IIM TRICHY

is happy to guide you with

Written Ability Test -

Personal Interview Kit
WAT / PI KIT
 How to prepare for Written
Ability Test (WAT) ?

 Practice makes a man perfect. Hence, the best way to crack WAT
is to practise 1 or 2 essays daily. This helps in reducing pressure
while appearing for WAT.

 Writing should follow a definite structure as it implies clarity of

thoughts. This may help in fetching more points.

 Generally, introduction, body and conclusion is the framework

one should follow while writing an essay.

 Avoid: Grammatical and spelling mistakes, fanatic remarks over

politics and religion, jargons etc.
 How to prepare for Written
Ability Test (WAT) ?
 Keep sentences short, precise and lucid.

 They say: First impression is the best impression. Hence,

try to start with an interesting first line or a quote.

 Supplement your ideas and opinions with logic. Data

facts and figures can be used to support your idea.

 Most important, handwriting should be neat and clear.

Writing should be legible.
 General WAT/PI topics
 How will the new e-commerce regulations affect the
industry?
 Will Artificial Intelligence take over our jobs?
 Is sustainability important in times of heavy competition
among countries?
 Making Aadhar mandatory is not a good idea
 Centralization of Indian public sector will be a boon
 Are conventional retail stores competing with the e-
commerce market?
 How are video streaming services changing the entertainment
market?
 The changing role of women actors in Bollywood
 Cultural diversity impedes democratic governance
 Is Presidential form of Governance better than our current
system?
 Should public transport systems be privatised?
 Has the #MeToo movement been successful in stopping
sexual harassment?
 Is Section 377 sufficient to bring a change in societal
perception towards LGBTQ community?
 Impact of Jio in Telecom industry
 How to prepare for
Personal Interview?
 The first question will be mostly to Introduce Yourself.
Prepare an introduction for at least 4-5 minutes. Ensure you
practice your introduction well, so that you sound confident.
Stress on the points that you would like to be questioned
when you are introducing.
 Prepare thoroughly on your RESUME. Questions related to
academics, especially those subjects which you claim to
interest you; people with work experience can be questioned
on your role at your organization and any projects you may
have worked on, questions related to the concerned industry
etc.
 Confident body language and good communications skills are
expected.
 Maintain eye contact and address all the panel members
 Goal Clarity: You are expected to have a reasonable clarity
regarding your goals.
 How to prepare for
Personal Interview?
 Do a SWOT analysis of yourself and be prepared to talk
about the situations where you found your strengths
useful and when you tried to overcome your weaknesses.
 Don’t be anxious and try to keep the conversation going.
Interviewers like to know more about you.

 Listen to the questions carefully, ask for clarifications if

required. Don’t rush into your answer. Take a few seconds
to think.

 Basic etiquettes like seeking permission before entering

the room, greeting the panellists & being polite go a long
way in creating a long-lasting impression.
Most important of all !!!
Make sure you
SMILE and stay CALM
 Frequently asked
PI questions

Resume based questions

 People with work-ex: Job profile details, company info,
competitors, major business areas, about the recent
developments in the industry etc.

 If there is a gap in the career or academics, then questions

related to that may be asked.

 Questions may come on: Academic record, favourite subject in

graduation, projects etc.

 Questions may come on: City, region, state you belong to. Be
prepared with the names of politicians, prominent business
people and history of your area.
 Frequently asked
PI questions

Questions about self

 About yourself, Strengths, Weaknesses etc. This can be
answered by doing a SWOT analysis of yourself.

 Why should we select/reject you?

 What are you long-term and short-term goals?

 What are your hobbies? Make sure that you tell the hobbies
which you were engaged with and can elaborate on.

 What is your biggest achievement/failure?

 What is the meaning of your name? How does it relate with

your personality?
 Frequently asked
PI questions
MBA based questions
 Why MBA? Why MBA after engineering? Why MBA
without/with Work-ex.
 Which other IIM and B-school calls do you have?
 Which specialization would you choose and why?
 If you choose specialization as marketing the following
questions might be asked: Sell this Pen/Tie/Glass to me, what
are 4 P’s of Marketing etc. Please prepare for basic questions
in the area you would choose as specialization.
 What are your expectations from a B-School?
 What would you do if you don’t get admission this year?
 What is the difference between MBA & PGDM?
 What are the qualities of a good manager?
 Frequently asked
PI questions
General questions
 Questions may come on analysis and guesstimates. Such as,
how many people live in your surrounding, or how many bikes
are there in India. These questions don’t have any fixed
answer. They are asked to test your thought process. Good
approach to tackle the situation will be thinking aloud so that
panel gets the clear idea of your approach
 Abstract questions like: Why blue is blue and not red?
 Some questions on basic physics, mathematics, problem
solving skills. Here importance will be given to the process
you follow, rather than the outcome.
 Frequently asked
PI questions
Current Affairs based questions
 Indian General elections – 2019
 Annual Indian Budget 2019 – 2020
 India’s new e-commerce rules
 Walmart Flipkart deal
 Electric/Driverless vehicles
 Artificial intelligence
 Impact of India becoming the third largest economy
 Section 377 of IPC
 Statue of Unity

Ensure that you regularly read

newspaper especially during the
month of your interview to keep
yourself up to date. Questions
based on news articles published
on the day of your interview are
frequently asked in CAP process.
 Domains In MBA
To help you be aware of different domains in MBA and the career
options that are available, we present you the basics from every
domain by the respective clubs of IIM Trichy

Name of clubs in Domain/ Functionality

IIM Trichy associated with
Consulate The Strategy & Consulting Club
Finvest The Finance Club
MAC The Marketing Club
Matrix The Analytics Club
Persona The HR & OB Club
Sigma Eta The Operations Club
Arthaniti The Economics and Public
Policy SIG

To know more about both

academic and non-academic Click Here
clubs in IIM Trichy
 Strategy & Consulting

Strategy…..What
is it all about?
 Strategy & Consulting
 Strategy consists of an integrated set of choices
 Derived from the Greek word Strategos or “The art of the
General”
 Strategy is the central integrated, externally oriented
concept of how a company will achieve its objectives.
 Strategy is not primarily about planning. It is about
intentional, informed and integrated choices.
 Strategy can comprise of answers to the questions like
where the company will be active, how will we win the
marketplace, how will we obtain our resources etc.

Let us now see a VIDEO where

Michael Porter (you will be
hearing a lot about him at IIM
Trichy!) explains what is strategy.
 How to understand Strategy?

Think about a general of an army.

What is special about his job?
The general is responsible for multiple units on multiple fronts
and multiple battles over time.
The value addition of the general lies in orchestration and
comprehensiveness. The general has to think about the whole
picture. They uses pieces or elements of strategy to form a
coherent whole.
A CEO has the responsibility to have a strategy for the firm as a
whole taking into consideration both the firm (its resources,
capabilities etc.) and its external environment.
 SWOT Analysis

 Identifying the internal and external factors that are

favourable and unfavourable to achieve an objective.

 Used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and threats

 Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give

it an advantage over others.

 Weaknesses: characteristics that place the business or project

at a disadvantage relative to others.

 Opportunities: elements that the business or project could

exploit to its advantage.

 Threats: elements in the environment that could cause

trouble for the business or project.
 SWOT Analysis

The below is an example of a SWOT analysis of a typical

company

Try doing a SWOT analysis of yourself. It will come in handy in the

future.
 Consulting as a career option
 Management consultants help businesses improve their
performance and grow by solving problems and finding new
and better ways of doing things.
 If you’re interested in how a business works – its strategy,
structure, management and operations – a career in
management consultancy might be for you.
 Consultancy firms offer services across all areas of business –
from HR and marketing, to IT and finance.
 What’s in it for you?
Rapidly Gain Exposure to Industries
You'll gain experience by working on projects in a vast range of
industries and with different clients, and see how your
decisions affect them.
Help Make Big-Picture Decisions
You’ll help guide your clients in making major decisions that
will affect their business.
Continuous learning
You’ll be working on projects that require you to continuously
learn and adapt to new trends in the industry.
Working in a team environment
You’ll have the chance of collaborating with people in your
organization and at the client’s who have interests and
expertise similar to yours.
Things required to be a consultant

Ability to multitask Ability to work in teams

Willingness to work long hours Travel enthusiast

Great Academics
How will IIM Trichy help you in pursuing
a career in strategy and consulting?
IIM Trichy offers extensive courses in strategy
Competition & Strategy (core course)
- An introduction course to strategy it focuses on formulating
and implementing strategies
Foundations of Strategy Consulting
- Simulate a real-life Indian strategy formulation exercise in the
classroom, along with the challenges a management consultant
typically faces.
Entrepreneurship
- To sow the seeds of entrepreneurial thinking amongst the
uninitiated while bolstering the entrepreneurial intentions of
those who have already begun planning and dreaming to
start their own ventures in this lifetime.
Dynamics of Framing . & Executing Strategy
- Involving a simulation game. “ Learning by doing”. Strategy
Formulation and execution and impact of decisions over a
long term horizon
Strategic Leadership
- For those who aspire leadership roles in an organization.
Aims to cultivate a capacity of judgement and critical
analysis of strategic choices.
Competing in Global markets
- Apply conceptual skills to design and adaptively configure a
firm’s international strategy in a dynamic global environment.
 About Consulate as a club
Consulate club is an entirely student driven initiative which has
a core community of passionate management students having
diverse experience and who work to offer the students a
platform to develop an interest and inclination towards the
fields of strategy and consulting at IIM Trichy.

How can we help you?

As a member of the club….

 You will have the opportunity to conduct various events like

case competitions, workshops & guest lectures.
 You will have the opportunity to interact with experts from
the industry and the academia.
 You will have the chance to work with a diverse team that
shares an interest in strategy and consulting.
 You will be a member of a club that has consistently been
voted as the Best club on campus.
 Most importantly : YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF FUN
As a student of IIM Trichy…
 We offer live projects that provide you the chance to work as
a pro-bono consultant
 We conduct workshops on how to approach case study
competitions.
 We provide industry exposure through guest lectures.
 We provide industry updates to keep up to date.
 We conduct various competitions throughout the academic
year to help you hone various skills like thinking strategically,
research, analysis of data , presentation etc.

You can connect with Consulate Club

consulate@iimtrichy.ac.in

https://www.facebook.com/ConsulateIIMT/

https://twitter.com/consulateiimt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/consulate-the-strategy-and-
consulting-club-of-iim-trichy-723ab3a4/

The latest industry updates are

available in our BLOG
 Finance
What does a MBA-Finance do?
The primary focus of a business is to increase its value – and it
mostly zeroes down on how much money it makes and manages,
which is when finance managers come into picture. Finance
professionals (in Corporate Finance) are accountable to manage
the money of the organization i.e. to know from where to source
it, deciding how to spend it to get the maximum returns at the
lowest possible risk.

They seek to find ways to ensure flow of capital, increasing the

profitability and decreasing the expenses. They explore the best
ways to help company expand whether it is through acquisition
or investing internally.

Additionally, there is a different career profile of finance

professionals in Investment Banks who need to have clear
viewpoints on investing, stocks and how to value companies, and
how to design their portfolios to minimize risk. Yes, a career in
finance does get a lot of the glory and salaries can go sky high,
but you’ll have to work hard for it.
 Basic concepts in finance
Financial Statements
Financial statements are a collection of reports about an
organization's financial health, its financial condition and
performance.

They are useful for the following reasons:

 To determine the ability of a business to generate cash, and
the sources and uses of that cash.
 To determine whether a business has the capability to pay
back its debts.
 To track financial results on a trend line to spot any looming
profitability issues.
 To derive financial ratios from the statements that can
indicate the condition of the business.
 To investigate the details of certain business transactions, as
outlined in the disclosures that accompany the statements.
There are 3 core financial statements
 Balance Sheet
 Income Statement/ Profit and Loss Statement
 Cash Flow statement
 Balance Sheet
Balance Sheet summarizes a company’s assets, liabilities and
shareholder’s equity at a particular point in time. It presents a
snapshot of the financial position of the company.

 It is based on the following accounting model:

Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders Equity
 Assets are of two types:
1) Fixed assets- Assets which are purchased for long term.
Eg.- Building, Land etc.
2) Current assets- Assets which can be quickly converted
into cash. Eg.-Cash
 Liabilities are obligations of the company, payable to another
entity. Liabilities are incurred in order to fund the ongoing
activities of a business. If the obligation is due within the next
12 months, it is classified as current liability.
 Shareholder’s equity represents the amount of business
holdings that weren’t purchased using debt(loans).
 Income Statement

Income Statement reports how much revenue the company

generated, the expenses it incurred and the resulting profits or
losses during a period of time (usually the financial year.

 The basic equation underlying the income statement is:

Revenue – Expenses = Income
 Revenue which is also known as “Top Line”, is the amount of
money the company actually receives during the particular
period.
 Expenses are summarized and charged in the income
statement as deductions from the income before assessing
income tax.
 Income is the increase in net inflow of cash or other assets
during an accounting period.
 Cash flow statement

Cash flow statement tabulates how much cash is coming in and

going out of the firm.
There are three major elements in the cash flow statement:

 Cash flow from operating activities- It encompasses cash

generated from a company’s day to day operations.
 Cash flow from investing activities- It pertains to the
purchasing and selling of investments which include property,
plant and equipment.
 Cash flow from financing activities- It covers obtaining or
repaying capital. This include the sale of stock, stock
repurchase and issuance of dividends.
 Basics of stocks

To understand what is a stock market we will need to understand

the types of companies.

Please go through the below video at once for an understanding

You tube - How the Stock market works

Please note that companies whose stock prices you see in the
newspaper or in news channels are public limited companies.

What is a share?
In very simple terms, A share is an ownership of a company.
Lets suppose the company Oil Drum Mfg. Co is divided into 1000
shares. So, 1 share = 0.1% ownership of a company.
In case of Public limited company the shares are registered and
traded over a stock exchange.
In case of Private limited the shares are not freely traded. They
can be bought or sold among existing holders or by the company
Thus, the companies we see being traded (bought/sold) at
various exchange like NSE and BSE are public companies.
 Share trading
Now shares of companies can be traded in two ways:
 Primary Offer or Primary Market (IPO/FPO)
 Secondary Offer or Secondary Market

Different offerings to public:

In a primary offer the company sells the shares of a company to
the general public through IPO or FPO.
 IPO or Initial Public Offer is a primary offer in which a
company offers for sale its shares to the general public for the
first time
 FPO or Further Public Offer is a primary offer in which a
company offers for sale its shares to the general public after
the first offer is made. In such situations the shares are
already being traded. New shares are issued to market.

Please be abreast of latest news & events.

In case of further queries, feel free to reach us at
finvest@iimtrichy.ac.in.

You may also ping us on Facebook -

https://www.facebook.com/FinvestIIMT/
 Marketing & Sales
What is Marketing?
“The activity, set of institutions and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have
value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.”
- American Marketing Association

What is a market?
Market is a place or common platform where buyers and sellers
come together for exchange of goods, services & information.
When the exchange of goods happens in return of money then it is
called transaction.

Market Segmentation
A market is segmented to identify the correct consumers to cater a
product or service by grouping them on the basis of geographic,
demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors which have
different needs and characteristics. This process is called Market
Segmentation.

Geographic Demographic

Segmentation

Psychographic Behavioural
 Marketing Mix
The 7Ps helps companies to review and define key issues that
affect the marketing of its products and service.
• Products/Services: How can you develop your products or
services?
• Prices/Fees: How can we change our pricing model?
• Place/Access: What new distribution options are there for
customers to experience our product, e.g. online, in-store,
mobile etc.
• Promotion: How can we add to or substitute the combination
within paid, owned and earned media channels?
• Physical Evidence: How we reassure our customers, e.g.
impressive buildings, well-trained staff, great website?
• People: Who are our people and are there skills gaps?
• Partners: Are we seeking new partners and managing existing
partners well?
 PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL analysis is a framework or tool used by marketers to
analyze and monitor the macro-environmental (external marketing
environment) factors that have an impact on an organization. The
result of which is used to identify threats and weaknesses which is
used in a SWOT analysis.
PESTEL stands for:
P – Political
E – Economic
S – Social
T – Technological
E – Environmental
L – Legal
 Product Life Cycle
The product life cycle describes the period of time over which a
product is developed, brought to market and eventually removed
from the market. The cycle is broken into four stages:
introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Introduction: These are newly introduced products that are trying

to achieve product-market fit.
Growth : Products in this stage have found an audience and are
growing rapidly with increased sales and profitability in mind.
Mature : Products are now well established and their revenue
streams or ecosystems are often leveraged to find new products
Decline:  Products in this stage experience unrecoverable declines
in revenues or usage
 Porter’s Five Forces
Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis were
developed by Michael E. Porter as a framework for assessing and
evaluating the competitive strength and position of a business
organization. This theory is based on the concept that there are
five forces that determine the competitive intensity and
attractiveness of a market. It helps to determine where power lies
in a business

The five forces are:

1. Supplier power: An assessment of how easy it is for suppliers

to drive up prices. This is driven by: number of suppliers of each
essential input; uniqueness of their product or service; relative
size and strength of the supplier; and cost of switching from
one supplier to another.
2. Buyer power: An assessment of how easy it is for buyers to
drive prices down. This is driven by: number of buyers in the
market; importance of each individual buyer to the
organization; and cost to the buyer of switching from one
supplier to another. If a business has just a few powerful
buyers, they are often able to dictate terms.
 Porter’s Five Forces
3. Competitive rivalry: The main driver is the number and
capability of competitors in the market. Many competitors,
offering undifferentiated products and services, will reduce
market attractiveness.

4. Threat of substitution: Where close substitute products exist

in a market, it increases the likelihood of customers switching to
alternatives in response to price increases. This reduces both the
power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the market.

5. Threat of new entry: Profitable markets attract new entrants,

which erodes profitability. Unless incumbents have strong and
durable barriers to entry, for example, patents, economies of
scale, capital requirements or government policies, then
profitability will decline to a competitive rate.

Five forces analysis helps organizations to understand the factors

affecting profitability in a specific industry, and can help to inform
decisions relating to: whether to enter a specific industry;
whether to increase capacity in a specific industry; and
developing competitive strategies.
 Marketing as a career option

The number of jobs in the marketing is the highest ever, almost

10-12% growth year-on-year, given that the number of brands is
increasing (with e-commerce and foreign players coming in).
Because of this, the demand for marketing professionals is
increasing and also as it is a people-driven role, it can’t be
replaced by automation. Hence, it is a great time to be in
marketing field.

Apart from this, as there are a lot of branches in marketing itself

based on the kind of product or industry it functions in, it allows
people to move within marketing but into varied categories, thus
providing a lot of scope for career development.

The companies initially provide roles like Management Trainee,

Area Sales Manager or in Business Development - which allows the
individual to learn about how market works, empathise with their
customers, etc.

After a few years, marketing personnel is allowed to either stay in

the sales field and can go up the sales hierarchy or can switch to
brand management or business development management.
 IIM Trichy Alumni in the
Marketing Domain
MBA degree is like a menu card. You have a host of options for
subjects or electives available to explore like dishes in a menu
card, but you cannot know how it tastes unless you eat it. So,
my tip would be to keep an open mind for learning and not to
stick to just one option. Students should try to learn and
understand more in other fields in order to have cross-
functional knowledge. It will help later on as a person will
have to interact and understand other departments as well
while working since there are no isolated jobs in the corporate
world.
- Mr. Rajat Ramesh (Batch 2014-16)
Global Product Manager – Buhler Group
 MAC - The Marketing
and Advertising club

MAC - The Marketing and Advertising Club of IIM Trichy provides a

platform for students interested in learning and exploring the
everchanging world of marketing. The club focuses on keeping the
students updated with the latest happenings in the marketing
arena and aims at development of skills necessary for a career in
marketing/sales to the students by providing various opportunities
such as Inter-College competitions, guest lectures by experienced
and seasoned talent from the industry, tutorials, workshops, etc.
The club conducts a variety of events on campus as well as online
which includes:

BrandWarz: It is MAC’s flagship case study competition conducted

during the Annual Management Fest of IIM Trichy – Dhruva in
which participants from top B-schools solve real-time business
problems

Market-O-Mania: Market-O-Mania is an online marketing

competition open for B-school students which consists of various
rounds which the teams need to clear in order to become the
ultimate marketing champion.
 MAC- The Marketing
and Advertising club

Flip-it: In order to encourage out-of-the-box thinking in marketing

enthusiasts present in IIM Trichy, MAC conducts an exclusive Intra-
College Marketing Competition designed to identify and promote
alternative utility of products and/or services

FMCG Sales and Digital Marketing Workshop: Well- trained and

experienced professionals from the industry come on campus to
provide extensive information and hands-on learning related to
real-world problem solutions in the area of FMCG Sales.

Apart from these, the club is open to suggestions by the students

on campus and regularly explores for more opportunities to
network with CMOs and Marketing Heads of various companies in
order to improve the marketing position of the institute amongst
its peers.

Follow us on: https://www.facebook.com/MACIIMT/

Operations Management
 Operations Management
 Operations management is the study of set of activities that
creates value in the form of goods and services by
transforming inputs into outputs. It is concerned with
planning, organizing and supervising in the contexts of
production, manufacturing or the provision of services.
 It is delivery-focused, ensuring that an organization
successfully turns inputs to outputs in an efficient and
effective manner. The inputs themselves could represent
anything from materials, equipment and technology to
human resources such as staff or workers.
 Cycle Time: Cycle time is the time gap between two
consecutive outputs from a process, as defined by you and
your customer.
 Lead Time: Lead time represents the time between the
moment the customer places the order and the moment he
receives it.
 Bottleneck: Bottleneck is the resource/activity which has the
highest utilization in a process.
 Lean Manufacturing/Production: Integrated activities
designed to achieve high volume production using minimal
level of inventory.
 Supply Chain Management
 Supply chain management is the streamlining of a business'
supply-side activities to maximize customer value and to gain
a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
 Supply chain is a multi-firm approach and it covers everything
from production, to product development, to the information
systems needed to direct these undertakings.
 Bullwhip Effect: The Bullwhip Effect occurs as orders are
relayed from retailers to distributors, to wholesalers, to
manufacturers, with fluctuations increasing at each step in the
sequence. i.e. the variability in demand is magnified as one
move from the customer to the producer in the supply chain.
 Logistics: It is the science of obtaining, producing and
distributing material and product in the proper place and in
the proper quantity.
 Supply Chain-Upstream & Downstream: Upstream in SC
indicates supplier side while downstream in SC indicates
goods movement to customer side.
 Reverse Supply Chain: Also known as Reverse Logistics,
encompasses all operations involved in the reuse of products
and materials from the consumer to the vendor. This is done
to retain any use of a defective product.
 Inventory Management

 Inventory management is the process of ensuring that a

company always has the products it needs on hand and that it
keeps costs as low as possible.
 Three types of inventory: Raw materials, Work-in-progress, and
Finished-goods.
 Raw material Inventory: Materials that are usually purchased
but have yet to enter the manufacturing process.
 Work-in-progress (WIP): Products or components that are no
longer raw materials but have yet to become finished products.
 Finished-goods inventory: An end item ready to be sold, but
still and asset on the company’s book.
 Economic Order Quantity (EOQ): A type of fixed-order-quantity
model that determines the amount of an item to be purchased
or manufactured at one time. It is an inventory-control
technique that minimizes the total of ordering and holding
costs.
 Quality
Quality is the ability of a product or service to meet customer
needs.
 Total Quality Management (TQM): It refers to a quality
emphasis that encompasses the entire organization, from
supplier to customers. It is a continuous process that seeks to
improve the quality of products and services.
 Benchmarking: It is the process of comparing one's business
processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best
practices from other companies.
 Just-in-time (JIT): It is one of continuing improvement and
enforced problem solving. JIT systems are designed to produce
or deliver goods just as they are needed. i.e. It is an inventory
control system in which the materials are delivered just in time
before manufacturing, not before, not after.
 Poka-yoke: It is a fool proof device or technique that ensures
production of good units every time. It avoids errors and
provides quick feedback of problems.
 Quality assurance is a set of activities for ensuring quality in the
processes by which products are developed.
 Quality Control is a set of activities for ensuring quality in
products. The activities focus on identifying defects in the actual
products produced.
 Preventive QC: Addresses the potential for a non-conformity or
error to occur even before the product is manufactured.
 Six Sigma
 Six Sigma is one of the most important concept of Operations
management. It is a process driven approach which
emphasize on continuous improvement and focus on
customer needs. It is an approach to achieve less than 3.4
PPM defects by continuous improvement.
 There are two types of Six Sigma Processes:
 DMAIC: It stands for – Define, Measure, Analyze,
Improve and Control. This is used for existing processes.
 DMADV: It stands for – Define, Measure Analyze, Design
and Verify. This is used for new processes.
 Following table gives the difference between compliance
level of 99% and 99.99966% (i.e. Six Sigma) process.

99% Good (3.8 Sigma) 99.99966% Good (Six Sigma)

5,000 incorrect surgical 1.7 incorrect surgical

operations per week operations per week
No electricity for almost 7 One hour without electricity
hours each month every 34 years
200,000 incorrect drug 68 incorrect drug
prescriptions each year prescriptions each year
 Lean Operations
 Lean operations eliminate waste through continuous
improvement and focus on exactly what the customer wants.

 Seven wastes: Overproduction, Queues, Transportation,

Inventory, Motion, Over processing and Defective product.

 5S: Sort, Simplify, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. It is a

checklist for lean operations and provides an easy vehicle
with which to assist the culture change that is often
necessary to bring about lean operations.

 Kanban: It is the Japanese word for card, which means

“Signal”. A Kanban system moves part through production via
a “pull” from a signal.

 Kaizen: It is the Japanese word for change for the good.

Continuous improvement in manufacturing, engineering and
business improvement processes.
 Statistics
 Population: Population is the collection of all individuals or
items under consideration in a statistical study.

 Sample: Sample is that part of the population from which

information is collected.

 Descriptive Statistics: Descriptive statistics consist of methods

for organizing and summarizing information.

 Inferential Statistics: Inferential statistics consist of methods

for drawing and measuring the reliability of conclusions about
population based on information obtained from a sample of
the population.

 Variable: A characteristic that varies from one person or thing

to another is called a variable, i.e., a variable is any
characteristic that varies from one individual member of the
population to another. Quantitative variables can be classified
as either discrete or continuous.

 Mean: The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you
add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of
numbers.
 Statistics

 Median: The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of

numbers. To find the median, your numbers must be listed in
numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to
rewrite your list before you can find the median.

 Mode: The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no

number in the list is repeated, then there is no mode for the
list.

 Population variance (σ2): If the data are for a population (N),

the average of the squared deviations is called the
population variance.

 Sample variance (S2): It is a point estimator of the

population variance σ2.

 Sample Standard deviation (S): It is a point estimator of the

population standard deviation σ.
 Latest Trends in Operations

Following are some of the latest trends and buzzwords in

Operations and SCM:

 Supply Chain Trends for 2019

https://selecthub.com/supply-chain-management/supply-
chain-management-future-trends/

 Important E-Commerce Logistics Trends to Watch in 2019

http://www.supplychain247.com/article/important_ecomme
rce_logistics_trends_to_watch

 10 Supply Chain Trends for the Next 10 Years

https://www.supplychain247.com/article/10_supply_chain_t
rends_for_the_next_10_years

 Latest Operations management and supply chain management

news
http://www.supplychain247.com/topic/category/new
http://www.scdigest.com/
http://www.scmr.com/topic/category/news
 Systems & Analytics

What is Analytics all about?

Analytics is the scientific process of turning raw data into

insights to make informed and meaningful decisions. It relies on
the application of operations research, statistical methods and
programming to interpret and communicate meaningful
patterns in the available data.
What is Management Information System all about?
A management information system (MIS) is an information
system particularly used for decision-making purpose as well as
for the coordination, control, analysis and visualization of
information in an organization. It helps in examining people
and technology in an organizational context.

Advantages of MIS:
Improves decision making, Improves efficiency, Provides
connectivity between departments
 Types of Data Analytics

Descriptive Analytics (What happened?): It processes raw data to

give valuable insights of past events.
Diagnostic Analytics (Why did it happen?): It gives in-depth insights
into a particular problem by understanding the reasons and
identifying patterns and dependencies.
Predictive Analytics (What will happen?): It is used for forecasting
purpose. It uses data to determine the probable outcome of a
future event.
Prescriptive Analytics (What action to take?): It suggests actions to
benefit from the predictions by showing the decision maker the
implications of each decision option.
 Types of Distribution
Bernoulli Distribution: It is a distribution with only two possible
outcomes, namely 1 (success) and 0 (failure), and a single trial.
The random variable X which has a Bernoulli distribution can
take value 1 with the probability of success, say p, and the value
0 with the probability of failure, say q or 1-p. In other words,

Uniform Distribution: A variable X is said to be uniformly

distributed if the density function is:
 Types of Distribution
Binomial Distribution: A distribution where only two outcomes
are possible, such as success or failure, gain or loss, win or lose
and where the probability of success and failure is same for all
the trials is called a Binomial Distribution. Each trial is
independent since the outcome of the previous trial doesn’t
determine or affect the outcome of the current trial.

Normal Distribution Curve

Some of the properties of a normal distribution curve are as
follows:
• The curve is bell shaped
• It is symmetric around the mean
• The mean divides the area under the normal curve into halves
• The total area under the normal curve is 1
• It is determined by its mean and standard deviation
 Analytics as a career option

What’s in it for you?

With big and bigger data making a significant role in our country
today, we’ve decided to share the top careers that are currently
revolving around this domain:

 Data Science
 IT Consulting
 Business Intelligence
 Business Analytics

What things are required of you to be a business analytics

consultant?

 Quantitative Aptitude
 Visual Modelling
 Critical Thinking
 Problem Solving
 Time management
 How will IIM Trichy help you in
pursuing a career in MIS?
Courses offered by the institute
 Quantitative Methods
 IT Consulting
 Marketing of IT
 Data Mining for Business Decisions
 E-Commerce & Digital Markets: Economics,
Technology and Strategy
 Software Project Management
 Managing Digital Platforms
 Big Data Analytics
 About Matrix as a club
Matrix is an analytics & technology club of IIM Trichy. It’s a techie
hub where technology freaks gather together with an objective of
proliferating technology awareness among MBA graduates at IIM.
For every academic year, Matrix conducts following events and
competitions:

 Guest Lecture Series

 Workshops
 Live Projects
 6 Degrees : It is the flagship analytics event held each year
during Dhruva – the national level business and cultural fest of
IIM Trichy.
 Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the term used to
describe formal systems devised for the management of people
within an organization. The responsibilities of a human resource
manager fall into three major areas: staffing, employee
compensation and benefits, and defining/designing work.
Essentially, the purpose of HRM is to maximize the productivity
of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its
employees. This mandate is unlikely to change in any
fundamental way, despite the ever-increasing pace of change in
the business world.

Why the name 'Human Resource Management'?

 Human: refers to the skilled workforce in the organization.
 Resource: refers to a stock or supply of staff or assets of the
organization.
 Management: refers how to optimize and make best use of a
limited and scarce resource so as to meet the ordination goals
and objectives.
 Roles of HR Managers
HR functions and the traditional role of HR managers:
 Recruitment
 Attract Talent
 Hire Resources
 Training
 Professional Development
 Appraisals
 Maintaining Work Culture
 Resolving Conflicts
 Employee Relations
 Rewards and Incentives
 Legal Knowledge
 Organizing all functions
 Payroll Management
 How does HR system work?

Concepts related to HR:

 Management by Objective: Management by Objectives
(MBO) is a personnel management technique where
managers and employees work together to set, record and
monitor goals for a specific period of time. Organizational
goals and planning flow top-down through the organization
and are translated into personal goals for organizational
members. It aims to improve the performance of an
organization by clearly defining objectives that are agreed to
by both management and employees.
 Performance Management: Performance management is a
process by which managers and employees work together to
plan, monitor and review an employee’s work objectives and
overall contribution to the organization. More than just an
annual performance review, performance management is the
continuous process of setting objectives, assessing progress
and providing on-going coaching and feedback to ensure that
employees are meeting their objectives and career goals.
 How does HR system work?

Concepts related to HR:

 360-degree Performance Appraisal: A 360-degree appraisal is

a type of employee performance review in which
subordinates, co-workers, and managers all anonymously rate
the employee. This information is then incorporated into that
person's performance review. The feedback is often used as a
benchmark within the employee's development plan.

 Balance Scorecard: The balanced scorecard is a strategic

planning and management system that is used extensively in
business and industry, government, and non-profit
organizations worldwide to align business activities to the
vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and
external communications, and monitor organization
performance against strategic goals.
 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology
comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as
hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs

and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic
need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that
motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level
up is what motivates us, and so on. This five-stage model can be
divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four
levels are often referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the
top level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).
 Big Five Model of Personality
What is Personality?
Personality is an easy concept to grasp for most of us. It’s what
makes you “you”. It encompasses all the traits, characteristics,
and quirks that set you apart from everyone else. Human
resources professionals often use the Big Five personality
dimensions to help place employees. The Big Five traits are
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism or OCEAN:
Openness: Openness includes traits like being insightful and
imaginative and having a wide variety of interests.
Conscientiousness: People that have a high degree of
conscientiousness are reliable and prompt. Traits include being
organized, methodic, and thorough.
Extraversion: Extraverts get their energy from interacting with
others, while introverts get their energy from within themselves.
Extraversion includes the traits of energetic, talkative, and
assertive.
Agreeableness: These individuals are friendly, cooperative, and
compassionate. People with low agreeableness may be more
distant.
Neuroticism: Neuroticism is also sometimes called Emotional
Stability. This dimension relates to one’s emotional stability and
degree of negative emotions.
 Economics
Basic Terminologies
 Economics: Economics is the social science which deals with
prioritization of options available by individuals, society and
government for using the scarce resources to meet the various
needs of life.
 Microeconomics: Microeconomics is the branch of economics
which deals with decisions made by individuals to use the
resources, interactions between the individuals for utilization
and distribution of the scarce resources.
 Macroeconomics: Macroeconomics is another branch of
economics which deals with the aggregate behaviour of the
economy(regional, national or global) in terms of performance
parameters such as inflation, GDP, national income, price levels
etc.
 Capitalist Economy: It is the economy where the decisions
about what to produce, how much to produce and the price at
which to sell are solely taken by the market or the private
enterprises in the system and the state has no economic role.
This concept was originated in the famous work of Adan Smith-
Wealth of Nations(1776).
 State Economy: It is the economy where the decision
production, distribution, supply and price is solely taken by
the state.
 Mixed Economy: It is the economy where some elements of
the economy is controlled by the state and rest of the
elements are regulated by the market. In other way, it can be
said that it is the combination of capitalist economy and state
economy.
 National Income: Income of the Nation can be calculated in
four ways: GDP, NDP, GNP, NNP, which is also a subject in
‘National Income Accounting’.
 GDP: Gross Domestic Product is the value of all the final
goods and services produced within the boundary of the
nation during the period of one year. It is the summation
of national private consumption, gross investment,
government spending and trade balance.
 NDP: Net Domestic Product(NDP) is the GDP minus the
depreciation of the goods and services produced.
 GNP: Gross National Product is the summation of the
GDP of a nation and the income of the nation from
outside of the nation. GNP indicates both the
quantitative and qualitative aspect of economy.
 NNP: Net National Product (NNP) is the GNP minus the
depreciation of the economy.
 Inflation: Inflation is the quantitative measure of the increase
in the general price level of goods and services which results in
the decreasing of the purchasing power per unit of a currency.
 Stagflation: Stagflation is the situation of an economy when
inflation and unemployment both are at higher levels that is
opposite to the conventional situation. The conventional belief
is that a trade-off exist between inflation and unemployment
rate according to Phillips Curve.
 GDP Deflator: It is the measure of price behaviour. It is the
ratio of GDP at current price and GDP at constant price.
 Fiscal Policy: The policy in which the nation’s economy is
regulated and monitored by government’s adjustment in
spending and taxation.
 Monetary Policy: The policy in which price stability and money
supply and inflation rate regulation is taken by the central bank
of a country to achieve the macroeconomic objectives.
 Cash Reserve Ratio: Cash Reserve Ratio is the mandatory
percentage of share a bank has to keep with the Reserve Bank
of India in liquid cash to combat the inflation and keep the
liquidity in check.
 SLR: Statutory Liquidity Ratio is the share of a bank’s deposits
kept with RBI in the form of Liquid assets to ensure bank’s
solvency and money flow in the economy.
 Bank Rate: Based on the monetary policies, commercial banks
can borrow loans from banks from the central bank. The
interest rate charged by the RBI on these types of loans and
advances to the banks is known as bank rate.
 Repo Rate: Repo rate is the interest rate at which RBI lends
money to the banks for short term. With the help of Repo Rate,
RBI can regulate the inflation and liquidity of the economy of
the country.
 Reverse Repo Rate: Reverse Repo Rate is the rate at which
commercial banks give loans to the RBI. Reverse Repo Rate
helps to regulate the money supply in the economy.
 Direct Taxes: The tax amount levied directly on individual or
organization’s income or property by the imposing body. It is
based on the principle of ability-to-pay, which means the entity
with more resources have to pay more amount of tax.
 Indirect tax: It is the tax collected by an intermediary and paid
to the government by passing the tax burden on the consumer
buying that good or service. It is the tax imposed on the goods
and services instead on a person or organization’s income,
earning or property.
 Good and Service Tax: It is a destination based indirect tax that
is imposed on the value addition at each stage till final sale to
the consumer. It has replaced many indirect taxes in India. The
Goods and Services are divided into five tax slabs for the
collection of the tax: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.
 Corporate Competitions
There are various corporate and academic competitions
which you will be able to participate once you join IIM
Trichy.

Some of the prominent competitions are:

 Mahindra War Room

 Amazon Ace

 Yes Bank Transformation series

 L&T Out Think

 ICICI Bank Beat the curve

 References

 Heizer J., Render B., Munson C., & Sachin A., 12th edition,
Operations Management
 Anderson, Sweeney, Williams Camm & Cochran, 12th
edition, Statistics for Business and Economics
 Investopedia
 KPMG Lean Six Sigma Advisory
 http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/jmisotal/BoS.pdf
 https://www.kbmanage.com/concept/reverse-supply-
chain-reverse-logistics
 www.inc.com
 www.sumhr
 www.whatishumanresource.com
 www.techopedia.com
 www.hrcouncil.ca
 www.teamtechnology.co.uk
 www.analytictech.com
 www.simplypsychology.org
 https://hbr.org/2015/05/what-is-strategy-again
 https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy
 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp
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