or more.

9. Online Marketing Strategy: Identify keywords and do SEO. Pay Per Click (PPC)  works better than Search Engine Optimization(SEO).

10. Conversion Strategy: Improve your offers and sales script. Increase your social proof, nurture and never give up.

11. Look for Joint Ventures and Partnerships: Look for partners who will include your brand name in their marketing material or promotions.

12. Referral Strategy: Ask your existing customers to refer new customers. 

13. Strategy to Increase Transaction Prices: Raise your prices, up sell, cross sell, and offer product packages. Your primary goal is to close the sale, and second goal is to maximize the price of sale or increase order size. 

14. Retention Strategy: Ongoing communication, loyalty programs, and continuity programs.

15. Public Relations Activities: Advertising is a weak media unless supported by PR.

16. Draw a Marketing Calendar - Keep in mind days such as Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Children's day etc. 

17.  Make a Marketing Budget: And allocate funds for different activities. 

Student Engagement - Holy Grail of Online Education

When learning technology and learning content becomes uniform and free for all online educators, the key differentiation will be the learning design. Engaging the students online is an important part of learning design.

There are few advantages of online student engagement:

- Introverts or shy students feel comfortable.
- The success of Facebook and Youtube shows that people throughout the world love online presence.
- 24 x7 availability and flexibility

How do you reward good student engagement?

An online student who will get a good grade point for interaction will be:

- one who posts relevant questions or content
- one who gives good answers to queries of others
- one who summarizes the points of a discussion

How do you monitor online presence of students?

In a panel discussion conducted by myBskool about 'Online Management Education - Emerging Trends', Prof Xavier of IIM Ranchi gave a few interesting points.

- Biometric login of online students for unique recognition
- Every 10 minutes, a web camera captures your face to find out if you are awake, present, and not asleep.
- Both erring faculty and erring students can be identified

So, that reduces the doubts you may have about the versatality of online student engagement process.

In the video below, lot of online educators share their views and methods for online student engagement. 

           

Raising Money for a Startup - A Nice Take

The video gives a nice introduction about assets, angel investors, shares, valuation, and dilution.

Are You Aspiring for a Doctorate in Management?

Kavitha works for a foreign bank. She enjoys her hectic career which involves travel, events, and late hours. But five years from now, Kavitha did not see herself working for a bank. She wanted to start her own firm, be a consultant, and also teach. Yes, teaching was her passion. And she wanted to get a doctorate in management.

She was slightly overwhelmed by the path she has to take. First, a post-graduation in management, and then a doctorate. Where to study, how long will it take? Will the course be cost-effective and recognized?

myBskool has a solution for Kavitha's need. myBskool offers a two year PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad. Those who complete the two year PGDM, can enroll for the PhD program from IMT.  

Online Management Education - Panel Discussion

The interactive panel discussion about 'Online Management Education" went on well on 8th June, 2012. The expert panel had Prof. M.J. Xavier of IIM Ranchi, Prof. Sriram - executive Director of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Prof Ramanathan - Sr Director of ISB, and Mr.Swaminathan.K - CEO of myBskool. Mr.Chandu Nair was the moderator. 

The discussion started of with a reference to Online Management Education as an evolving animal that can take any shape in the future. There is a need for holistic managers and not managers who are specialists with a big head ( good analytic skills) but a lean torso ( poor soft skills). 

'Rethinking the MBA - Business Education at Crossroads' - a book by Harvard professor Dr.Srikant Datar was mentioned often as giving new insights about the subject. A popular saying goes like, "A fool with a tool is still a fool." But, technology will supplement and not substitute classrooms. And teachers will become tutors and facilitators.

Online Management Education is known as the Facebook of Education. But, people have doubts about the quality of relationships and networks in a social learning network. The panel felt that the intensity of any relationship is more important than the length. So, the learning design and student engagement process must be fun and really interactive. For example, the AIDS vaccine was found by a set of young gamers who never met face-to-face. Their interactions were purely online. They saw each other only at the awards ceremony.

To view all event pics, click here.

Business is an Art

'Click' has replaced 'Brick' - Peter Drucker was Right

As the internet burgeoned in the 1990s, management guru Peter Drucker said on-site universities would be dead in 50 years. "Click" would replace "Brick". Looks like Drucker's prophecy has come true.

The high speed of technology revolution acts as a catalyst for educational revolution. Recent research survey show that students prefer to learn using ipads and smartphone.

Now high-flying management institutes Harvard and MIT are taking their learning videos online through a project EdX. The number of universities offering online management programs is exploding.    

IMT Ghaziabad PGDM - Learn from the Leaders

It is surprising to know that thousands of students enroll for an executive MBA that is not recognized or accredited.What is the point of slogging for one or two years to get a management qualification that is not recognized anywhere?

How nice it would be if a top-ranked b-school can qualify you as a management professional? You are no more a Tom, Dick, or Harry. IMT Ghaziabad has won several awards for its excellent Distance Learning Program. And the online management programs it offers is recognized throughout the world. Don't you want to learn from the leader? Click here to download brochure.

Panel Discussion about Online Management Education - Emerging Trends