Introduction

The past week has been a harbinger of turbulence in emerging market currencies. The Argentinean peso fell by over sixteen percent in official value against the US dollar. This has been the steepest ever since Argentina had defaulted on its debt in 2002.This triggered an erosion of confidence in other emerging markets. The Turkish Lira plummeted to record lows, and the South African rand too weakened. Two external macroeconomic linkages that were responsible for weakening of currencies are the uncertainty of Fed tapering, and concerns about global growth in general and China in particular. In comparison the Indian Rupee has not been affected as severely due to the proactive stance of the policy makers.

China

The recent PMI data which is recorded below fifty indicates economic contraction due to slowdown of manufacturing sector in the Chinese economy.  The  decision  of  China  to  shift   from  investment  led  growth  to  consumption led  growth   over  a  period  of time too would  have a global impact. The  fastest growing  economy  in  the world has  had a massive  appetite   for  commodities, and has seen  fastest  growth in imports from the commodity complex’ of  metals and  energy in the past decades. These commodities were funneled into its infrastructure and manufacturing sector. This was financed by underpriced massive loans from its state run banking sector, leading to huge accumulation of debt. The export growth  rates of China on  account  of slowing  of USA  and  Europe after  2008  crisis have  been  declining. In addition its   increasing debt overhang has forced its policy makers to  veer  their gigantic  economy towards consumption led  growth .The  commodity  exporting   emerging  nations  have  seen  a  fall off in  their exports, especially to China. Current Account deficits are widening   putting   a pressure on their currency fuelling   inflationary pressures. All this series of events are coinciding with Fed tapering of QE3.

Federal Reserve Tapering

On May 22nd, 2013 that the word ‘taper’ entered the lexicon of capital markets when the Federal Reserve chairman Mr. Bernanke first broached the possibility of tapering QE3 (Quantitative Easing, 3rd Tranche). Markets across the world panicked, emerging economies struggling with unsustainable current account deficits were the hardest hit. Indian rupee for instance fell from Rs. 54 to the dollar to nearly Rs. 68 against the dollar. This negatively impacted equity and bond markets as foreign investors with ETF allocations fled.  Bond markets saw the sharpest outflows. The panic reaction from markets sobered the Fed. The Fed in its wisdom in a surprise move, decided to postpone the taper in September, without outlining a time frame. Consequently markets rebounded and rose to touch historically highs by December across the world. It seemed  the  markets  had  forgotten  that  this  was  just  a temporary  measure.  However as the US economy continued to gather steam and a budget balancing deal was struck. Any uncertainty surrounding the fiscal and monetary framework got removed. The positive momentum of US economy prompted the Fed to announce a 10 billion dollar taper in QE 3 program in January 2014.

India’s preparedness

In May 2013,  after Fed  indicated  the  possibility   of  tapering ,  India  was in  dire  straits. The  three  pressure  points  that  emerged were the unsustainable current  account  deficit (which had risen to 4.8% of GDP);  the possibility  of  a ratings  downgrade by international credit rating agencies to junk;  and lack of adequate foreign  exchange reserves to  fight  a  speculative attack on  the rupee. The finance minister vowed to maintain the path of fiscal consolidation and bring down the fiscal deficit to below 5% of GDP. Various cuts in plan and non-plan expenditure have been instituted It was around the same time that a change of guard was happening in the RBI. The new incoming RBI governor, with the finance minister rolled out several measures to setup a bulwark against these pressure points.

RBI instituted several measures to protect the currency, these were 

·         Current Account Deficit Management

Oil and gold were the main factors   causing the ballooning deficits. Import duties on gold were hiked, and later a proportion of the quantity of imports were tied to exports. Petrol prices were decontrolled fully and diesel partially to partially pass on international prices to the domestic consumer, thereby lessening subsidies, and allowing elasticity to play a part in controlling consumption. This led to improvement in CAD as can be seen in graph 1.  In 2012-13 it stood at 4.8% of GDP but after the measures fell to 1.2% of GDP

Graph 1:  India’s Current Account Deficit as a Percentage of GDP

·         Shoring up of Forex Reserves

Limits on foreign borrowings were eased for corporate as a start, then, the RBI came out with a program to bring in dollars through the FCNR (Foreign Currency Non Resident) route. Banks were encouraged to raise hard currency deposits, and the RBI subsidized the hedging costs of these deposits at 3.5%, whereas the market prevailing rate was double that. Limits on FII investment in rupee debt were also liberalized.

·         Curtailing speculation

RBI squeezed liquidity in the domestic market to prevent easy liquidity from being leveraged to speculate on the forex markets. Short term interest rates were hike by 300% at the MSF (Marginal Standing Facility). Quantitative limits were placed on banks borrowing at the repo level. These steps stemmed the outflow of foreign currency, bolstered our own reserves, and instilled some confidence in foreigners on their India investments. The FCNR swap itself brought in 34 billion US Dollars into the country. The  danger of rating down grade too was averted by promise of continued  reduction in fiscal deficits, further  easing  of  bond  investment  limits  among  several  others . Due to these measures, and the Fed’s decision to postpone tapering, confidence in India rebounded. FII investments came in, and the rupee rebounded. Today, India’s foreign exchange reserves are comfortable. As  can  be seen in graph 2 ,   Foreign  Exchange  reserves  which  had  started  dipping  after   FED  announcement  started  bolstering  up.

Graph 2:  Indian Foreign exchange Reserves ( US  billion  dollars)

Conclusion

It seemed markets became too sanguine about having factored in the Fed tapering. Last Wednesday, when the Argentina’s currency crisis exploded and spread the contagion to other countries, the markets became jittery. The Indian rupee, in contrast stood at 62.66 against the U.S. Dollar.  The  laudatory  efforts  of  our  new  RBI  governor  to bolster the economic  defenses  against the  depreciating  currency in  2013  need  to  be  acknowledged.  It  has  been  because  of  these  efforts  that India  has  been  comparatively  less  affected till date. It  might hence be construed  and  hoped that India will not be  dramatically  affected  by  the  current  currency  crisis  enveloping   the emerging  nations.

Contributed by Prof. Sarika Rachuri (Faculty, IBS Mumbai)

With the BRIC economies gradually becoming irrelevant, a new group of emerging economies has caught the attention of the investors. The MIST nations — Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey — are the four biggest markets in the Goldman Sachs equity fund named GSYAX. These economies more than doubled in size in the past decade overtaking Germany last year. The common parameters that put these economies together are a large population, significant share of global GDP and common membership of G -20.

Jim O’Neill , of Goldman Sachs who coined the new acronym  said “ the MIST nations each account for at least 1 percent of global GDP and are likely to see that share increase this decade” Of the four countries, O’Neill said Mexico and Turkey have the most potential. Although the MIST nations have outperformed the BRIC nations by growth rate, they are much smaller in comparison to the BRICS in absolute size or population. Total GDP for the MIST nations was $3.9 trillion in 2012, which is less than one third of the $13.5 trillion BRIC economies. China alone had a GDP of 7.3 trillion according to Bloomberg. The MIST nations also have less than 500 million people, compared with a population size of 2.9 billion in the BRIC nations.

Despite being smaller in size, all the MIST nations have a stable domestic consumption with significant investment in infrastructure. Internet and mobile usage has significantly increased in these economies. All four economies ranked higher than the BRIC countries on the Geneva-based World Economic Forum’s 2012 trade openness index.

South Korea was ranked 34 out of 132 and Indonesia 58th. By contrast the earlier giants like Russia was much lower in position 112 and India at 100. The strengths of these nations are low labour costs especially in Mexico, a growing retail and manufacturing industry and strong exports. Mexico, Latin America’s second-biggest economy, recorded huge auto exports which helped it to outpace Brazil for a second year. This was in spite of a slow Chinese market. Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Although GDP per capita is only $4,880, Indonesia has potential domestic market with a strong middle class. Indonesia’s economic growth accelerated to 6.37%last year. It was fuelled by increase in domestic spending and investment. Indonesia has an added strength of being a financial centre for many Investment banks, as well as a growing energy sector. In Turkey, double digit growth in exports due to an increased focus on Africa and Middle East has helped generate growth.  A strong pool of entrepreneurial talent has diversified the Turkish economy. Turkey also has a strategic position of being a natural bridge between Europe and Asia. Turkey also boasts of tourism as a major revenue earner and its unsaturated markets are a hot destination for the FDI. The fastest growing economy in this group is South Korea with a per capita GDP of $ 27,000. South Korea has emerged as one of the fastest growing nations of OECD with a strong focus on R&D and retail. South Korea stands a little differently than the other three nations on parameters such as demographics, development and growth. South Korea was an emerging market almost twenty years ago and hence its inclusion in the group is debatable. South Korea lacks the young population of the other economies. Only 16% of the population is below the age group of 15 compared to 25% in the other MIST nations. However South Korea’s growth trajectory has been sharper than all the other three countries making it a role model.

Although the initial exuberating with the MIST economies is justified, the future projection needs to be realistic. The challenges to the MIST nations are varied. While Mexico faces the highest rate of corruption and organized crime, Indonesia faces a very complex regulatory environment and insufficient infrastructure.  South Korea’s aging population makes it heavily reliant on exports and thus vulnerable to global cycles. Turkey on the other hand faces a large current account deficit despite a growing tourism industry. Mexico suffers from sluggish investment, high vulnerability to global disturbances and high interest rates. The IMF projects the Mexican economy to grow 3 percent next year. According to IMF , Indonesia’s economic growth will slow to between 5 percent and 5.5 percent in 2014 -15 , compared with 6.2 percent last year .The Current account deficit is also expected to widen to 3.5% of GDP . Suitable fiscal and monetary policies in Turkey have stabilized growth rates to 3.8% although the current account deficits have increased and inflation is outside tolerance limits. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down the 2014 growth outlook for South Korea, due to exposure to global economic downturn.

Despite these reality checks, each of the MIST countries has potential for growth. The BRIC economies are plagued by excessive dependence on global demand especially China and Brazil. The high costs and administrative obstacles dissuade the foreign investor. Country specific issues such as lack of infrastructure in Brazil and India, the authoritative regime in Russia and the vulnerability of China speak of insufficient attention to the investor. In contrast, the cost advantage in manufacturing seen in Mexico, the young population in Turkey with the strong services sector, and the size of the domestic market in Indonesia are catalysts for future growth. With appropriate fiscal and monetary policies any mist on these countries’ future can be removed and the new bloc of emerging economies can satiate the investors’ appetite.

Contributed by Prof.Swaha Shome and Prof. Davinder Suri (Faculty, IBS Mumbai)

When you decide to take up the post-graduate program in management, you are faced with several issues including:

• the choice of B-school from among the several available options
• the choice and availability of your electives for specialization at the B-school of your choice
• the placement track record of the B-school
• the industry interface of the shortlisted B-schools
• the teaching methodology used
• the presence of well-qualified and experienced faculty
• the infrastructure
• the industry perception of your choice of B-school and
• the fee structure

In addition to the above parameters, there is yet another area that needs your attention.You need to decide upon the geographical location, from where you want to pursue the MBA program with respect to the professional avenues it holds for you. With many business schools having their presence in different cities across the country, you may find yourself confused over your choice of B-school and its respective location.

Prior to your zeroing-in on a location for pursuing the management program, you must be clear about your prospects from the MBA program and how it will equip you to achieve your goals in life. To help you take this decision, let us focus on the implications that the geographic location of a business school can have on your career path and professional as well as personal growth.

Some locations hold more relevance from the placements perspective based on different industry verticals. Some studies and researches have indicated that cities located in Western India may offer better opportunities when it comes to overseas placements particularly in the Middle-East.For individuals aspiring to take up positions with the global firms in the overseas business environment, the cities of Mumbai and Pune emerge as the most desired places. Pune offers ample professional avenues in the IT industry to give your career the needed head-start.It also has a number of automobile companies, especially the leading car manufacturers of the world.

If you are willing to study international business as a specialized discipline during the course of your management program, Mumbai, being a port city, could be a good choice that can help you secure a job offer in the global market. Likewise, if your interest lies in making a career in finance, Mumbai, the financial capital of India, is the perfect destination for you to give your profession the much needed boost. Also, with the major players in the corporate segment headquartered in Mumbai, it has evolved as a centre abounding in finance jobs catering to different management levels.

Information technology (IT) as a management specialization is the foremost choice of the aspirants, especially when they come from a background in Information Technology, such as Bachelor in Computer Applications or an engineering degree in computer science. Bangalore, also known as the IT hub of India, gives you the chance to explore the immense potential that it has with a sizeable presence of leading software companies in the city. The capital city of Karnataka will give you ample opportunities to tap your technical talent. Moreover, this IT city offers you the chance to be employed with a small entrepreneurial venture in a challenging role, or be a part of the large software enterprise having a firm hold in the market.

Dubbed as the cyber city of India, Hyderabad is another important destination with respect to the prospects and potential it holds for the aspirants looking forward to a role in the Information Technology industry.These IT cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad have emerged as the most sought after places with respect to the various employment avenues they offer in the IT industry and the quality of work culture, according to recent trends.

There may be some who, after completion of their management program, would like to explore the career choices in the manufacturing sector. Getting an opportunity to be employed with a manufacturing plant gives you a chance to see and understand the processes involved in the different units of the plant. Moreover, your knowledge of project management can come in handy in planning, scheduling, risk management, quality management, quality assurance and quality control of the various manufacturing processes.

Ahmedabad, being one of the highly industrialized cities of Gujarat, unlocks a world of opportunities for you to exploit your competencies in different verticals of the manufacturing sector,which include textiles, chemicals, fertilizers, electrical engineering, petrochemicals, and cement. Another location which has emerged as the industrial hub of north India is Gurgaon in Haryana. An important part of the National Capital Region (NCR), the city surely holds promises for those interested in making a career in the manufacturing industry with an increasing number of industries setting up their manufacturing units here.

Another pertinent issue that may come in the way of your thought process while choosing the right geographical location to pursue a management program is whether you want to stay closer to or away from home? There are aspirants who do not want to join a business school of repute having its campus in their native town. One of the main reasons cited for this trend is that during the two-year management program,the students get to know about different cultures and get to live and bond with students coming from different parts of the country.

Living away from home can also help imbibe a lot of confidence as you get your first lessons on self-management through your personal experiences. After all, the management program is aimed at transforming your inherent characteristics into the most preferred attributes of the business market, self-confidence being an important aspect of your personality. Staying away from your home or city also helps to widen your horizons through a learning experience with respect to the prevalent cultures and customs of your country.

So, we can conclude that your choice of the geographic location of a B-school can have long-term implications on your career.If you base your decision on your interest areas for the various industry verticals, it can go on to be a stepping stone to success in your corporate endeavours. So, think, analyse, prioritize, and then decide which city should be the best possible option for you to pursue the management program.

 

Five currencies have been named by Morgan Stanley as the ‘Fragile Five’ – the Brazilian real, the Indonesian rupiah, the South African rand, the Indian rupee, and the Turkish lira. The ‘Fragile Five’ economies are finding it increasingly difficult to attract foreign capital to finance trade deficits hence appear to be vulnerable to the much anticipated tapering of the Fed. High inflation, weakening growth, large external deficits, high dependence on fixed income inflows and also slowing down of China, make these economies and therefore currencies vulnerable.

The fragility appears in the emerging economies at large. This can be attributed to the sudden divergence in growth rates of the emerging economies and the developed economies. With the U.S. growing at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013, with the manufacturing and employment figures moving north and strong, with the purchasing managers’ index for U.S. jumping to 57 percent in January 2014, the world has a stronger and power packed U.S. dollar.   The currency market has also witnessed surprising gains in Japan’s yen, the Swiss franc and the Euro. Compare this to developing-nation industrial output being at a four-year low with China’s slowdown cutting demand for everything from Brazilian iron ore to Malaysian palm oil. Emerging countries accounted for nine of the 10 worst performers among 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, 54 percent of companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Index of stocks have reported second-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ forecasts compared with 35 percent for members of the developed-economy MSCI World Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

All the emerging economies are vulnerable to the fears of capital outflows after the Fed’s tapering. The ‘Fragile Five’ have been hand picked from amongst the already vulnerable lot. These are the five emerging economies with weak fundamentals, especially those with “twin deficits” in their budgets and current accounts, weak growth rate compounded by one more common factor that adds to their vulnerability that is the imminent scheduled elections. This last element in the list of weaknesses draws the common thread in the ‘Fragile Five’ that brings in the risk in the economic environment leaving them exposed to tapering.

Brazil has been slow in bracing itself for the tapering. It is already burdened with a growing government budget deficit and inflation. Brazil has resorted to using price controls on fuel to arrest inflation. Brazilian real had fallen by more than 15 percent each since the Fed’s announcement in May 2013. Tough structural unpopular measures are not likely to be implemented until after the election. Easy money till recently has escalated the amount of debt where the credit to the private sector has doubled in the past five years to 50% of GDP. Any new reforms taken now will lead to a weaker currency, higher inflation and higher interest rates.

India has been worst hit in terms of its currency in August 2013 in anticipation of the Fed taper. Although fears over the impact of the taper have been assuaged through measures adopted by the Reserve Bank of India with a stringent control on gold imports, opening a  special foreign-exchange swap window to provide dollars to state-run oil refiners has taken some pressure off the rupee  coupled with a scheme designed to attract savings investment from Indian expatriates. Currently is bogged down with rising inflation and falling industrial production, persistent fiscal deficit and recently controlled current account deficit. In order to check the fiscal deficit, the planned government spending has been drastically reduced with long term repercussions on growth and unemployment. Turkey’s vulnerability stems from paucity of foreign direct investment along with low level of labour participation and a sliding savings rate. Turkey’s weakness stems from over dependence on hot money with nearly 80 percent of its current account deficit being financed by short term loans rather than foreign direct investment. This ailment is compounded by political tribulations including the country’s first presidential election on the horizon and internal hostility in the coalition.

In South Africa, the GDP to is expected to dip below 2 per cent down this year from a peak of 5.6 per cent in 2006. The situation is worsened by strikes, unemployment levels at a high of 25 per cent and high poverty rates are further compounded by a widening current account deficit of 6.8 per cent. The government has initiated austerity measures to control fiscal deficit and boost exports but the looming elections for the African National Congress bring in the element of uncertainty. The government needs to implement austerity measures along with attempts to boost growth and exports and reduce both the deficits.

The Indonesian currency has lately coming under a great deal of pressure with its current account widening to its worst since the Asian crisis of the late 1990s. The depreciated currency is partly to blame for the rising inflation. The growth rate has slowed down with the manufacturing slowing down due to high inflation, the depreciating rupiah, higher interest rates and higher minimum wages. The economy is also vulnerable to the a third of government debt being owned by the external sector. Any structural reforms will need to wait till the new government takes office in 2014.

These economies are bracing for the tapering in their individual manner with India being confident bolstered by increased foreign exchange reserves and declining current account deficit. Bank Indonesia (BI) has raised interest rates several times in the recent past, South Africa has introduced measures to control fiscal deficit, create a climate of confidence and attempted to boost exports. Of the five, Turkey seems to be the most fragile. Turkey faces turbulence not only from the political strife but also the myopic economic policies adopted by the central bank to use foreign reserves to prop up the lira rather than tighten policy.  Closely following Turkey in fragility is Brazil. It’s weakness stems from inertia with Brazilian authorities biding time until after the elections to bring in the much needed structural reforms.

The fragility of these currencies is more to do with timing of the tapering and the winds of political change. These economies have either taken smaller measures than needed or shown indecisiveness in implementing difficult structural reforms to strengthen the economy despite being aware of the Fed’s intent of initiating tapering. In times of capital flows uncertainty, the differentiating characteristic of the ‘Fragile Five’ is the difference between a surplus and deficit economy. The ‘triple deficits’ is the key differentiator making these emerging economies the ‘fragile five’ – the current account deficit,  fiscal deficit and governance deficit.

Contributed by Prof.Swaha Shome and Prof. Davinder Suri (Faculty, IBS Mumbai)

IBS is proud to announce the launch of ‘The Cat Monk’, a mobile game for iOS and Android platforms designed, developed and published by 2 Pi Interactive Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.

This company is co-founded by Prof. Surjyabrat Buragohain, Adjunct Faculty, IBS Bangalore and Siddhartha Reddy Burri an alumnus of IBS Bangalore, class of 2010.

Prof. Surjyabrat, an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, is an entrepreneur, and has co-founded three start-up companies. He is the CEO of 2 Pi Interactive Pvt. Ltd. and also mentors student entrepreneurs and start-ups. Prior to embarking on the entrepreneurial journey, Prof. Surjyabrat worked in the areas of Human Resource Management, Business Development, Financial Management and Strategic Management in the oil and gas industry in India and Singapore.

Siddhartha Reddy Burri, an avid game lover, is passionate about technology. He did his Bachelors in ECE from M.G.I.T Hyderabad and worked with VLSI systems at RCI, D.R.D.O in the field of O.B.C. (VLSI technologies) before pursuing MBA at IBS with Finance and BI (Business Intelligence) as major. He authored a research paper on ‘Quantitative Trading’ as a part of his ‘Management Research Project’ and got invited to lecture at reputed Financial Engineering Events by IEEE & WASET at China and Singapore respectively. Siddhartha is the Game Producer at 2 Pi Interactive Pvt. Ltd.

Another IBS connection to the game is Roshan Manchikalapati, an alumnus of class of 2010. After completing BBA in Advertising and Communication from INC (ICFAI National College), he joined IBS for his MBA, which unfolded a new dimension to his life with business education and opportunity to network with people who mentored him. His placement was with Shoppers Stop as an Operations Manager. Things were going quite good yet something was not good till he realized the truth that there is dreamer and gamer still alive in him and started writing a design and joined the 2 Pi team. A dreamer from childhood, a gamer from teens, and a designer by heart, Roshan is the Creative head at 2 Pi Interactive Pvt. Ltd. He is the designer of The Cat Monk.

We would like to congratulate the team for this effort, and wish them all the best for their future endeavors!

Given below are the links for the game:

1. iTunes Download Link: Apple Store link for iOS devices (iPad, iPod, iPhone)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-cat-monk-hd/id673979210?ls=1&mt=8

2. The link for GooglePlay, the Android store is:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TwoPi.TheCatMonk&hl=en

3. Popular Review Sites:


http://asia.gamespot.com/the-cat-monk-hd/reviews/

4. ‘The Cat Monk’ Facebook Page: 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cat-Monk/172130509612010

5. ‘The Cat Monk’ Twitter Page:


https://twitter.com/The_Cat_Monk

6. ‘The Cat Monk’ Youtube Video Links: Official Video Uploaded By 2Pi
Watch “The Cat Monk Official Game Play (iOS & Android)” on YouTube –

The Cat Monk

Snapshots of the team behind “The Cat Monk”, at work in 2 Pi Interactive Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.

The horizons have never been wider when young India wants to choose a career. The choices start wooing the talent even before the young citizens of India get their voting rights. The career-sphere includes well-defined careers in media, journalism, performing arts, photography, image consulting, and a bunch more than just the conventional age-old trusted options such as engineering, medical, and academic jobs.

As individuals, we might think differently and our areas of interests may vary between two extremes, with choices ranging from making a career in the field of stock broking, business management, arts, social work, politics, entrepreneurship,among a range of diverse career options. No matter what we choose, we need some professional qualification that helps us in meeting our goals faster.We look for an educational program that endows us with those must-have skills that helps us make our mark in the competitive environment.

Studies have shown that a person backed by a professional qualification stands a better chance to successfully face the challenges of the real world, compared to a graduate without a professional qualification.Consider a case in which a person after completing graduation is employed with a recruitment firm at an entry-level position. Without thorough knowledge of Human Resource Management, this person might take much longer to learn, perform and excel at work. She would need to rely more on guidance from seniors and wouldn’t be equipped to take any quick decisions that are based on HR principles and practically proven ideas.

According to some fresh management graduates, a 2-year full-time management program equipped them with the competencies required to scale new heights and set new standards in the real world.They believe that the program they went through proved to be pivotal in inculcating the right attitudes in them to face the challenges of the business world. It made them more competent in their sphere of work, taking them closer to their goals.

The teaching methodology followed in a full-time management program is primarily through experiential learning such as through case studies, which gives it a defining edge over other academic programs.Adopting a case study methodology is an effective strategy that helps in developing analytical and problem solving skills as well as finding solutions to the complex business scenarios. It also helps in developing an understanding with respect to the widely varying perspectives in which the case can be seen and the different ways by which the problem can be addressed.

Summer internship programs are also an integral part of the management education,preparing you to take up the challenges of the real world in future. Making presentations on different topics of management also helps in increasing your level of self-confidence and knowledge.

Enhancing communication and interpersonal skills are some of the important focus areas of a management program. Developing these skills make you more competent to make a good impression in business meetings and winning over the relevant stakeholders. Effective communication helps in developing and maintaining relationships that result in bringing benefits in professional as well as personal lives.

A post-graduate program in management, thus, rules the roost and has been the most sought after professional curriculum. It equips the students in a relatively short span such as two years with learning and knowledge, primarily gained from practical exposure to various simulated situations powered by real time business environment.

The MBA programproves very useful in opening up an array of choices for the aspirants to choose from, owing to the following advantages:

• Helps professionals in acquiring knowledge, getting different perspectives, and new skills.
• Offers better career prospects in the long run with the possibilities of starting your career from a middle management level position.
• Helps you to buildyour professional networkin the industry, which keeps you updated on the latest happenings in your specific field and may also help you to take hold of any opportunity that comes your way.
• Provides a holistic approach which makes you receptive to the changes in the business environment and provides you with an in-depth understanding of the business world.

Today—owing to the increasing competition in the market amongst different sectors pertaining to diverse lines of business—the need for hiring specialised personnel has also increased manifold. This has lent diversity to the management program,providing a multitude of options to choose from—depending on aspirants’ needs and convenience such as full-time curriculum, part-time and distance learning programs. There are MBA programs that are designed for working professionals who, choose to go for continuing education after gaining some work experience and without quitting work for studies.

In current market scenario, good MBA programs are much in demand and offered in almost all the major disciplines to cater to the growing need for specialized workforce,in different lines of business across all sectors and industries. To help equip the potential employers with skilled manpower, management programs are being offered in various disciplines such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Operations, Finance, Marketing, and International Business to help today’s workforce come aboard with must-have skills in this age of cut-throat competition.

One of the most important decisions you need to take is to zero in on a management college that will help you in realizing your dreams. With an upsurge in the demand for management education, the number of management colleges mushrooming everywhere in India,has gone up. Hence you need to make a conscious choice with regard to the respective college and the field of specialization that you want to pursue, which will play a critical role in taking you one step closer to your dreams in the long run.

Today, a 2-year post-graduate program in management is considered the top-most choice for students ready to embark on their journey to meet the ever-changing demands of the corporate world.The increasing competition in the corporate world that has ushered in an era of skilled workforce, which in turn has increased the demand for MBA professionals because of its well-structured curriculum that gives the students learning with due focus on the practical implications to face the challenges of the business world.

Are you ready?

Most business schools today offer a variety of graduate management education degree options, MBA—delivered in part-time, full-time, executive, and online/distance degree format options to a range of specialized master’s programs. These changes in the business school market help illuminate what may be driving the shifts in who’s applying to GME programs and why application volumes on the “demand side” may be changing.

A growing share of GMAT exams is taken by individuals interested in non-MBA graduate management degrees in which a typical master’s degree candidate differs from a typical MBA candidate. Age is the greatest differentiator because younger citizens tend to exhibit the greatest interest in non-MBA master’s programs.

Women:

Chinese (65%) and Taiwanese (60%) citizens had the greatest share of exams taken by women in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Younger Talent:

GMAT testing by those younger than 25 was the greatest among Chinese citizens (81% of exams taken).

Test Taken:

The number of takers for GMAT exam by Asian citizens transcends 100,000 in TY 2012. This reflects the interest in the pattern of the exam due to the addition of the Integrated Reasoning section. Citizens of China and India combined represent 80 percent of regional testing volume in 2012, up from 65 percent in 2008.

Score Sending Pattern:

GMAT score sending patterns for all Asian citizens, who collectively sent a total of 354,996 score reports in 2012.

• Chinese- 165,374 score report sent
• Indian- 133,557
• Taiwanese- 11,570
• South Korean- 9,735
• Japanese- 6,177

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asian Countries:

China:

In 2012, the number of test takers of GMAT has reached 58,196, 45 % higher than previous year and 234 % higher than TY 2008. The share of exams taken by women grew from 60 % to 65 %, it is the highest in the region. Younger students below 25 years of age are the major test takers and it reached 81 %.

According to the last five years testing growth, which increased the share of GMAT scores, sent to the United States. Only 32 percent of scores sent were directed to MBA programs as it decreased from 50 % in 2008. This is basically due to a younger segment of test takers which are predominately interested in specialized master’s opportunities. The Top three score sending destinations were the United States, Hong Kong and Canada.

India:

In GMAT exam, the total of 30,213 Indian citizens sat in 2012 which was nearly closed to the previous year and the share of women increasing slightly to 26 percent and the share of young examinees falling slightly to 36 percent.

Indians send score reports to business schools across several world regions, as the score report sent to the United States has fallen from 64 percent to 51 percent, due to the interest has grown for programs located in India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, France and Canada.

Education Opportunities:

Citizenship

Globally, the majority of MBA programs reported increased or steady application growth from domestic applicants. Full-time two-year MBA programs were the exception—only 42 percent of these programs reported increased (35%) or steady (7%) domestic volume. Applications from foreign citizens were a source of stable or increased volume this year across a majority of all MBA program types combined. MBA programs that reported the greatest percentage increase in foreign application volume include full-time two-year (45%), full-time one-year (47%), and online MBA (51%).

Women and management

In 2012, however, a greater percentage of MBA programs reported increased application volume from women compared with 2011, moving the percentage from 31 percent of programs reporting an increase in 2011 to 43 percent of programs in 2012. Regionally, across all MBA programs, full-time one-year MBA programs in Asia (Asia-Pacific and Central Asia) (combined) reported the greatest growth in female application volume in 2012 at 77 percent, compared with 32 percent of full-time one-year MBA programs in Europe and 47 percent in the United States. Master of accounting and Master’s programme in IT — saw an increase in the percentage of women compared with last year. While last year, 56% of applications for Master of Accounting programs were by women, this year it has surged to 59%.

While only 40% of applications for Master’s in IT were from women last year, the figure has gone up to 45% this year.

Foreign Candidate pool:

Worldwide, Indian, Chinese, and United States citizens accounted for the greatest number of foreign applicants to MBA programs for 43 percent, 27 percent, and 6 percent of MBA programs, respectively. Across all of Asia, 34 percent of MBA programs indicated that Indian citizens accounted for their greatest number of foreign applications in 2012.

Subject-wise analysis

After many years of strong application volume, only 48% of Master of Finance programmes and 39% of Master of Accounting programmes reported increased or stable application volume. This contrasts sharply, when 68% of finance master’s and 81% of accounting master’s programmes recorded rising or stable application volumes. Moreover, it is for the first time in five years that a majority of these programmes (53% of finance and 60% of accounting) have reported declining application volume.

Job opportunities:

Asia tops this year’s growth in demand charts with an increase in opportunities of 20% over the past year. The increasing emergence and recognition of the MBA in Asia has seen the number of equivalent opportunities soar. This year, the growth in the number of MBA jobs in India and China stand out in particular. The trend for Asian companies, both multinational and local, to seek out MBAs as they pursue global expansion continues and shows no sign of slowing down, with an even larger 38% rise in opportunities forecasted for the coming year.

Nowhere has growth in 2013 been larger than in China, which experienced an explosive 35% rise in MBA opportunities, moving from fifth to third position in terms of the volume of job opportunities.

Meanwhile, the huge year-on-year increases in MBA jobs in India that have taken place in the past few years continue, with a 29% increase, far in excess of last year’s 16% rise.

Elsewhere, there were notable rises in the number of jobs in Asia available to MBAs in South Korea, where the presence of big multinationals like Samsung and Hyundai has fuelled a 20% increase, and even in Japan, where companies have a history of sponsoring students to pursue MBAs at Western business schools, saw a rise in demand of 17% this year.

According to Ms. Ang, NUS Business School has seen student numbers rise as a direct result of the increasing opportunities on offer. She feels that Singapore, “is widely considered to be the gateway to Asia/ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations].”

Banks in China, along with expanding professional services and consulting sectors, have all played a large part in the overall picture. Indeed, such has been the demand for MBAs that the Chinese government has set about launching its own business schools to supplement graduates returning from schools in the US and Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

The MBA degree has always made an impact on students by its different diversions in academics, its new challenges while learning and it has given an immense knowledge of the world with its new pattern.

Job opportunities in Asian countries have increased for domestic citizens and also for foreign citizens. The trend is also changing as the year passed by all new technology coming in which increases the opportunities for new entrants.

Students are keen to their secure future which if they can get in the same country so there will be less students who will pursue their career in foreign countries. This can impact on the development and growth of the country as education is the most important sector which leads to success and it can be achieved by giving all the new talent a chance to grow and change the systems which will directly help the country.

Basically, opportunities are increasing for the students to continue their studies in their own country which will enhance the growth of the country and its education system.

Contributed by Nandita Mishra (Batch 2013, IBS Hyderabad)