u/Diligent_Ad_442

Many people would be joining MBA over the next few weeks. Just wanted to talk about a few hard truths about B school life to help you prepare mentally for what's coming. I don't intend to paint a grim picture but just want to give my views on some hard trughs. Happy to discuss in detail if you are interested

1. It's not your UG college: Everything is not friendly and calm. It's competitive from day 1. You will realize it once you start college. While you will make friends, the competitive spirit will be much higher during B school

2. Placecomm can be grey: The people in the placement committee do have some power. And they can influence decisions (e.g. who goes in first for the interview etc., - not always but yes they do have influence). And they can be grey and favour themselves or those they like

3. Class participation matters: During B-school, CP will give you marks, but what it helps you do is open up when you don't have full clarity. This is a trait that you need to build early on in your career - those who speak in meetings are the ones that grow

4. Your College doesn't care beyond a point: The authorities will provide some basic support but they don't really care about your placements etc., So if you are in the tail of your batch, it's up to you

5. Summer Interships will be brutal for most: You are getting into a place where everyone is an achiever like you or sometimes better than you. You will see your ego getting shattered everytime you don't get that shortlist. Be mentally prepared and keep working with what you have - that is what will land you a good outcome at the end

6. Winning case comps is not straightfoward: Many people speak to their seniors to get the old presentations, network with people from the company to get some information and create an unfair advantage which help them win the case comp. It does not happen all the time but it does happen. Be prepared for that

7. Your Academics are important: Maybe for Marketing roles, they are a little less important but for Finance/Consulting shortlists especially in Finals, acads do matter. So ensure that you give enough time for academics

8. Relationships can be transactional: Not talking only about romantic relationships, talking about friendships in general - while some last beyond the MBA and are genuine, many are transcational. Don't overinvest emotionally - take it as it comes and form as many acquaintances as you can

9. Networking matters a LOT: Right from getting into the clubs of your choice to getting shortlists (sometimes, not always), networking will help you do much better in your MBA

10. Panic and Anxiety could lead you to a wrong career choice: A lot of panic and anxiety could be created by placement committee/college authorities to ensure people sign up for some random company instead of companies of their interest. While job market can be a bit muted, do not compromise completely on the area you want to go for

While preparing for interviews, one of the good frameworks that can be used is the STAR framework. It is very useful in structuring responses of past experiences to showcase a particular competency

Situation: What was the situation? A business problem/tight project delivery deadlines in a resource constrained environment - explain the situation in detail and give clarity on the problem you solved

Task: What was your task? Creating a plan for the resource constrained project/come up with a technical solution for reducing downtime of a plant etc., - explain the specific task you handled in detail

Action: How did you go about performing the task? E.g. cold calling potential customers to identify new leads/creating an assumption led market estimation model to assess the market potential of a new category etc., - explain what exactly you did to address the task assigned to you

Result: What was the result of the action you took? It should clearly link to the situation. E.g. reduction in plant downtime by 10%, identified new opportunities for the client to grow their business by xx cr etc., - quantify the impact of your actions

The way to use this is to write down all your key projects in the above format and link it to possible competencies - e.g. the same project can be an example for "performance under pressure" competency, "team player" etc., Doing this well in advance before the interviews helps in giving structured responses during the interview. Happy to discuss in detail if anyone is interested

I have a background in strategy and management consulting and one of the biggest business challenges that is common across industries is profitability improvement. Here are ten possible ways to drive profitability improvement. Happy to hear everyone's thoughts and discuss in detail if anyone is interested

1. SKU rationalization: Concentrate on a limited number of offerings which have good velocity. Helps cut down complexity, release working capital and improve focus

2. Procurement optimization: Consolidate your vendor base - whatever you buy - RM/services etc., buy from lesser number of vendors, buy from the OEM wherever possible (if you have scale), there is definitely some potential

3. Price increases: Try improving your per unit price wherever possible - if you have focused set of SKUs/offerings which have velocity, it will be easier to decide whether price increases will help or not. And it need not be a very large increase, even 2%-3% price increases help

4. Discount discipline: In order to drive sales growth, many businesses practice giving out discounts and this becomes a habit. Tracking the same and arresting the ones where there is limited growth and causing more harm than good can help improve profitability

5. Sales mix management: Invest more in higher margin offerings. Try shifting your sales mix towards higher margin products.

6. Linked Products/Offerings: Building linked products/offerings and having a clear brand architecture helps get a better return on your marketing investment . This applies with a channel as well. Try upselling/cross selling to the same channel/same type of customers instead of finding too many new ones

7. Wastage reduction: Assess the utilization of the money you are spending on marketing. Is there any promotional material that is being wasted? Any digital ad which is of no use. Very high returns for any kind of product. Any dead inventory. Take quick calls on such wastages

8. Conservatism in scaling team: I have seen many firms hire too fast and then firing when there is a slowdown. Instead, look at scaling step by step. Hire interns when you see momentum. Give more responsibilities to existing employees instead of adding new ones

9. Working capital management: Scale down customers who delay payments regularly. Plan and manage your inventories based on the market demand - keep it flexible. Helps free up lot of capital

10. Marketing spend optimization: Companies sometimes don't review every penny spent on marketing efforts. Digital is more trackable but offline spend should also be measured and regularly reviewed. Pivots should be considered wherever necessary. Having said that - not spending is not the solution - spending wherever you can get a better ROI is.