If God was a banker

Im soo bored and tired of all these exams... to relieve myself from the boredom i got myself this new book its called if God was a banker... ive it till now...il give u guys ful details later..

till then i found this GD clip on testfunda.com.... its really beneficial and has a group of students taking up a virtual gd session....

there are many sessions ive heard a few its content rich and a good experience,.....

to hear the GDs u can click here.... ill be participating in the next GD... hope to give u first hand tips then...

Asian Shakeup For The Technology Industry?

im making it a habit to read articles which are focused on business issues because gives u the hang of reading boring passages with ease... now some of u may feel that these arent boring but ask some like me we hate reading such articles... infact i never read the economic times i only read the mirror or Times....

Acer’s founder Stan Shih does not come across as a person who makes idle talk. So when he says something, the business world sits up and listens. After all, his company underwent a revamp in the last two years to emerge back in prominence among the top IT hardware manufacturers of the world. Acer overtook Dell in the last quarter of 2009 to become the world’s second-largest PC vendor. He argues that in another twenty years, companies like Dell and Hewlett Packard will no longer be around as the focus increasingly shifts to low-cost manufacturing models such as those by Dell or China-based Lenovo, which took over IBM’s PC division a few years ago.
According to him, the trend for low cost computing and networking devices is slated to continue, which companies like HP and Dell cannot reconcile to. He claims the US computer makers have no concept of low-cost manufacturing strategies and will lose out in the long run. However, not all are quick to agree with this point of view.
Experts say that possibly the words hold true for traditional PCs and laptops, but will the world continue to store data on local drives and need to carry a laptop around? Cloud computing, virtualization, remote data processing, remote storage through net-based servers, these and many more technologies could change the face of the technology world as we know it, claims David Carini, MD of Maverick China Research. With these technologies, US companies could evolve into something totally different, he argues.
According to industry watchers, Dell and HP should focus on making cooler, funkier PCs rather than try to bring down costs, as they are currently trying to do. Instead they need to adopt strategies like Sony’s Viao range or those of Apple, to make their presence felt in the market. A shift in strategy to manufacture not only PCs but also related technology devices, like Apple has done, could also yield rich dividends, says Jessica Lo of China Market Research Group. She adds that consumers are willing to pay a premium where they see value as in the case of Apple’s iPod and iPhone. The key according to many experts is to tie in innovation in the US or Europe with low cost manufacturing that comes out of setting up in places like China.
At the same time, selling on the low cost principle alone will not work for long. Costs, especially infrastructure and labor, have a tendency to rise over time as a particular destination becomes popular, as seen in the case of the BPO industry in India. Sooner or later, someone will find a cheaper way to do it, or change the face of the industry altogether. Then the low-cost manufacturers of today will be in the same position as the competitors they are pointing fingers at. After all, Dell was once known for its low-cost setup for assembling and shipping PCs in the US.

Source: testfunda.com
To read the article Click Here

Airtel: What Next, Mr. Mittal?

Came across this article on testfunda.com


If anyone deserves to be labeled the Dhirubhai Ambani or Jamshedji Tata of the past decade, it is Sunil Bharti Mittal. In a little over two decades, the small time businessman from Ludhiana has risen to the ranks of the goliaths in Indian industry, and is eager to spread his wings to foreign shores.
It takes guts, fortitude and more than luck to become the head of India’s largest, most profitable and fastest growing telecom company, beating the Tatas, the Birlas and the Amabanis on the way. And had the MTN deal come through, he would have made Airtel the third largest telecom company in the world, with over 220 million subscribers across 24 countries. It would also have vindicated his emerging market model which he has advocated with a passion, and which is now followed by even most of his competitors in the country today.
The Bharti-MTN merger can be counted as one of the largest business failures of 2009, yet Sunil Mittal has made it to the Forbes India people of the year list. In spite of the setback, he is not stepping back, playing the role of torchbearer for a number of Indian businesses and their aspirations on the global business stage.
A first generation entrepreneur, Mr. Mittal took a different path to success. Rather opting to grow talent for each of the functions within his company, he chose to outsource the work itself to companies that were proficient in that aspect of his business. Choosing to give up rather than hoard control, he built a top-caliber infrastructure that could expand in all directions efficiently, while retaining his nimble-footed approach to business. The adoption of his model by even his competitors is a tribute to his foresight.
Tying up with global partners from SingTel to British Telecom, the company he founded has gone from strength to strength. Every partner whether it has chosen to stay or leave has made a profitable partnership with Airtel. Even when Vodafone wanted to invest in Hutch-Essar, Airtel could have chosen to block the move, as Vodafine had a 10% stake in Airtel. But that is not his way. He has welcomed the coming of Vodafone, and fights it as spiritedly in the marketplace as all his other competitors.
And this is what represents the biggest challenge in the coming year. A number of competitors have entered the market and some of them like Uninor (the tie-up between Unitech and Telenor) and Tata Docomo are starting to make waves in the market. Tariffs are dropping under their onslaught, everything from SMS and per second pulse rates to ISD calling. Airtel will be hard put to keep up.
In the meanwhile, his other expansions in the service sector, including insurance and retail are taking shape and gaining share in the market. His tie-up with Walmart is similar to the kind of moves Airtel has made in the telecom space, and may change the face of Indian retail, much to the discomfort of pioneers and stalwarts like the Future Group (Central, Pantaloons, Big Bazar) and the Rahejas (who own Shoppers Stop and Hypercity).
Here’s wishing Mr. Mittal a very exciting year ahead – one which he should be eagerly anticipating.  

NMAT prep starts...

NMAT prep starts from now on....I have a whole lot of GK books to read.... this is what happens when u prepare all year and dont bother to read the general day to day news and current affairs...

Few of we friends have started to read articles of the various websites... this helps big time and it also is an instant exercise for reading comprehension...

ill keep putting up as many articles as i can...
so stay tuned in...

CAT 2009 arrives!

Okay here i am this is me there is no where on earth i can be here i am just cat n me....lalalllllaaaa...
the exam is here im losing my mind went back to my guide... google here i come.... and i found this article which really helped me.... im personally taking my CAT on the 6th of Dec...

CAT 2009 – Exam Analysis

To put you minds at ease and answer all your queries about the CBT CAT 2009, here is a short writeup which enumerates the various points that you need to keep in mind while attempting the exam.

Tutorial (optional): Duration - 15 minutes.
We suggest, you should go through the tutorial once, even if you have seen it before.

Test Duration:
The actual duration of the test is 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sections covered:
Verbal Ability, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning; not necessarily in that order.

Test Format and pattern:
Reports suggest a total of 60 questions with 20 from each section. The pattern is similar to previous CAT papers.

Negative Marking:
Though not mentioned on the day of the exam, the IIM DEMO player does state that “Wrong answer carries negative point. Therefore it is to your advantage to answer every question correctly. If you are unsure of your answer, you can MARK the question for review if time permits”
However, the marks per question & the actual negative marking is not known hence it is futile to speculate about the cut-offs.

Highlighting Text:
You can highlight text in group questions like RCs. You can make multiple highlights in a particular screen, which gets deleted once you switch to the next screen.

Reviewing Questions:
You can mark a question to come back to it later. You can then Review either all the questions or review only the marked questions or review only the incomplete questions. The review shows a list of all the questions, but it will not directly give you a count of the questions attempted or to be attempted. You will need to manually count the number of questions for such data.

Items provided for rough work:
Pencils, eraser and a paper booklet of 4 A4 size papers will be provided. You will not be allowed to take your own stationary into the computer lab. In case of broken or blunt pencil points, your pencil will be replaced immediately.

Ending the test:
If you click the END button at the bottom of the screen, you are immediately logged out of the test. There is no popup box asking you whether you are sure about quitting the test. This button is very close to the NEXT button. Hence, while giving the test DO NOT click on the End button at any point of time.

Timer:
The timer is present on the screen at all time and shows the time remaining till the end of the test. Wrist watches are not allowed into the computer lab. At the end of the test, when your time runs out, you will be automatically logged out of the test and a screen with “You have run out of time” text will be visible.

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
1. Weightage of a question
2. Will the number of questions remain the same for all the time-slots?
3. Quantum of negative marking.

WHAT WE DO KNOW

1. Prometric has extended the deadline for editing details till Dec 11.
2. Biometrics Testing includes your photo being taken by a PC camera and an electronic finger printing (left and right hand index finger 3-3 times).
3. Voucher Admit card printout and Photo ID are required to give the test. If you have lost either, call on the Prometric helpline immediately. Voucher number is required to login. The confirmation email need not be printed in the admit card. Only the admit card summary is important.
4. Having different addresses in the admit card and in the photo-id won’t deter you from giving the test. To be on the safe side, if such a case rises, take your electricity or telephone bill with you.
5. You do not require the Prometric username and password to give the test.
6. The password required to login to the test will be given by Prometric volunteers at the start of the test.
7. For doing rough work, pencil, eraser and a booklet having 4 A4 sizes papers (8 sides) are provided. No sharpners are provided. They just change your pencils.
8. Skipping the 15 minutes tutorial won’t grant extra time for the test. It is advisable to go through the tutorial anyway.
9. System is user-friendly.
10. Changing resolution of the screen (zooming) is not possible.
11. Exiting the test software or opening another application like Notepad of MS Word is not possible.
12. Cntrl + F is disabled. So finding a word in RC using the same is not possible.
13. Duration of the test won’t keep one down.
14. Negative marking exists.
15. You can start from any section of your choice.
16. To clear the clicked option, re-click on the same to deselect the option.
17. The END button is very close to the NEXT button. Be extra careful. You don’t want to ruin a year.
18. We can jump between questions by using the Review feature (as shown in the CAT demo Player)
19. Highlighting multiple lines in an RC section is possible. However, the selection is lost if we move away from the section.
20. Time left is displayed on screen. Timer logs you out automatically at the end of the test.
21. You wouldn’t get a score-sheet immediately after the exam is over. The results will be announced on 22-Jan-2010
22. Make sure to file an official complaint with the Prometric ‘proctors’ if you find issues with the technology (any technical glitches) while giving the test.

STRATEGIES

1. As marking system is unknown, the only strategy in hand is to attempt as many questions as possible without compromising on accuracy.
2. Students claim that the level of difficulty of CAT was not as high as expected. Hence attempting more questions correctly will give you an edge.
   
3. Reports say that attempting 45+ questions (spread out equally across the three sections) with a 80-85+ accuracy seems to be a good bet.
4. It is recommended that a break up of 40 minutes for Verbal, 45 minutes for Quant and 50 minutes for DI LR is optimum.
5. Students expecting higher scores suggest that 13-15 Qs in VA, 11-13 in QA and 10-12 in DI would help you get a good score.

Source: Testfunda.com

Hey there,

The CAT is just around the corner... not many days to go... im so scared need rest from my crazy schedule.... i was jus surfing the net today.. as u can see im writing after a break of a few days...

I have an official link which we could read...
Click Here

Must read for all CAT takers

With just about two weeks to go for the CAT, the IIMs have released an information covering various aspects of the test that include:

• Reporting for the test
• Documents to bring to the test centre
• Security arrangements
• Test duration and pattern
• Tips and techniques for taking the test
• And, contingency plans          

To know more and read the do's and dont's u could CLICK HERE

IIFT and me...

Im taking these exams for the first time and i have a feeling that im still not aware of the various aspects they cover....
like now if we take the instance of IIFT i needed to know about the entire exam at a glance and ofcourse when i searched google dev i found this site which took me to another website testfunda.com where i found all my details...
The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) admission test is a written exam conducted by Indian Institute of Foreign Trade to select the most appropriate students for their Management course.

The test covers English Comprehension, General Knowledge & Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis.

u can have a look too at the other aspects of the exam... ill put the link down for u guys

to view click here

Asian Consumers – Solution To The Current Economic Crisis?

As the world continues to be subdued by the global economic crisis, companies the world over are now setting their sights on focussing on Asian consumers as a solution to the situation. As the West recently went through the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Asian consumer indices continued to move steadily upward, mainly in China and India, the world’s two largest economies of the developing world. Asia has slowly but surely emerged stronger in the last decade, and boasts of one of the largest manufacturing and services setups worldwide.

Experts claim that in spite of the recent downturn, consumer spending on items like consumer lifestyle goods in Asia will continue to grow at 5-7%, at a time when economies the world over have shrunk. In fact, China is set to become Asia’s largest consumer market this year, and GDP growth in India continues at a steady 5-6% in spite of the failure of the monsoons. With the exception of Japan, most Asian economies have managed to ride out the recession well. And multinationals are scrambling to grab a share of this growth, in order to shore up their bottom lines.

With a population of billions and wildly diverse income levels, the markets represent unique challenges to companies, who have responded by reworking their value addition to better meet the aspirations and needs of the Asian consumer. E-commerce as a channel is slowly taking hold in urban centres of these countries and a number of companies of the likes of Cartier and Louis Vuitton are moving in. The latter is reportedly setting up its first store in Mongolia, in the capital Ulan Bator this year.

Multinationals entering India and China will face stiff competition from the local players, many of whom have now set their sights on conquering markets beyond their own shores. The Tata group’s acquisition of Jaguar-Land Rover is a case in point. Consumers in the Asian economies are from diverse backgrounds and income levels, and there is a strong need for multinationals to understand the psyche of their consumers instead of simply trying to shoehorn established products into these markets. MNCs that tried it in the 90s when the Indian economy first opened up have gotten their fingers badly burnt in the process and now know better.

Some of the key steps that corporations will have to undertake while targeting the Indian consumer include strengthening regional teams for an entrepreneurial mindset, moving and managing resources quickly to take advantage of emerging trends and provide service support at a level never seen before, in order to win hearts and wallets. Supply chains are being tweaked to reach a wider geographical area at lower cost, in order to sustain volumes. Regional collaboration, rather than country-focused set-ups are emerging as the business model in most parts of Asia.

But with the European markets set to see shrinkage of around five percent in the luxury segment, and the US markets even more so at close to fifteen percent in 2009, the Asian consumer is the new king.

Sources:

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Sectors_Regions/Think_regionally_act_locally_Four_steps_to_reaching_the_Asian_consumer_2436

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1906541,00.html

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/economicnews/view/1007843/1/.html

http://www.nextbillion.net/news/the-south-asian-consumer-market

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/EK26Dk01.html

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09/08/content_7008871.htm