Intercollegiate Business Decision Competition

Intercollegiate Business Decision Contest, a great success.

Thirty students from various graduate colleges in Nagpur were selected by Octave Business School for a Business Decision Contest held on 10/1/13. These students represented various well known colleges in Nagpur such as Centre Point (BBA, BCCA), DAIMSR (BBA) and LAD (BBA).

Before the contest, these students attended special training program conducted by experts with industry experience on business fundamentals and various components of business decisions. They also had an access to mentors. The topics included types of decisions (Strategic, Organizational, and Operational); Pricing, Importance of profits, Opportunity cost, Decision Tree (Expected value), Transaction between Seller and Buyer and Customer Lifetime Value. Training method included case discussions and easy to understand business language.

On the day of competition, each team was given three business case scenarios. They had 90 minutes to discuss among the team members and come out with business decisions for each scenario. Later each team presented their decisions in front of judges and Octave students. Each team was evaluated based on various parameters such as Negotiation skills, Decision Tree, What if concepts, Opportunity Cost, Analytical Skills – Situational & Quantitative, Team coordination, and verbal and written presentation. Participating students expressed that they benefited significantly within a short time. The benefits included understanding of financial numbers, increased ability to analyze various business situations, ability to visualize various factors in a business decision scenario etc.

While all the teams performed well, the first prize of Rs 5,000 was won by the team from DAIMSR (BBA) College. Octave Business School plans to conduct more such contests in next few months. 

Business Decision Contest at OCTAVE Business School

Final year students benefit from Business Decision Contest

Thirty students from various graduate colleges in Nagpur were selected by Octave Business School for a Business Decision Contest held on 23rd Dec 2012 at OCTAVE premises. These students represented various well known colleges in Nagpur such as Centre Point (BBA, BCCA), Ambedkar (BBA) and KDM (B.Com, BCCA). 

Before the contest, these students attended special training program conducted by experts with industry experience on business fundamentals and various components of business decisions. They also had an access to mentors. The topics included types of decisions (Strategic, Organizational, Operational); Pricing, Importance of profits, Opportunity cost, Decision Tree (Expected value), Transaction between Seller and Buyer and Customer Lifetime Value. Training method included case discussions and easy to understand business language. 

On the day of competition, each team was given three business case scenarios. They had 90 minutes to discuss among the team members and come out with business decisions for each scenario. Later each team presented their decisions in front of judges and Octave students. Each team was evaluated based on various parameters such as Negotiation skills, Decision Tree, What if concepts, Opportunity Cost, Analytical Skills – Situational & Quantitative, Team coordination, and verbal and written presentation. 

Participating students expressed that they benefited significantly within a short time. The benefits included understanding of financial numbers, increased ability to analyze various business situations, ability to visualize various factors in a business decision scenario etc. While all the teams performed well, the first prize of Rs 5,000 was won by the team from Ambedkar (BBA) College. Octave plans to conduct more such contests in next few months. 

Nagpur companies take initiative in deploying MBA students for real work

Three fast growing companies in Nagpur namely Baidyanath Life Sciences, Puneet Super Bazar, and Rite Water (India) have selected eighteen (18) MBA students to work on real world projects at these companies under a highly successful program called Octave Business Advisory Group, or OBAG run by Octave Business School, Nagpur. Interestingly all these students are currently studying in the second semester of their PGP + MBA program at OCTAVE. Before taking up the responsibility of executing critical work for the above companies, the students prepared themselves by getting exposure to subject knowledge and practical experience of building a small business operation during their first semester under Octave Entrepreneurship Program (OEP). As a part of this unique experience, these students worked very successfully on entrepreneurship projects funded by OCTAVE. Each team was given a starting capital and were assigned mentors. Within a span of 3 months, almost all the teams generated revenues equal to four times that of the capital provided, indeed an impressive return on capital in a record time. Students gained valuable experience in connecting with potential customers, developing supplier relations, managing cash, creating marketing material and sales. Rarely MBA students reach this level of expertise and exposure within first 6 months at a business school. OBAG is first of its kind in India to be implemented by a business school. The genesis of the program is based on the real needs expressed by 100 HR managers about what they expect from fresh MBA graduates. The employers of MBA graduates have constantly complained about lack of practical knowledge among the graduates. OBAG is designed to meet the need of the industry. There are 3 stakeholders to make each project a success. Involvement of a senior manager or a director from the host company ensures that the project gets high visibility and priority inside the organization. Also, real value is in implementing the findings otherwise it would become yet another theoretical exercise. A mentor with industry experience is attached to the project. His job is to guide the team whenever they are stuck while promoting initiative taking among the team members. He also acts as a mediator between the student team and the host company director or the sponsor. Then the student teams, who are expected to be motivated, put in extra efforts and meet the objectives jointly set and accepted by all three stakeholders as above. It is a indeed a matter of pride that a business school from Nagpur has taken a lead in bringing next level of practical experience to MBA students while contributing significantly to local industries.

NMMMA organizes expert session on business guidance for members

Nagpur: 14^th October 2012

Nagpur Mill and Machinery Merchant’s Association  (NMMMA) has launched an initiative to provide interaction with business experts for its members. NMMMA members include more than 150 small and medium sized industrial dealers and distributors from Nagpur The first session was organized at Hotel Woodlands, Gandhi Bag on 6^th October 2012. Mr. Chandra Bhople, Director of Octave Business School responded to various real life business challenges faced by the members. Mr Viraj Sathe, Secretary of NMMMA welcomed the speaker. The session was conducted in both English and Hindi. More than 80 members attended this 2 hour session which was followed by dinner. The questions were related to marketing, operations and personal work-life balance. Mr Bhople provided practical yet easy to implement solutions for challenges. In marketing these included how to quickly assess credit standing of a customer company, how to build brand loyalty to assure growing sales, how to acquire new customers, and how to promote products. On the operations side he addressed questions such as maintaining right levels of inventory, and how to control absenteeism of employees. He discussed an easy approach of time management for balancing work and personal life. He strongly recommended that the next generation should get good education and grow family business. Mr. Kamal Chokhani, President of NMMMA summarized the session by saying that the members should develop habit of analyzing business situations before taking actions.

CEO of Easypack Software guides Octave Business School  students

14^th October 2012, Nagpur:

 

During the program “ Interaction with CEOs”, Mr. Arun Saxena shared his journey as an entrepreneur with management students of Octave Business School. After completing his education in Computer Science from BITS Pilani, Mr Saxena took a plunge in entrepreneurship in early 1980s by starting a software services company in Nagpur. Those days there were very few technology entrepreneurs. He shared how his strong desire to create employment helped him overcome initial business and personal challenges. Students realized that one must have a specific objective of higher level to keep oneself going through ups and downs of any new business. He emphasized need to get working experience in relevant field and function to prepare oneself to become an entrepreneur. Otherwise lot of time is wasted during early stages of a new business. In particular the knowledge about how to change one’s approach as a company gets bigger was of immense value to all attendees. According to him, during very early stages passion, Perseverance, Will power and Experience are important. When the company has 10 employees then Team, Technology and Skills become important. For a company which has 50 employees, Time, Money and People management are important. At 200 employees, visibility and effective communication become critical. Later at 1,000 employees, Total Quality Management and an approach of Plan-Do-Check-Act are key factors. He gave an open invitation to Octave students to meet him at his office for any further guidance. 

OCTAVE students receive guidance from Managing Director of 

Ankur Seeds

7^th October 2012, Nagpur:

Students from Octave Business School, Nagpur received invaluable guidance from Mr. M G Shembekar, MD, Ankur Seeds private Limited.  As a part of “Interaction with CEOs’ series launched by Octave, students get an opportunity to interact with accomplished business leaders from the region. Mr. Shembekar shared the journey of Ankur Seeds over last 40 plus years through various challenges and eventual emergence as a national player. In particular, the fact that the original founding team stayed together was very fascinating for the students. They appreciated the power of good team to build a successful business. Students asked number of questions and were impressed with the answers they received. Some of the learning by students was maintaining transparency among the working of team members, creating products as per the needs of customers, avoidance of diluting business focus, importance of timely capital, not taking an easy option during financial crisis, importance of dealer loyalty, providing high quality, consistent pricing and information to the farmers. Students understood the need to have as much practical experience as possible to be successful in business. Mr Shembekar’s message to students was to have courage to become entrepreneurs and take calculated risks. He suggested that instead of becoming job seeker, try to become be a job giver. The session was an inspiration to Octave students as many of them aspire to become entrepreneurs. Mr. Shembekar was also very happy with the progress, readiness and market awareness of Octave students. 

Core HR Job for OCTAVE student from Nagpur

Core HR Job for OCTAVE student from Nagpur

What can be termed as the best job for MBA in HR for any student from Nagpur, Pune based MNC Tasty Bite has employed Samyak Jain of OCTAVE Business School for the position of HR Executive. At the annual package of Rs 3.0 Lakhs with a potential for rapid growth this job has already created a record for fresh MBA HR graduate placement for students from Vidarbha region. Samyak attended PGP+MBA program at OCTAVE. Earlier he completed his summer internship from May to July 2011 at Tasty Bite, Pune. As an intern, his main contribution was in understanding areas for improvement of labor productivity and motivation. Besides conducting Time and Motion study for five products, he helped understand the low productivity issue of employee on manufacturing floor. The findings helped in increasing the operational efficiency and in rationalizing overall manpower reduction. Tasty Bite (http://www.tastybite.com) is among top 100 best employers in India. Tasty Bite products are manufactured in India by Tasty Bite Eatables, wholly owned subsidiary.  Tasty Bite was the first company in the world to make shelf stable Indian food. The state of the art production facility based in Pune, has  ISO 22000, ISO 18001, ISO 14001, ISO 9001, BRC certifications and is also is US FDA approved. Its manufacturing facility located outside Pune is the largest and highest quality of its kind in India.