A popular myth among people nowadays is that if they will go for MBA with marketing as specialization, they will end up doing only a sales job. Every day I find some other person posting a query in various educational forums whether he should take finance or any other course  as he do not want to make sales as their career.

What is marketing? According to Mr Philip Kotler,

“Marketing activities, are those activities which makes the work of sales force redundant”.

Well the definition makes it clear that sale is just a part of marketing and it has many other components also. The question is what are the relevant jobs available for the rest of the components of marketing? Let us see these options one by one:

Advertising

In marketing advertising refers to any paid form of non personal presentation & promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

Account Manager – An Account Executive maintains relationships and favorable contacts with current and potential advertising accounts. They spend time developing relationships in order to acquire new accounts.

Advertising Manager – An Advertising Manager develops, implements, and manages the company’s advertising strategy, both from a business, sales and technical perspective. It is their job to Initiate and manage discussion and sales with sponsor and agencies.. They are generally responsible for managing a group of advertising sales representatives.

Media Buyer – A Media Buyer is responsible for purchasing media space or time.

Brand Management

Brand Management is a communication function that includes analysis and planning on how that brand is positioned in the market, which target public the brand is targeted at, and maintaining a desired reputation of the brand. The various jobs in this field are

Brand Manager – A brand manager monitors market trends and oversees advertising and marketing activities to ensure the right message is delivered for their product or service.

They work closely with many teams, including product developers, researchers, marketing personnel and creative agencies to make sure their company brand values and image are followed. They work both for consultancies and in-house marketing departments.

Product Manager – Product managers plan, develop, and direct the marketing efforts for a particular brand or product.

Product Development Manager – A Product Development Manager specializes in the development and planning. They are responsible for finding opportunities in the marketing of consumer products

Market Research

Market research, which includes social and opinion research, is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organizations using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making.

Research Analyst – A Market Analyst collects and analyzes data to evaluate existing and potential product and service markets. It is their responsibility to identify and monitor competitors and research market conditions or changes in the industry that may affect sales.

Business Analyst – BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, proposes the following definition of a business analyst: “An internal consultancy role that has responsibility for investigating business systems, identifying options for improving business systems and bridging the needs of the business with the use of IT.

Public Relation

The role of people working in this field is to often write press releases to promote new products or to keep the investment community informed of business partnerships, financial results, or other company news. If they are based out of media relations they will spend their time responding to information requests from journalist or pitch stories to the media. The various jobs in this field are.

Corporate Communication Manager – A Corporate Communications Manager creates, implement and oversee communications programs that effectively describe and promote the organization and its products. They often assist in the preparation of presentations and/or speeches geared toward employees and consumers.

Public Relation Specialist – A Public Relation Specialist prepares and disseminates information regarding an organization through newspapers, periodicals, television and radio and other forms of media

Retail Management

Managing the activities that involve selling goods and services to consumers for their Personal, Family or Household use. The profile which we can get in this field is

Store Manager – He is the person ultimately responsible for the day-to-day operations (or management) of a retail store. All employees working in the store report to the store manager.

Event Management

Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event. Post-event analysis and ensuring a return on investment have become significant drivers for the event industry.

Event Management – Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects of an event.

Event Manager – The event manager is the person who plans and executes the event. Event managers and their teams are often behind-the-scenes running the event.

Online Marketing

This type of marketing uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. The jobs involves

Digital Marketing Manager – Develop and implement digital marketing strategies & campaigns with focus on revenue growth and ROI. Manage key marketing channels.

Social Media Manager – Manages the content on Social media and also run campaigns with a focus on revenue growth and ROI.

This is only a small list of job opportunities that one can get after doing MBA in marketing. This is such a huge field that if I start writing about each and every profile, it will become a book instead of an article. So next time when you are confused whether to take marketing or not as you do not want to stick in a sales job, just read this article, it might help you a little bit.

Contributed by Prachi Tewari (Batch 2013, IBS Hyderabad)

IBS Bangalore celebrated their Covocation 2013 on 6th July, 2013.

Shown below is a gallery of images, showcasing the event.

Oil, the ‘black gold’ as many people call it, is the most valuable three letter word today. Speaking about India, nearly one – third of the country’s energy supply comes from Oil and it is a heart of the country’s economy. It is interesting to know that in 2011, the domestic work force serving the oil and gas industry numbered 141929 to be precise. Out of this total manpower resource, the majority were employed in the ‘oil Marketing Sector’, followed by ‘exploration and production sector’ and the ‘refining sector’.

To make the picture clear let us have a look at the major players in the Indian oil sector:-

1. Upstream Companies or exploration and production companies: ONGC, Oil India Limited, Reliance India Limited, Essar Oil Limited, Cairn Energy and many more.
2. Downstream Companies or Oil Marketing companies : IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, Reliance Industries Limited, Essar Oil Limited, Shell and others.
3. Transportation and Retail Companies: Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), IOCL, Shell etc.

Oil and gas companies today offer exciting opportunities to young graduates, post graduates, and experienced professionals. Private companies like Shell, Reliance and Essar hire ‘Graduate Trainees’ as well as ‘Management trainees’ from various institutes across the nation and impart them with necessary ‘training and development’ programmes and technical skills. On the other hand, companies like ONGC and IOCL have entrance examinations for fresher’s as well as experienced candidates and also hire on ‘contractual’ basis. Further details on vacancies and opportunities are available on their respective websites.

Some of the key benefits of being employed in the Indian Oil and Gas sector are:-

1. Oil and Gas sector is the back bone of the country’s economy as well as the world economy.
2. High level of International exposure by working in private companies.
3. High level of employee involvement and best pay packages as compared to any other industry.
4. Exciting new opportunities in the form of Shale oil and Shale gas. Once, Shale production starts in India, It will create more jobs and newer opportunities. To know more about shale: http://www.oilandgasiq.com/gas-oil-production-and-operations/columns/exploring-th-potential-of-shale-oil-gas-in-india/
5. Great ways to network with experts and other professionals through various seminars, trade shows and Conferences.
6. A better work – life balance as compared to other industries.

India today stands on a crucial juncture, the Oil and gas sector being the most critical and important part of its economy. It is entirely up to us, whether to be a part of it or not!

Gaurav Agnihotri, an alumnus of IBS Mumbai (Batch 2009-11) has also written a book on Oil, titled:

“Oil – Past, present, future – An Indian Perspective”.

About the Book: Oil, ‘the black gold’ as many people call it, is the most valuable three letter word today. Nearly one third of India’s energy supply comes from Oil and it is a heart of the country’s economy. This book is a one stop reference point for students, professionals and anyone who wants to know the nature, the future and history of the most valuable asset of the world today. The book has been written in simple language and the concepts are easy to grasp. A common man, who wants to know more about Oil and is inquisitive, should find his answers through this book which has been published by New Delhi Publishers.

The Book can be pre-ordered on E-Bay through this link:-

http://www.ebay.in/itm/200931761266?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649#ht_500wt_1156

The official Facebook page for the book is: https://www.facebook.com/gaurav81184

For further reading, check out his column on ‘Shale in India’ in ‘OilandgasIQ.com’:
http://www.oilandgasiq.com/gas-oil-production-and-operations/columns/exploring-th-potential-of-shale-oil-gas-in-india/ 

Talk to people who want a career in Analytics and one of the first questions they will ask is – ‘how can I have a career in Analytics with no access to softwares like SAS , SPSS etc.??  And my answer is – have you looked at excel 2010 and its capabilities w.r.t analytics? If you are like 80% of the population, the answer is ‘no way’. Excel 2010 ? ?

Let’s do a quick check of our old Excel in its not so new ‘avatar’ – Excel 2010 . As a spread sheet , each worksheet can hold 1,048,576 rows of data and 16,384 columns of data, way up from the 60,000 rows and approximate 110 columns in the excel of old.

There are 403 functions and we can now have 255 arguments in a function and nest 64 levels of functions per formula. So, complex customised calculations become easy.  This makes data cleaning and massaging very easy. You have a plethora of text and numeric functions and lots of date related calculations that can be done, which rival softwares like SAS, SPSS etc. Once the data is in the right form for the project , you can add-in the Analysis toolpak. This contains a set of 19 wizard driven statistical processes to use – from Descriptive stats to Annova to Regression. A judicious use of the functions and formulae and the Analysis toolpak will allow you to get nearly all the commonly used outputs for business decision making.

And then the power pivot free download is a great add-in. This increases the BI capabilities of excel multi folds and allows for merging data from various sources and manipulating the data It uses DAX – Data Analysis Expressions – which is a language that enables more complex grouping and calculations and thus, better analysis . (You can read more about this and download it from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff452206.aspx)

On the data visualisation front , the new features of Sparklines – which are graphs in a cell and give a very quick and ready reading of trends – is a very user  and analysis friendly addition . Since these can be used along with pivot tables, the utility is immense. It is very easy to summarise and draw conclusions to segment the reports that you will create.

Recording and using recorded Macros is much more robust in this edition of excel, ensuring that even non- coders (VBA coders) can use Macros for repetitive tasks, formatting and generation of standard codes.  Simplifying and standardising helps you to move to the next level analysis and spend more time in validation and conclusions rather than preparation.

Sounds good? Yes, and feels very good too. Try it out to get a closer look to this old and free application that we have taken for granted.

This use-ability has led to companies building paid add-ins that work on excel and my favourite is XLSTAT. As the name suggests, it simplifies the more complex statistical processes and makes them button driven . So doing a factor analysis , pareto , decision tree, cluster analysis and logistic regression becomes that much more easier .

You , of course, have to remember that excel is a competent tool for analysis but the conceptual understanding has to be built by you . Thus, the success of the project will depend on your knowledge of the subject and  ability to use the tool

With an extensive online help and many forums dedicated to it, Excel 2010 has finally ‘arrived’!! I strongly believe in the potential of this software and the easy accessibility just adds to its charms .

So all you potential analysts out there – pull up your boots and get cracking …

 

About the Author /  Profile – Subhashini Sharma Tripathi

An alumnus if IBS (2002 pass out), Subhashini has a decade of experience across roles in Analytics in Retail Finance and Banking. These roles have been across Risk Management , Collections strategy , Fraud Control and Marketing in  GE Money, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Motors Finance and Citi GDM . Her area of interest is the integration of results / outputs of Analytics with Business Decisions – Tactics and Strategy.

She is currently active in the Analytics Training and Consulting arena. For a discussion on careers and training programmes in Analytics you can contact her at 9731107798, subhashinitripathi@yahoo.com.

(Link to LinkedIn profile – http://in.linkedin.com/pub/subhashini-s-tripathi/3/405/77b )

 

Following a slew of leaks and rumours Apple has finally announced the launch of its eagerly-awaited iPhone 5S and the lower-priced iPhone 5C smartphones at a special event held at its Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday 10^th September, 2013.

This particular launch was a trending topic on social media for weeks preceding the launch as the rumours had predicted a ‘cheaper’ Apple iPhone. With the smartphone industry poised to grow greater than ever, the gizmo pundits had predicted that Apple would come out with a cheaper iPhone, to counter competition from Samsung, HTC and other Android based phone manufacturers.

Here in India, the expectation was that Apple would finally launch a phone that’s priced below 25K and steal precious market share from the ever popular Samsung and emerging Micromax, Nokia etc.

Well Apple chose not to do that.

Sticking true to its premium positioning, the new phones were priced as lavishly as the previous iPhones. The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5C without a contract has been priced at $549 in the US. That comes out to a bulky INR 35,000 at current exchange rates. Adding to this the iPhone 5C is only $100 lesser than the iPhone 5S, making us question the need for this cheaper Apple, which isn’t cheap at all!

The only selling point for the iPhone 5C seems to be the various colours it is available in. However, Nokia and HTC were quick to jump on the twitter bandwagon and make few interesting claims.

While Nokia is clearly mocking Apple for introducing various colours for the iPhone 5C, as Nokia was a pioneer with the Lumia series of its smartphones having many attractive colours, much like the latest Apple iPhone.

HTC is taking on the design fundamentals of Apple, claiming that only the iPhone components have been upgraded whereas serious innovation is lacking. HTC went on to run a campaign where users can exchange their iPhone devices for minimum $150 rebate on a new HTC One. In a cut-throat environment like the present smartphone industry, these types of rants and ridicules are becoming more and more commonplace.

Coming back to Apple, the iPhone 5C however does seem to be a masterstroke. With everyone expecting a cheap phone from Apple, traditional Apple lovers were very skeptic about how the brand perception might change. Switch from a Premium segment player to a mid-level player would’ve impacted Apple in a significant way! But with Samsung ruling the Smartphone market, Apple had to try and create a new market opportunity. It has done so, with the iPhone 5C.

The iPhone 5C gives the option of opting for a slightly cheaper Apple iPhone to the consumer. The loyalist will go for the 5S and the new finger print recognition that it offers, but a major group of consumers who would’ve gone for a cheaper HTC/Nokia/Samsung will now consider the colorful Apple iPhone 5C.

So will the move work? Will iPhone 5C offer a realistic substitute to some price-conscious consumers? With Nokia having been acquired recently by Microsoft, can we expect some radical twists and turns in the smartphone industry?

How these phones actually perform in the market, we will know, only in due time.

Meanwhile what do you think about the Apple 5C?

 

IBS Mumbai sponspored the BMS Academic Excellence Awards on 10th August, 2013.

100 BMS toppers across various Mumbai Colleges were felicitated by IBS Mumbai.

Guests of honour for the event were:Prof. Y K Bhushan, Mr Ehsaan Noorani (From Shanker Ehsaan Loy Trio) & Prof. Rita Rangnekar.

The awards witnessed a 100% turnout of students with their parents. The event was covered by Educationtimes.com, Big 92.7 FM, Mumbai Manoos & NMTV (mumbai24).