Importance of PR in the MBA curriculum

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In today’s age what is not dependent on reputation? This essential image of the company is maintained by none other than the public relations (PR) department. This department is in reality the most important division as it is ever ready to make the image even better and or quick in reprimanding it if it gets damaged. Public Relations are also called reputation management and corporate communications that strengthen and look after the relation between the corporate in question and the public domain of the external world at large. Universities abroad have been pushing for public relations to be a part of the curriculum. Communication by companies whether small and medium scale or even listed companies is treated as the most important skill under scope of public relations. MBAupdates cites a few reasons marking the importance of PR In the curriculum of an MBA program.
Emergency Communiqué
Companies often get caught in controversies, over policies, rule amendments, employee crisis etc. This is the time the PR team can come handy is solving issues related to the reputation, public safety and other such crisis spills. They become immediate advisors to the head honchos, CEOs etc. PR professionals are mostly MBA students who have an all-round knowledge sphere that include domains of law, political and other corporate communication.
Media Relations
Most of the corporates have a public identity that is significantly inclusive in the growth of the company. The credibility of any company is dependent on its image. PR handles this image, hones it and protects it to keep it tandem with the growth potential and the objective of the organization. The media being a prime mover of news, positive or negative can be controlled by the PR team which looks after media inquiries and settles investor doubts regarding floating news in the market. PR teams designate spokesperson, the most knowledgeable about the company to look after any communication outlet through new broadcasts, newspapers, radio or television show.
External Relations
External is this reference could include the customers or clients of the organization, the media. The governmental organization, the related social responsibility centres etc. This includes making newsletters, printed material, brochures, etc. It also includes social media presence if it falls within the marketing spectrum of the company, emails regarding products, market and public inquiries of all sorts, attending calls from the dignitaries, and taking charge of all the possible events, starting from organizing to the entire activity of planning the same.
Thus, the two main tasks include communication and relationship building and maintaining. These are the two main pillars that each company is dependent on. This makes it very essential for PR to be included as a part of any MBA curriculum in the world.

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Posted by samjohnson

TISS 2013–Tips for General Awareness section

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The general awareness section is considered to be one of the most challenging sections to score in Indian competitive exams, be it any exams the SNAP, XAT or even TISSNET for that matter. TISSNET 2013 has gone online this year. The exams are going to be held of January 13, 2013 and the results will be declared by the end of the same month. The TISS 2013 general awareness and current affairs sections is the easiest to tackle in the entire paper. It will be even easier with the exam being basis on multiple choice questions. Sample TISS papers and past year TISS papers for mba can be referred by students to analyze some of the trends and manner in which questions are asked in this section.
The major issues surrounding this section is that the syllabus for this section is massive and hence the students get confused as to what is to be ignored and what is to be read thoroughly. MBAupdates puts your doubts to rests after examining the Sample TISS papers and past years TISS papers mba.
  • The main readings need to revolve around the absolutely current happenings in India andbeyond. This can be done with the help of newspaper reading of major dailies like Times of India, Economic time and good editorials like The Hindu. What is I needed is effective reading, reading smart. Reading smart happens with reading the main headline of the national news, international news and the economy sections while merely glancing through the entire newspaper should suffice. Read only the stories of main pages mentioned above. The business section readings should include latest news on the Indian banking riles, systems, changes, amendments, FDI news, SEZ news and other small but significant business changes including exports and imports.
  •  Readings on history and geography can be done from basic CBSE history and geography books form the standard 5th to High school CBSE till the 12th. The polity and Indian economy sections can be covered with ease with readings of editorial sections of reputed newspapers like The Hindu and the Indian Express. For this section even reading weekly and bi-weekly quality magazines like India today, outlook etc. are a good idea.
  •  Science and technology is a new development that is often emphasised on in the current affairs sections. This should include readings on new inventions and discoveries that can be covered form year books like Manorama and other year books of leverage. Year old knowledge on technology should be enough.
  •  International and other national organisational structures along with their ruling heads and official signatories should be known to the student. Even major development schemes in MNREGA and other Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan should be well-read off. Books on International relation by M.L Jhingan used at Masters Level could be of great use.

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Posted by samjohnson

CAT 2012 results revealed!

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The much awaited CAT results are finally out. As expected, there was a technical glitch a few minutes after the results were declared at 3 a.m this morning. The officials said that this was due to the large number of aspirants who were eager to ease the pressure off and thus logged on at the same time.
Out of 1.91 lakh candidates, 10 scored a perfect 100 percentile. Incidentally, 9 out of the 10 candidates are engineering graduates whereas 1 is a B.Sc. graduate. 5 of them are still in the final semester of their graduation mba.
This clearly indicates that engineering students still dominate CAT for mba, despite the fact that CAT underwent some changes to attract candidates from Humanities and Social Sciences background.
MBAupdates called up few of the top coaching institutes to enquire about the toppers of the respective institute. Here is the list of few of them with the classes they took their coaching from.
Anshul Garg (PT Education)
Rahul Saran (IMS)
Jaskaran Singh Sachdeva (Byju Class)
Ravi Teja Palla (Career Launcher)

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TISS 2013 – What to expect?

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Tata Institute of Social Science’s National Entrance Test (TISS-NET) has gone online for the very first time making it very simple for applicants to give the exams. It is going to be held on the January 13th, 2013. However, for all those still comfortable only with the written paper route, do not worry! You can give the exam on paper as well with a written application. This exam will be common across all courses of application for students. It is expected to be divided into a 100 mark entrance or eligibility test, a pre-interview test that may consist of a group discussion or a written test weighted 50 marks, and 75 marks for the personal interview. Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers can still be utilised for the new TISS-NET 2013 mba.

The test will formatted as per Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) based on questions of analytical ability, social sensitivity, new and current issues, and logical reasoning. After taking the online mock test MBAupdates discovered that the questions are going to be fairly divided into the same categories as the past year TISS papers of mba.

  • This year MBAupdates expects TISS to toughen up the numerical and logical ability. CAT preparation, if any, would be more than enough to crack the TISS written exam easily. Students weak in quantitative abilities and numerical with fast metal calculation should aim to bolster their speed. This year TISS 2013 should be prepared keeping the goal of speed in mind. Train your mind to think and calculate faster as well as practice observation based questions from Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers for additional help.

  • Logical reasoning this year could still be easier than the quants. Students are suggested to constantly keep brushing up their understanding of basic concepts to tackle tricky questions. However MBAupdates expects an easy grade with logical reasoning this year.

  • Language abilities, verbals and English comprehension go a CAT preparation of the same should suffice. This has always been an easy scoring section in the TISS exams. What one must concentrate on is vocabulary usage, Para forming, comprehension, analogies, fill in the blanks, summary questions. MBAupdates suggest keeping a keen eye and study of synonyms and antonyms for basic assistance and help.

  • General awareness and current affair issues can be expected from the realm of major policy changes if any and other. God reading material and skill should sail you through the general awareness questions.

Thus, expect a new format for TISS 2013. Make sure to practice to Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers.

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Posted by samjohnson

Family Business MBA Programs Are On the Rise

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Indian businessmen and entrepreneurs, be it, small and medium enterprises or large scale multi-crore business houses, have now understood the need to move out of their comfort zones and explore the world beyond their family business boundaries. This is a move emerged from the need to remain competitive by offering good products and services capable of marking a market territory wider than the one previous held by them.

Demand for family business MBAs         

The demands for family business MBAs have witnessed an increasing trend as India’s integration as world player has been more defined since the past few years. The presence of some India businesses making it big abroad has served as in inspiration for the rest in the same sector. The younger generation in whose hands the reigns of the old businesses lie realize the need of the hour, the need of newer management techniques and knowledge , which if applied to their current household business may work wonders for it. The thought process evolution has caused the newer generation to realize that this is the best option for the business to remain of flourishing grounds.

How Does It Benefit?

The benefits can be realized only after doing a family MBA program. First of all, it brings in professionalism. Family businesses tend to a little informal in nature and this is what the study course makes one realize, the need of being professional in nature. The concept of professionalism unfortunately differs based on the size of enterprises. Being in a classroom has its own advantages; you build contacts, in your sector or ancillary Industries. You learn business tricks and other people’s business secrets. This creates and opens up an entire new gamut of business opportunities as contact and affiliates increase with the correct kind of exposure and learning. Knowledge of business diversity and business cultures works on your mind unconsciously and beneficially opening you to newer thought processes and business ideas. Basically, exposure and knowledge add more value. MBAupdates thinks newer tools of management add more sustainability to the existing laurels of family business.

Best Institutes for Family MBAs

The advantage of the family business MBA model is that it offers both full time and part time MBA allowing flexibility to student who is managing education and his family business. The first institute to start such a family business MBA program was the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). Keeping in view the rise in demand of these courses many colleges like SPJIMR in Mumbai, ISB in Mohali and Hyderabad offer such programs. FMB is about to launch a similar course sometime around 2013.

The courses offer a great melange of practical application and theory knowledge. They also allow students to model their own family business with a new paradigm. A family MBA is a must-do for all those desiring to take their age-old family businesses to a new level of managerial success.

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Posted by samjohnson

Digital Marketing is on the Rise

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The significant element that revolutionized marketing is the digital medium. This medium encompasses social media, mobile display, mobile phones, tablets, and computers etc. as the prime vehicles of marketing. Marketing, the old method of going door-to-door if low cost and television commercials if higher costs; are replaced by straits never thought of earlier. Digital marketing is on an upsurge and is anticipated to rise even more. The rationalization being that digital marketing is a product of the technology and technology is here to stay; it is always going to see an increasing trend. Thus logically, digital marketing too will continue to the witness the rising trend in its utility as and popularity in tandem with the spurt in technology.

This is a fact that is discernible, but the question is why? What makes digital marketing a favourite? There are many reasons why it has gotten so popular. Let me name a few that the MBAupdates team landed up discussing the other day mba. Corporate, organization or product visibility was one of the top reasons as researched. Digital marketing if nothing surely gets the names of the products registered in the minds of the consumers. It increases awareness about the product offering space for strategic branding of the same. If it increases visibility, no doubt, it increases the sales of the products as well as the revenues. However, the most important factor was cost effectiveness. In times like these, when companies and organizations are contemplating cost cuts, digital marketing is a safe and cheap tool of marketing. Top bosses are leading a difficult life where they are loaded with double sales and revenue targets with limits and restrictions. This makes it a great marketing tool irrespective of the troughs and cliffs of the economic market. Another quantitative feature of measurability makes it an answerable tool, making it traceable for corporates. These digital gears are flexible in use and can be used anytime and anywhere. The company and product are easily accessible where the social media tools offer open ended platforms of debate, review, suggestion and criticism for the products. Thus, this leaves us with no doubt about the complete effectiveness of the digital media apparatuses. However, read on to find another country-specific view below mba.

Digital IQ Index Survey, in Australia accompanied by the Sydney-based digital learning company Digital Chameleon, showed that marketers are not equipped with sufficient skills to avail the marketing tools available for free in the market. Taking this research finding into consideration one must know that the Indian target audience is informal in nature, most of the population is rural who does not even have access to the tools of marketing like mobile phones, internet and computers. This lands up with a very essential question on whether digital marketing can enter the informal Indian market and will the efficacy of marketing tools continue to deliver the same results? Is digital marketing really on the rise, pan-India?

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How to spoil your MBA internship search?

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There is a very good chance that a first year MBA would be putting in efforts looking for an internship at this time. An internship not just enables a candidate to get valuable experience but also to build contacts, have a sense of understanding the business and many more. However, not many realize that there are certain pitfalls that need to be avoided.
Try Too Hard
MBA students usually have high aspirations and often tend to put themselves under pressure as far as achieving their goals is concerned. At times it makes more sense to wait for the right internship rather than blindly opting for a one that has a big brand name and/or promises good and valuable experience.
This does not mean that one should do nothing during the winter. During this time they can actually work on their networking with people and researching companies that they wish to work for. Following the herd is not a wise decision to make in terms of looking for internships.
 
Be a Bad Networker
Networking is not something that has to be forcefully done. Attending random networking events without even getting to know and understand people does not help at all. No amount of research, mock interviews can actually replace the networking abilities as it is the human that is going to hire you for a job. Thus, there is a need to be able to connect with them.
So how can you do that?
Staying inside the four walls is definitely not a solution. Get out and talk to people, ask questions and most importantly, let them know about yourself.
 
Know nothing about Yourself
As mentioned above, you need to understand yourself very well to let others know about you. Failing to know yourself, your interests, and strengths can put you behind in the internship search. After this you move towards doing the final preparation, networking with the right people and pursue your interests. 
Apply to every opportunity available
Today’s MBA students are used to pushing through applications and résumés from the comfort of their home computers. Sometimes, they are tempted to click on “send” for every job they see because it’s so simple, says Nguyen. Applying to everything usually results in getting no job at all. Instead, customize your résumé and network and look for openings that appeal to you and for which you are a strong candidate. “What they need to be doing,” Nguyen says of MBA job seekers, “is getting out and knocking on doors.”
Unnecessarily stress yourself
Many MBAs are not used to relaxing and tend to stress themselves out at the smallest of instances. This often leads to silly mistakes that can cost a candidate a good offer. One should not be reluctant to approach people from companies that you would like to associate with.

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