IIM Ahmedabad declares fee hike almost three times

Studying at the premier Indian Institutes of Management is no longer cheap. The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad on Saturday almost trebled the fee for its flagship two-year post-graduate management programme from Rs 400,000 to Rs 11.5 lakh (Rs 1.15 million), beginning from this academic year. The fees have gone up from Rs 200,000 each year to Rs 550,000 for the first year and Rs 600,000 for the second.

Its fee hike is the highest among all IIMs. The institute had earlier announced a fee hike for its Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives from Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) to Rs 14 lakh (Ra 1.4 million) for the 2008-09 batch.

Earlier this week, IIM-Bangalore too had hiked its fee from Rs 500,000 to Rs 800,000. And earlier this month, IIM-Calcutta announced a fee hike of 75 per cent, from Rs 400,000 to Rs 700,000, for its 2008-2010 batch. However, the 2009-2011 batch at IIM-C will shell out Rs 800,000 for the PGP programme.

Vijaypat Singhania, chairperson, IIM-A board, said, "The IIMs should not be financially supported by anyone. Recently, IIT Bombay had to ask the government for funds, which was a shameful state of affairs. I do not want this to happen to IIM-A. IIMs should not be dependent on outside resources. IIM-A is capable of standing on its own feet."

He added, "I am not supporting profiteering in educational institutes. But creating surplus is important. The government (HRD Ministry) needs to give more autonomy to such institutes that create a great tomorrow. If the government interferes in the institute's affairs, the basic foundation of the institute will be shaken."

The IIMs are increasing the fees in view of rising costs and to meet growing expenditure, while providing better opportunities and improved facilities to the students.

IIM-A, IIM-B and IIM-C do not receive grants from the government and support their academic activities with their own funds. The three IIMs are planning to better the salaries of their professors and an increased fee would help in doing just that.

Mira Nair honored India Abroad Person of the Year 2007

Mira Nair, the Oscar-nominated director of acclaimed films like Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, Mississippi Masala and Salaam Bombay, was chosen as the India Abroad Person of the Year 2007, on March 28 at a glittering ceremony held at the Gotham Hall in New York City.

The award was presented by Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and CEO, Pepsi, and India Abroad Person of the Year 2006.

Other India Abroad awardees are: Professors Padma Desai and Jagdish Bhagwati with Lifetime Achievement Award; Dr Renu Khator, the Publisher's Special Award for Excellence; Somdev Dev Burman, the Youth Achiever 2007 Award; Dr Navin Shah, the Community Service Award; Dr Joy Cherian, the Lifetime Award for Service to the Community.

This is the sixth year of the India Abroad Person of the Year awards(IAPOY). A pioneering effort to recognise Indian-American achievement, the award was instituted in 2002 by India Abroad, the oldest and most widely circulated news weekly for the Indian-American community.
Laced with humour and poignance, Mira Nair in her acceptance speech reflected on her life's journey from Orissa, where she was born, to Hollywood, where she is now a member of the A-List of directors. She paid rich tribute to her mother Praveen and all the other women who had inspired her to achieve heights no other Indian filmmaker has scaled in international cinema.

Sydney went dark for Earth Hour

Sydney's iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge went dark Saturday night as the world's first major city turned off its lights for this year's Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness of climate change.

The lights on the arch of Harbour Bridge were turned off at 8 p.m., followed shortly by the shells of the Opera House and other city landmarks. Most businesses and homes were already dark as Sydney residents embraced their second annual Earth Hour with candlelight dinners, beach bonfires and even a green-powered outdoor movie.

The city was noticeably darker, though not completely blacked out. The business district was mostly dark; organizers said 250 of the 350 commercial buildings there had pledged to shut off their lights completely.

The number of participants was not immediately available but organizers were hoping to beat last year's debut, when 2.2 million people and more than 2,000 businesses shut off lights and appliances, resulting in a 10.2 percent reduction in carbon emissions during that hour.

The effect of last year's Earth Hour was infectious. This year, 26 major world cities and more than 300 other cities and towns have signed up for the event.

New Zealand and Fiji kicked off the event this year. In Christchurch, New Zealand, more than 100 businesses and thousands of homes were plunged into darkness, computers and televisions were switched off and dinners delayed for the hour from 8 to 9 p.m. Suva, Fiji, in the same time zone, also turned off its lights.

Auckland's Langham Hotel switched from electric lights to candles as it joined the effort to reduce the use of electricity, which when generated creates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

After Australia, lights will go out in major Asian cities, including Manila and Bangkok before moving to Europe and North America as the clock ticks on. One of the last major cities to participate will be San Francisco — home to the soon-to-be dimmed Golden Gate Bridge.

"What's amazing is that it's transcending political boundaries and happening in places like China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. "It really seems to have resonated with anybody and everybody."

Organizers see the event as a way to encourage the world to conserve energy. While all lights in participating cities are unlikely to be cut, it is the symbolic darkening of monuments, businesses and individual homes they are most eagerly anticipating.

Even popular search engine Google put its support behind Earth Hour, with a completely black Web page and the words: "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn."

"It is a wake-up call," said Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. "We need to really plan for our future. Earth Hour is something we can all do together. Going global is very empowering."

IIT Kharagpur develops new Male Contraceptive

In what could be termed as a major innovation in the field of male contraception, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has invented a unique male contraceptive that can have a continued effect for 10 years.

Speaking to Business Standard, Manoj Mondal, senior administrative officer, finance and project management, sponsored research and industrial consultancy (SRIC) cell, IIT-Kharagpur, said, "We have been trying to develop a non-surgical male contraceptive for ten years now. The contraceptive works through an injection that affects the sperm's ability to fertilise. Simultaneously, we have also invented an antidote which guarantees its immediately reversibility."

A single 60 mg injection can be effective for at least 10 years. A single dose, which may cost the manufacturer Rs 50, is expected to be marketed at close to Rs 200. This innovation will be made public along with around 50 others patented by the institute on April 5-6.

The institute will host IndAc 2008, a two-day curtain-raiser, to showcase these innovations to pharma majors, corporate entities and entrepreneurs.

"We plan to either sell the technology to corporates and entrepreneurs or get into a revenue-sharing model for their use. All our innovations are ready for commercialisation," Mondal said.

"Currently, we are testing the contraceptive on humans in Pune and Kolkata. We will disclose the results and a complete report during IndAc 2008," he added.

Technologies to be showcased include a nano particle drug against prostate cancer. The institute is looking for industry partners to engage in collaborative research to take this forward.

Prostate cancer is said to be the most common form of cancer among men, with the incidence of the latent form going beyond 60 per cent in the age group above 70 years. Till date, there are no proven preventive drugs for this type of cancer.

The institute has also invented an artificial substitute for a human heart, made of polymer and is powered by battery. The innovation is ready for clinical trials.

Other innovations include a heart sound analyser, a knee joint simulator, packaged coconut water, technology to manufacture curd powder, a device for cryogenically freezing fish, meat, fruits and vegetables and a device for cryogenic grinding of spices, vegetables and foodgrain.

High dose:

1. A single 60 mg injection can be effective for at least 10 years.
2. A single dose, that may cost the manufacturer Rs 50, is expected to be marketed at close to Rs 200.
3. This innovation will be made public along with around 50 others patented by the institute on April 5-6.
4. Technologies to be showcased include a nano particle drug against prostate cancer.

4 new IITs and 6 new IIMs to be Set Up

In a bid to give an impetus to the higher education sector, the government on Friday decided to establish four new Indian Institutes of Technology and six Indian Institutes of Management in various states, besides upgrading some of the state universities to the status of central universities.

While the new IITs would be located in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (Indore), Gujarat and Punjab, the IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana.

These new institutions would be part of the eight IITs and seven IIMs proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan.

The government has already announced establishment of four IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one IIM at Shillong.

The location of the new higher education institutions has been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, HRD Minister Arjun Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

In addition, he said the government proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University into an IIT. Admission to this Institute was already based on the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination.

Singh said it has also proposed to establish during the 11th five year plan period 14 Universities with world class standards and 16 universities in states, which do not have a central university at present.

Singh said the establishment of new IITs, IIMs and central universities was subject to state governments offering adequate land at suitable locations, at free of cost.


The 14 central universities aiming at world class standards would be located in Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Greater NOIDA and Guwahati.


The locations have been decided keeping in mind the connectivity and the infrastructure which such universities would need, he said. The state governments would be requested to identify adequate land in or near the selected cities, Singh said adding the contour and shape of such world class universities would be defined shortly.


To a question whether the decision to set up these new institutions was based on political considerations, Singh said the government has decided on them after taking everything into consideration.


Dismissing a suggestion that Kerala has been left out in the exercise, he said the southern state has got a central university and a world class university. "It is not correct that Kerala is left high and dry", he said.

10 things to Get Noticed in your Group Discussion

In last article, we discussed eight things that you should not do in a group discussion (GD). This time we look at tips that can help you in succeeding in the GD. Your soft skills definitely come into picture here. Here are some of the things that you can do to make a winning impression in your GD.

1. Read voraciously: Make a habit of reading voraciously on every subject. This will keep you ready for any topic for a discussion in GD. Your knowledge is your most important weapon in a discussion.

2. Initiate the discussion: Most of us have a misconception that initiating the discussion would give you an advantage over others. It does give you an advantage but only if you know the subject well and have something relevant to start the discussion otherwise it is a disadvantage.

3. Speak politely and pleasantly: As you speak make sure that you do not talk at the top of your voice. You should be audible and clear. Remember that you are participating in a discussion which is different from a speech given out by the leaders in their rallies. Even if you disagree with the other's point of view, disagree politely. Use phrases like, 'I would like to disagree a bit here' or 'I am sorry, but I think I have a slightly different point of view'.

4. Be precise: Abstain from using irrelevant information and data from your talks during a GD. Speak precisely so that others also get a chance to put across their point of view.

5. Acquire and apply knowledge: Stay attentive to the ideas put forward by other group members and keep writing the important points discussed during the GD. As you get a chance to speak, put forward your views about the topic. You can also agree or disagree with other's ideas, based on your knowledge about the subject.

6. Agree with the right: Don't take a stand on either extreme when the discussion begins. It might happen that you get convinced by other's argument and want to change your stand. Respect another's opinion as well and agree with what is right, even if you initially had a different opinion.

7. Speak confidently: Maintain your confidence as you speak. Establish eye contact with other members of the group and do not let your voice tremble.

8. Moderate: Try to moderate the discussion if any arguments arise. This is necessary to ensure that the group doesn't wander from the goal of the GD.

9. Use positive body language: Your body language should not demonstrate dominance or low self confidence. Show your interest in the discussion through your gestures like bending forward a bit, nodding your head.

10. Be a team player: Last but not the least, be a team player as this is a group activity. Be comfortable with the group members and vice versa.

8 Ways to ruin your Group Discussion

8 Ways to ruin your Group Discussion

While participating in a GD, you must avoid things that can work to your disadvantage and might cost you the selection. Here are some things that you must avoid doing as a GD participant:

1. Initiating the discussion without proper subject knowledge:
Although initiating the discussion helps you get the immediate attention of the evaluators, sharing irrelevant details just for teh sake of talking can work to your disadvantage. Start first only if you know the subject well otherwise wait for others to start and get a feel of the subject before entering into the discussion.

2. Snatching another's chance to speak:
Give your group members a chance to speak. Talking more won't get you through the GD. In fact it will give the evaluators a feeling that you are not a team player. Making short and relevant contributions of 20-30 seconds 3-4 times in the discussion is enough.

3. Interrupting others:
Let the other person finish his comment before you speak. Interrupting someone is counted as a negative trait. Remember, it is a discussion not a debate. Don't jump at the conclusions. Listen carefully to the other person before putting your point across.

4. Dialogue:
In a GD you are expected to communicate with all the members of the group. Do not keep looking at one person while talking. Establish eye contact with all the members of the group. It is a many-on-many discussion not one-on-one.

5. Shouting or dominating:
Keep you emotions in check. Do not try to dominate the others or let your emotions rule you. Sometimes it might happen that a group member might say something that hurts your feelings such as a comment on your race or religion, make sure that you do not get into an argument. Your focus should be to effectively meet the goals of GD topic.

6. Showing off:
You have to put across your knowledge on the subject during the GD but you have to be very careful about the thin demarcation between showing off and knowledge sharing. For eg, using statistics and facts during the GD is a good thing to do but you must not overdo it enough to nauseate the group members.

7. Low self confidence or insecurities:
As we have seen earlier, one of the traits evaluated during a GD is your self confidence. Do not hesitate to speak confidently, even if you might be short of ideas or knowledge on the subject. Listen to others and put across your thoughts in a clear and audible voice. Make sure that you make eye contact with all the group members.

8. Slang and negative gestures:
GD is a formal discussion. Avoid informal words and negative gestures. For eg avoid words like gonna, wanna, ya etc. Similarly avoid gestures like pointing fingers, tapping the desk with the pen.

If you ensure that you do not commit these mistakes during the GD, you will not have to worry too much about the negative marks and your chances of getting through it also become much brighter.

Purpose of a Group Discussion

Purpose of a Group Discussion

A group discussion or GD, is a form of many-on-many discussion. It has become an inseparable part of admissions to management institutes and your selection in campus interviews.

A GD is held to identify certain traits that companies and institutes like to see in their employees or students. Let's take a look at the traits which the evaluators look out for in a candidate during the GD.

Knowledge: Whatever you do in a GD, your knowledge about the subject can't be replaced by anything else. You are required to talk in a GD but inputs that don't contain any substantial value will not help in any way. Be a voracious reader to increase your knowledge on various subjects. Newspapers, TV, magazines, news portals etc are great sources of knowledge.

Alertness and presence of mind: In a GD you are required to carefully listen to the other person's thoughts and keep an argument, example or a supportive statement, fact, example ready to participate in the discussion. Here comes into picture your alertness and ability to think and act immediately. As you participate in a GD, make sure that you sit with an attentive mind and keep taking down the relevant points put forward by others.

Communication: You may have a lot of good points to put across but if you can't communicate them clearly, you won't stand a chance when it comes to impressing the evaluators. Practice communicating in a clear and effective way with your friends, family or study group.

Confidence: Your self confidence adds a lot of value to your candidature. Look at every group member as you speak, avoid too much hand movement and looking at evaluators.

Leadership and team skills: Your participation in a GD clearly establishes not only your leadership skills but also your capability to work in a team. To meet the objectives, a good leader has to be a team player.

Goal orientation: Since so many people participate in a GD, the chances of the discussion moving away from the subject are high. Your focus on the goal can get you some extra points.

The best sexual activity lasts for 7 to 13 minutes

The best sexual intercourse lasts between seven and 13 minutes, according to a new survey by US experts.

According to the research, led by Dr Eric Corty, from the Behrend College in Erie, Pennsylvania, three-minute sex is 'adequate'.

The study is the first to review what the experts believe is the ideal length of time to have penetrative sex, with the random sample of Americans and Canadians labeling seven to 13 minutes most 'desirable'.

The study concluded that intercourse lasting between three and seven minutes was 'adequate', but anything less was 'too short' and beyond 13 minutes was 'too long'.

The extraordinary research is designed to help calm couples' unrealistic beliefs that healthy sex should last a long time.

Corty said that this was a situation "ripe for disappointment and dissatisfaction".

"In the fantasy model of male sexuality, men have large penises, rock-hard erections, and can sustain sexual activity all night long," News.com.au quoted Corty, as saying.

"It appears that many men and women hold this fantasy. The results from the present study, by providing a realistic not a fantasy model of sexuality, are useful both in treating people with sexual concerns and dysfunctions, and with wider circulation, in preventing the onset of sexual dysfunctions," he added.

Reacting to the research, Australian sex therapists commented that most Aussie men wanted sex to last considerably longer while most women were 'not bothered' if it was over with fast.

Dr Jane Howard, a Brisbane-based medical sex therapist, said there was a dearth of data on Australians' expectation of sex.

Anecdotal evidence suggested most Australian women would be happy with the therapists' "adequate" time of three to seven minutes, while men would not.

The study is published in the international Journal of Sexual Medicine.
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Arthur C Clarke's Final Odyssey

British-born science fiction writer and visionary Arthur C Clarke died at a private hospital in Colombo on Wednesday morning, his office said.

According to officials, Clarke, who had been in and out of hospital, died in Apollo Hospital aged 90.

Clarke was the first to suggest the use of satellites orbiting the earth for communication and predicted that commercial space travel would one day be commonplace.

Celebrating his birthday on December 16, Clarke, who wrote many of his more than 70 books in Sri Lanka, expressed his desire for a lasting peace in the island nation.

“I've been living in Sri Lanka for 50 years, and half that time I've been a sad witness to a bitter conflict that divides my adopted country, and dearly wish to see a lasting peace established in Sri Lanka as soon as possible,” Clarke had said at his last birthday party.

He was Sri Lanka's best-known resident guest and has a scientific academy named after him.

Warren Buffett: A Frugal Billionaire

He bought his first share at age 11.

He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

He does not have a cellphone, has no computer on his desk, drives his own car and does not have security guard with him.

He is the world's richest man, the living legend, Warren Buffett!

One of the most successful investors the world has ever seen, Warren Buffett is today the richest man on the planet, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of billionaires.

Chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's wealth jumped by $10 billion jump to hit $62 billion during 2007. Buffett has beat friend -- and Microsoft boss -- Bill Gates' 13-year reign as the richest man. Buffett's journey to become the world's richest is truly inspirational.

A staunch follower of value investing, he started with an initial fund of $105,000 in 1956, the rest is history. Over the next five decades, Buffett's wealth rose to $62 billion.

But he is not the one to flaunt his riches, simple and down-to earth, Buffett continues to live in the same house in Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

Amartya Sen's advice: No biscuits in Anganwadis

Pressure is building on the United Progressive Alliance government and the ministry of women and child development to ensure cooked meals in pre-school centres under the central programme of anganwadis.

The latest to take up the matter and join issue with the ministry is none other than Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who sent a message from Kolkata to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, asking him not to allow a proposal to serve biscuits and pre-packaged food to pre-school children.

Sen also asked the PM to prevent the move to replace cooked food with packaged food as part of the mid-day meal scheme in elementary schools.

The message followed a meeting of the Kolkata Group chaired by Sen under the sponsorship of his Pratichi Trust and Harvard's Global Equity Initiative.

The meeting, which included 40 people from different fields, expressed shock over a proposal of the ministry of women and child development "to serve pre-packaged food and biscuits under the Integrated Child Development Services programme and possibly in the mid-day meal programme in elementary schools".

The proposal by the ministry headed by Renuka Chowdhury has been facing criticism from various quarters with the minister supporting processed food sourced from contractors in anganwadis.

Participants took note of the efforts and positive outcomes across the country to provide cooked mid-day meals. They felt that any change, especially under pressure from commercial interests, would be a regressive step against the best interests of children.

The resistance of the ministry to having cooked meals served locally by anganwadis has led to a reduced allocation to the scheme in the Budget, as against what has been allocated in the Eleventh Plan.

The minister's sympathy for packaged food and a centralised distribution system has been a source of conflict with the Planning Commission as well as with some officials in her own ministry.

Incidentally, Secretary Chaman Kumar and Joint Secretary Deepa Jain Singh (of the ministry) were removed overnight last year.

Speaking at a seminar on nutrition last year, organised by the steering committee of the government-backed Coalition for Nutritional Security in India, Renuka Chowdhury publicly expressed her stand on not having cooked food in anganwadis.

She said it was not feasible for the anganwadi centres to provide hot cooked meals as the centres are not equipped for this. Thus, these meals would become a "substitute" and not a "supplement" for the family meals. source

The hottest job sectors in India

Looking for a job? Well, this is the best time to be in India. India will see over 1 million new jobs this year said the Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey.

Ma Foi, one of India's largest HR consultancy firms, has predicted a 3 per cent increase in employment in 2008. Education, health and hospitality sectors will see a major jobs boom this year. These sectors are likely to replace the IT sector as the largest job creator in India. The health sector shows the highest growth in recruitment at 8.9 per cent followed by IT at 7.3 per cent, ITeS at 7.2 per cent and hospitality at 6.9 per cent.

About 426,668 jobs are going to be generated by the hospitality sector. This sector is closely followed by health at 295,829 and education training and consultancy at 166,005.

When it comes to salary hikes, energy generation and supply sector will experience the highest average salary increase of 16.8 per cent. Other booming sectors in terms of average salary increase are information technology, real estate and construction, trade and hospitality.

9 Rules of Innovation from Google

Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, is a tall, blond 32-year-old with two Stanford degrees in computer science. She's also Google's high priestess of simplicity.
Here she shares the rules that give the search giant its innovative edge..

1. Innovation, not instant perfection
"There are two different types of programmers. Some like to code for months or even years, and hope they will have built the perfect product. That's castle building. Companies work this way, too. Apple is great at it. If you get it right and you've built just the perfect thing, you get this worldwide 'Wow!' The problem is, if you get it wrong, you get a thud, a thud in which you've spent, like, five years and 100 people on something the market doesn't want."

"Others prefer to have something working at the end of the day, something to refine and improve the next day. That's what we do: our 'launch early and often' strategy. The hardest part about indoctrinating people into our culture is when engineers show me a prototype and I'm like, 'Great, let's go!' They'll say, 'Oh, no, it's not ready.

It's not up to Google standards. This doesn't look like a Google product yet.' They want to castle-build and do all these other features and make it all perfect."

"I tell them, 'The Googly thing is to launch it early on Google Labs and then iterate, learning what the market wants--and making it great.' The beauty of experimenting in this way is that you never get too far from what the market wants. The market pulls you back."

2. Ideas come from everywhere
"We have this great internal list where people post new ideas and everyone can go on and see them. It's like a voting pool where you can say how good or bad you think an idea is. Those comments lead to new ideas."

3. A license to pursue your dreams
"Since around 2000, we let engineers spend 20% of their time working on whatever they want, and we trust that they'll build interesting things. After September 11, one of our researchers, Krishna Bharat, would go to 10 or 15 news sites each day looking for information about the case. And he thought, Why don't I write a program to do this? So Krishna, who's an expert in artificial intelligence, used a Web crawler to cluster articles."

"He later emailed it around the company. My office mate and I got it, and we were like, 'This isn't just a cool little tool for Krishna. We could add more sources and build this into a great product.' That's how Google News came about. Krishna did not intend to build a product, but he accidentally gave us the idea for one."

"We let engineers spend 20% of their time working on whatever they want, and we trust that they'll build interesting things."

4. Morph projects don't kill them
"Eric [Schmidt, CEO] made this observation to me once, which I think is accurate: Any project that is good enough to make it to Labs probably has a kernel of something interesting in there somewhere, even if the market doesn't respond to it. It's our job to take the product and morph it into something that the market needs."

5. Share as much information as you can
"People are blown away by the information you can get on MOMA, our intranet. Because there is so much information shared across the company, employees have insight into what's happening with the business and what's important."

"We also have people do things like Snippets. Every Monday, all the employees write an email that has five to seven bullet points on what you did the previous week. Being a search company, we take all the emails and make a giant Web page and index them."

"If you're wondering, 'Who's working on maps?' you can find out. It allows us to share what we know across the whole company, and it reduces duplication."

6. Users, users, users
"I used to call this 'Users, Not Money.' We believe that if we focus on the users, the money will come. In a truly virtual business, if you're successful, you'll be working at something that's so necessary people will pay for it in subscription form. Or you'll have so many users that advertisers will pay to sponsor the site."

7. Data is apolitical
"When I meet people who run design at other organizations, they're always like, 'Design is one of the most political areas of the company. This designer likes green and that one likes purple, and whose design gets picked? The one who buddies up to the boss.'

Some companies think of design as an art. We think of design as a science. It doesn't matter who is the favorite or how much you like this aesthetic versus that aesthetic. It all comes down to data. Run a 1% test [on 1% of the audience] and whichever design does best against the user-happiness metrics over a two-week period is the one we launch. We have a very academic environment where we're looking at data all the time.

We probably have somewhere between 50 and 100 experiments running on live traffic, everything from the default number of results to underlined links to how big an arrow should be. We're trying all those different things."

8. Creativity loves constraints
"This is one of my favorites. People think of creativity as this sort of unbridled thing, but engineers thrive on constraints. They love to think their way out of that little box: 'We know you said it was impossible, but we're going to do this, this, and that to get us there.'"

9. You're brilliant? We're hiring
"When I was a grad student at Stanford, I saw that phrase on a flyer for another company in the basement of the computer-science building. It made me stop dead in my tracks and laugh out loud."

"A couple of months later, I'm working at Google, and the engineers were asked to write job ads for engineers. We had a contest. I put, 'You're brilliant? We're hiring. Come work at Google,' and got eight times the click rate that anyone else got.

"Google now has a thousand times as many people as when I started, which is just staggering to me. What's remarkable, though, is what hasn't changed--the types of people who work here and the types of things that they like to work on. It's almost identical to the first 20 or so of us at Google."

"There is this amazing element to the culture of wanting to work on big problems that matter, wanting to do great things for the world, believing that we can build a successful business without compromising our standards and values."

"If I'm an entrepreneur and I want to start a Web site, I need a billing system. Oh, there's Google Checkout. I need a mapping function. Oh, there's Google Maps. Okay, I need to monetize. There's Google AdSense, right? I need a user name and password-authentication system. There's Google Accounts."

"This is just way easier than going out and trying to create all of that from scratch. That's how we're going to stay innovative. We're going to continue to attract entrepreneurs who say, 'I found an idea, and I can go to Google and have a demo in a month and be launched in six.'"

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Global firms snap up IIM-B grads

Leading global consulting firms, investment banks and marketing companies made a beeline to the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) to hire the entire outgoing batch of post-graduate management students, wooing the best among them with high pay packets.

Of the 260 graduates, 256 appeared for the placement, while four opted out to become entrepreneurs in the choice of their field. About 120 global and Indian firms flocked to the B-school for snapping up the brightest.

As a policy, the management did not disclose the compensation offered or the range in which it was fixed. But there was a significant increase in the average domestic salary compared to the last year.

"Since last year, we have decided not to reveal the package offered, who got what and how. If compensation figures are mentioned by other IIMs, it is their choice. Here, we are not aware which company has offered what pay packet and to whom," IIM-B faculty member (placement) Sourav Mukherjee told reporters at the campus.

On the very first day of the placement drive (March 4), the entire batch was placed, with about 50 per cent of them (133) getting lucrative offers from slot zero firms, making the entire process the fastest ever placement in the school.

The total number of slot zero offers increased to 32 and IIM-B students were recruited for diverse profiles and geographies.

Interestingly, only 25 per cent of the students opted for overseas locations, while the remaining 75 per cent preferred to work in India. Location on offer were London, New York, Boston, Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Florida, Dubai, Amsterdam, Sydney and Melbourne.

Undeterred by concerns of global recession and fallout of the sub-prime crisis in the US, a high number of investment banks came calling this time to offer postings in India and overseas to the reputed B-school.

Among major recruiters were McKinsey & Co with 15 offers, followed by Lehman Brothers and Boston Consulting Group 11 each; Deutsche Bank with seven, Bain & Co, AT Kerney and Merrill Lynch with six each; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanely with five each; Oliver Wyman, Barclays Capital and ABN AMRO four each and Citigroup three.

"Around 37 per cent of the total students (95) opted for a consulting career, which is the highest across all IIMs this year. Arthur D. Little, Al Ghanim, Accenture, KPMG and Diamond Consulting were the other global consulting recruiters," Mukherjee said after the final placement process concluded on Saturday.

Sectors such as real estate, media/entertainment and lifestyle have also opened up for attractive placements in response to student preferences.

London-based real estate Blackstone group recruited a student - the only selection it has made in Asia.

Other sectors which offered significant number of positions include finance (19 per cent), investment banking (21 per cent), marketing (seven per cent), IT (six per cent), operations, lifestyle and general management (10 per cent).

"The increasing number of global recruiters bears a strong testimony to the maturing global reputation of IIM-B. In spite of recessionary fears in the US and a resultant slowdown in the global economy, we have not seen such concerns impacting hiring our graduates.”

"We are in the business of preparing management students in India. We all understand the business cycles. Sometimes it favours and other times it goes down. Being a stronger institute, we are better placed to handle the downturn," IIM-B director Pankaj Chandra said.

Among Indian firms, ICICI offered positions in its London and Singapore operations.

10 Golden Rules to Become Rich

Once you decide to put your money to work to build long-term wealth, you have to decide, not whether to take risk, but what kind of risk you wish to take. Here are 10 investing rules that can make you rich:

1. There's no escaping risk
Once you decide to put your money to work to build long-term wealth, you have to decide, not whether to take risk, but what kind of risk you wish to take.
Yes, money in a savings account is dollar-safe, but those safe dollars are apt to be substantially eroded by inflation, a risk that almost guarantees you will fail to reach your wealth goals.
And yes, money in the stock market is very risky over the short-term, but, if well-diversified, should provide remarkable growth with a high degree of consistency over the long term.

2. Buy right and hold tight
The most critical decision you face is arriving at the proper allocation of assets in your investment portfolio -- stocks for growth of capital and growth of income, bonds for conservation of capital and current income.
Once you get your balance right, then just hold tight, no matter how high a greedy stock market flies, nor how low a frightened market plunges. Change the allocation only as your investment profile changes. Begin by considering a 50/50 stock/bond-cash balance, then raise the stock allocation if:
• You have many years remaining to accumulate wealth.
• The amount of capital you have at stake is modest.
• You don't have much need for current income from your investments.
• You have the courage to ride out the stock market booms and busts with reasonable equanimity.
As these factors are reversed, reduce the 50 per cent stock allocation accordingly.

3. Time is your friend, impulse your enemy
Think long term, and don't allow transitory changes in stock prices to alter your investment program. There is a lot of noise in the daily volatility of the stock market, which too often is 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'.
Stocks may remain overvalued, or undervalued, for years. Realize that one of the greatest sins of investing is to be captured by the siren song of the market, luring you into buying stocks when they are soaring and selling when they are plunging.
Impulse is your enemy. Why? Because market timing is impossible. Even if you turn out to be right when you sold stocks just before a decline (a rare occurrence!), where on earth would you ever get the insight that tells you the right time to get back in? One correct decision is tough enough. Two correct decisions are nigh on impossible.
Time is your friend. If, over the next 25 years, stocks produce a 10% return and a savings account produces a 5% return, $10,000 would grow to $108,000 in stocks vs. $34,000 in savings. (After 3% inflation, $54,000 vs $16,000). Give yourself all the time you can.

4. Realistic expectations: the bagel and the doughnut
These two different kinds of baked goods symbolize the two distinctively different elements of stock market returns.
It is hardly farfetched to consider that investment return -- dividend yields and earnings growth -- is the bagel of the stock market, for the investment return on stocks reflects their underlying character: nutritious, crusty and hard-boiled.
By the same token, speculative return -- wrought by any change in the price that investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings -- is the spongy doughnut of the market, reflecting changing public opinion about stock valuations, from the soft sweetness of optimism to the acid sourness of pessimism.
The substantive bagel-like economics of investing are almost inevitably productive, but the flaky, doughnut-like emotions of investors are anything but steady -- sometimes productive, sometimes counterproductive.
In the long run, it is investment return that rules the day. In the past 40 years, the speculative return on US stocks has been zero, with the annual investment return of 11.2% precisely equal to the stock market's total return of 11.2% per year.
But in the first 20 of those years, investors were sour on the economy's prospects, and a tumbling price-earnings ratio provided a speculative return of minus 4.6% per year, reducing the nutritious annual investment return of 12.1% to a market return of just 7.5%. From 1981 to 2001, however, the outlook sweetened, and a soaring P/E ratio produced a sugary 5% speculative boost to the investment return of 10.3%.
Result: The market return leaped to 15.3% -- double the return of the prior two decades.
The lesson: Enjoy the bagel's healthy nutrients, and don't count on the doughnut's sweetness to enhance them.

5. Why look for the needle in the haystack? Buy the haystack
Experience confirms that buying the right stocks, betting on the right investment style, and picking the right money manager -- in each case, in advance -- is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Investing in equities entails four risks: stock risk, style risk, manager risk, and market risk. The first three of these risks can easily be eliminated, simply by owning the entire stock market -- owning the haystack, as it were -- and holding it forever.
Owning the entire stock market is the ultimate diversifier. If you can't find the needle, buy the haystack.

6. Minimize the croupier's take
The resemblance of the stock market to the casino is not far-fetched. Yes, the stock market is a positive-sum game and the gambling casino is a zero-sum game . . . but only before the costs of playing each game are deducted. After the heavy costs of financial intermediaries (commissions, management fees, taxes, etc.) are deducted, beating the stock market is inevitably a loser's game. Just as, after the croupiers' wide rake descends, beating the casino is inevitably a loser's game. All investors as a group must earn the market's return before costs, and lose to the market after costs, and by the exact amount of those costs.
Your greatest chance of earning the market's return, therefore, is to reduce the croupiers' take to the bare-bones minimum. When you read about stock market returns, realize that the financial markets are not for sale, except at a high price.
The difference is crucial. If the market's return is 10% before costs, and intermediation costs are approximately 2%, then investors earn 8%. Compounded over 50 years, 8% takes $10,000 to $469,000. But at 10%, the final value leaps to $1,170,000 -- nearly three times as much . . . just by eliminating the croupier's take.

7. Beware of fighting the last war
Too many investors -- individuals and institutions alike -- are constantly making investment decisions based on the lessons of the recent, or even the extended, past. They seek technology stocks after they have emerged victorious from the last war; they worry about inflation after it becomes the accepted bogeyman, they buy bonds after the stock market has plunged.
You should not ignore the past, but neither should you assume that a particular cyclical trend will last forever. None does. Just because some investors insist on 'fighting the last war,' you don't need to do so yourself. It doesn't work for very long.

8. Sir Isaac Newton's revenge on Wall Street - return to the mean
Through all history, investments have been subject to a sort of law of gravity: What goes up must go down, and, oddly enough, what goes down must go up. Not always of course (companies that die rarely live again), and not necessarily in the absolute sense, but relative to the overall market norm.
For example, stock market returns that substantially exceed the investment returns generated by earnings and dividends during one period tend to revert and fall well short of that norm during the next period. Like a pendulum, stock prices swing far above their underlying values, only to swing back to fair value and then far below it.
Another example: From the start of 1997 through March 2000, Nasdaq stocks (+230%) soared past NYSE-listed stocks (+20%), only to come to a screeching halt. During the subsequent year, Nasdaq stocks lost 67% of their value, while NYSE stocks lost just 7%, reverting to the original market value relationship (about one to five) between the so-called 'new economy' and the 'old economy.'
Reversion to the mean is found everywhere in the financial jungle, for the mean is a powerful magnet that, in the long run, finally draws everything back to it.

9. The hedgehog bests the fox
The Greek philosopher Archilochus tells us, 'The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one great thing.' The fox -- artful, sly, and astute -- represents the financial institution that knows many things about complex markets and sophisticated marketing.
The hedgehog -- whose sharp spines give it almost impregnable armour when it curls into a ball -- is the financial institution that knows only one great thing: long-term investment success is based on simplicity.
The wily foxes of the financial world justify their existence by propagating the notion that an investor can survive only with the benefit of their artful knowledge and expertise. Such assistance, alas, does not come cheap, and the costs it entails tend to consume more value-added performance than even the most cunning of foxes can provide.
Result: The annual returns earned for investors by financial intermediaries such as mutual funds have averaged less than 80% of the stock market's annual return.
The hedgehog, on the other hand, knows that the truly great investment strategy succeeds, not because of its complexity or cleverness, but because of its simplicity and low cost. The hedgehog diversifies broadly, buys and holds, and keeps expenses to the bare-bones minimum.
The ultimate hedgehog: The all-market index fund, operated at minimal cost and with minimal portfolio turnover, virtually guarantees nearly 100% of the market's return to the investor.
In the field of investment management, foxes come and go, but hedgehogs are forever.

10. Stay the course: the secret of investing is that there is no secret
When you consider these previous nine rules, realize that they are about neither magic and legerdemain, nor about forecasting the unforecastable, nor about betting at long and ultimately unsurmountable odds, nor about learning some great secret of successful investing.
In fact, there is no great secret, only the majesty of simplicity. These rules are about elementary arithmetic, about fundamental and unarguable principles, and about that most uncommon of all attributes, common sense.

Owning the entire stock market through an index fund -- all the while balancing your portfolio with an appropriate allocation to an all bond market index fund -- with its cost-efficiency, its tax-efficiency, and its assurance of earning for you the market's return, is by definition a winning strategy.

But if only you follow one final rule for successful investing, perhaps the most important principle of all investment wisdom: Stay the course!!! source

If Genders are Equal, why is Women's Day celebrated?

International Women's Day 2008 is on March 8.

Today's women are independent, career-oriented, strong-willed and capable.

They balance both boardrooms and their home-life with ease, juggling schedules, meeting deadlines and fulfilling all their responsibilities as corporate women.

They seem to do it all and more and they pull it off with flair.

So we want to ask you, dear readers -- if women are considered equals, do you think a day is needed to celebrate their gender?

If equality of the sexes is desirable, should there be a 'Women's Day' at all?