Numero Uno Day Two

What emerging realities do you see in light of the emerging economies? Which among these new economies do you feel would outpace the others? Quote examples and facts to support your argument.

Emerging economies (EE) are those economies which profit from a substantial economic growth based on significant productivity gains, technological change and a change in their economic philosophy. Most often these economies are characterized by high growth rates, large population density, low cost low knowledge workers, poor literacy rates, more than half of the economically active population lives in rural areas, high employment in unorganized sector with very little contribution to GDP, political instability, strong currency turbulence and a high foreign debt. Nowadays EE have become a buzz word in developed nations. Everyone wants to talk about EE and everyone wants to invest in EE. We have to analyze such factors which have triggered this action among developed nations.
This modern age is marked by two major changes in the way people do business. One the business has become very competitive and second the consumer has become more demanding. Now consumer demands more value added services at very competitive prices and companies have to do as demanded by the consumer otherwise some one else will do it and these companies will be out of business. So, there is a lot of focus on producing quality and innovative products at very low cost. Though it is not very easy to produce innovative products at regular intervals but some how companies are able to do so. The hardest part is to control the cost so that the product is delivered to customers at competitive prices. This is where EE come into pictures. Multinationals (MNCs) outsource their production units to EE to get benefit of low cost workers and in this way they reduce the cost of their products.
Globalization of business is another emerging reality. Only those companies can grow and sustain in future which have expanded their business throughout the world. EE are marked by high population density. So, they are very attractive markets for MNCs. That is why we see that all MNCs have their operations in these markets. There may be another incentive also for this strategy. Since population of EE is not very educated and sophisticated as in developed nations so MNCs can sell their low tech products, which have no market in developed nations, in these countries. But with the advancement in information technology this trend is fading day by day.
Equity markets of EE offer high returns than those of developed nations but at the same time they are quite volatile also. But because of high returns in equity markets a lot of investment is coming to EE which was not the case a few decades ago. This trend is triggered by the deregulations of equity markets in EE. Another reason for high direct investment is the need for building infrastructure in EE to support large population and growth. Governments of EE have achieved this by privatizations or by public private partnerships.
EE are not concentrated in any one part of the world. They are scattered all over the globe and to tell which economy will out outpace the all others is not an easy thing to say. Nevertheless I will try to reach to a conclusion by applying a systematic approach based on the characteristics of EE given earlier. I think population density, which in turn depends on population and area, of a country has a lot to do with this decision because cheap labor, huge consumer markets and volatile equity markets depend on it. So after establishing this fact if I see the list seven most populated countries and seven largest (area wise) countries I come up with three names, Brazil, China and India. Below are some facts of these countries:

Brazil
Population density per square meter 22
Population Growth Rate 0.9%
Real Growth Rate 5.4%
Literacy Rate 88.6%
Labor Force 96.34 m
% of Labor Force associated with agriculture 20%

China

Population density per square meter 142

Population Growth Rate 0.6%

Real Growth Rate 11.4%

Literacy Rate 90.9%

Labor Force 798 m

% of Labor Force associated with agriculture 45%

India

Population density per square meter 386

Population Growth Rate 1.5%

Real Growth Rate 9.2%

Literacy Rate 61%

Labor Force 516.4 m

% of Labor Force associated with agriculture 60%
It is clear that Brazil has no chance when it comes for comparison with China and India. Between China and India I think the latter will outpace the former. Though right now it seems that China is far ahead then India but there are vital signs that soon India will emerge as one of the leaders in the world economies, for instance, India population density and growth is far greater than China and literacy rate is quite low, majority of its labor force is associated with agriculture. All these signs make India the best candidate for the next power of the world. Moreover, India has advantage over China when it comes to demographics. India has a very large proportion of young ones in its population while for China it is opposite. So, in future India has more chances to attract FDI, MNCs which will boost its economy. I think now world has also acknowledged the fact that they cannot ignore India economy by signing nuclear deal with it. I think India is all set for future world leader.

Numero Uno Day One

Are management graduates meant to be corporate servants or corporate masters? As a responsible member of the student community, what steps would you take to promote entrepreneurship among B-school students? Suggest implementable solutions.

Corporations are legal entities which are formed to conduct business. They exist as a product of corporate law and their rules balance the interest of shareholders that invest their capital and the employees who contribute their labour. People work together in corporation to produce. This simple definition of corporations by Wikipedia reveals that it is because of people corporations exist not because of corporations people exist. So corporations are for the people not people are for corporations.

Before concluding anything I think we should first analyze the difference between corporate masters and corporate servants or what do we mean by these two words. Corporate servants are those people who follow blindly the established rules of corporatocracy, a new term given to the government dominated by corporate influence and banks, and try to work out which rules are beneficial for them and which are not. In general they do not have enough courage to challenge the establish norms of corporatocracy. Corporate masters, on the other hand, adopt only those rules which are helpful in running the business efficiently. In the course of running the business wherever they find necessary they invent new procedures thus making the knowledge pool of corporatocracy bigger and bigger. So I think management graduates are meant to be corporate masters not corporate servants.

Now we have to see that “what is meant to be” is really happening in the real world or not. What we see is that the graduates of business school want to traverse the path of their seniors. They want to pursue those professions which their seniors have opted and or professions which have a history of good remunerations. This attitude persists in their professional life also and they just blindly follow their ancestors which makes them corporate servants. Very few of management graduates want to unfold unknown paths and if they do they discover new ways of doing things which is what management is about. But the proportion of these graduates is very little. So, generally we can conclude that management graduates are not meant to be corporate servants but nowadays they are becoming corporate servants.

As a student there are number of practical steps which I can take to promote entrepreneurship in business school students. I think risk taking ability is the foremost requirement for an entrepreneur. So to enhance this ability in business school students I will form a society whose whole purpose will be to organize adventurous trips. These adventurous trips will be trips to places which are not easily accessible or composed of those things which a normal person fears to do (these things exclude the acts which are not socially and morally acceptable). These trips will not only foster risk taking ability but they will also provide a platform for building team work.

As a student I am usually inspired by success stories. So I need to invite successful entrepreneurs as guest speakers to tell their tales to business school students and to highlight the mistakes which they have made in their ventures. Those guest speakers will serve as role models for students and many may choose to travel the difficult path of an entrepreneur. Almost all business schools have small canteens or cafeteria.

As a student I will request to business school administration that these small ventures should be run by business students which will give them a real life experience of handling a venture in a protected environment. This experience will also help them in choosing a new venture after their graduation.

I can provide a platform for business students to pitch in their ideas for capital collection from the student body. If a student has a feasible business plan with requires little investment can post his idea on the platform and those students who like the idea can pool in the money and pursue the venture. This will not only gives boost to generation of new ideas for business but also gives a chance to students to pursue a small venture.

My story by Myself

Now I am going to do two tasks simultaneously who are opposing in nature, one is the most difficult one and other is the easiest one. The difficult one is to find shortcomings or bad things in your personality and the easiest one is to praise yourself.
As it is obvious I will start with the easiest task. I was born in a middle class family of a medium-sized city near Cholistan (name of dessert) called Bahawalpur in south Punjab. After done with high school I somehow the other landed at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), one of top universities in Pakistan. Though I was one of the top-notch students at school, at least this was what my teachers thought about me and my grades reflected, yet I never thought that I will be the second student from Bahawalpur to enter LUMS after four years from my predecessor. So I must have something to qualify for this honour. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to explain this "something" but I think at that time it was only hard work, dedication and commitment to work, honesty and my parents’ prayers.Life rolled on smoothly at LUMS and I was able to secure a slot in the top 15% of the class and graduated with double majors which is very rare in the university. These four years added many qualities in me and polish the existing ones. Team playing, not to come up with a decision unless a satisfactory analysis is done, ability to handle people relationship especially with the opposite sex (as my whole schooling is from all boys institutions), confidence for public speaking and a lot more exposure of the real world and bigger market are the qualities which I gained from LUMS. Some will argue that these are normal qualities of an exposed student but I think that one should see my background and what I have accomplished during these four years. So I think transition process matters not the state of a thing.
These four years at LUMS gave me so much confidence that I opted for a completely new sector for my profession. You can say that this is because of my entrepreneurial nature. Even there I secured 2nd position in the initial training of four months throught our Pakistan.
The story can go on for another three to four years but I think that qualities which I had till that time made my way quite easy. At job I learned "boss management" and how to manage organizational politics.
Now the hard part I think sometimes I am so stuck in myself that I do not give due consideration to others' point of views. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to change my decisions if I have thought that I am doing the right thing. At that time other people arguments do not seem logical to me but there has been times when I have changed my decision in the light of arguments given by my well wishers.
No matter how hard I tried but there remains a shy "Junaid" in me who has come from Bahawalpur to touch the skies. So at times I am not comfortable with talking with girls or in some other foreign language.