How to Ace the Behavioral Interview

“Congratulations! Your resume has been shortlisted for the interview."

These are the words   which give you butterflies in your stomach and put you right into motion.  After the initial mini celebration is over , the big thing dawns on you, that the real deal starts now and hence, you pack up your emotions and begin your preparation for the D-Day—the interview.

But wait! What sort of questions should you prepare for? Would you only be preparing the traditional questions or some behavioral questions as well?

Let’s find an answer to this question by first understanding the basic difference between these two types of interviews.

Traditional v/s Behavioral interview

In a traditional interview, the HR asks some basic set of questions in order to seek as much as information as they can in a given period of time. This includes open and closed ended questions like ‘tell me about yourself?’, ‘why should I hire you?’, and ‘what are your strengths?’, ‘are you open to relocate?’ Such questions help the HR in figuring out the fitment for the given profile. On the other hand, Behavioral interviews are comparatively more comprehensive and difficult to crack. In behavioral interviews, specific questions are asked in order to target and understand a specific behavior of the candidate.

It is a popular belief that  a person’s past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. On the basis of the person’s past performance and work record, an interviewer predicts the future on-the-job behavior of the candidate.

Nowadays, employers lay a lot of focus on the behavioral interviews as they use it as a perimeter   to check, whether you have the competencies needed for the job in question.

For the people who aren’t well aware about the concept of Competency, “Competencies are the set of skills required to perform a particular job.” In simple words, Competency = Job Behavior.

While designing the behavioral questions, the employer considers your resume; the desired competencies required for the job profile in question and then structure the interview questions around it. At the time of the interview, you will be further probed for more details to cross check and to measure your consistency with the answers.

Irrespective of whether you are an experienced professional or a fresh graduate, you should be prepared for the behavioral interviews as they play a very prominent role in helping you get the job.

Preparing for behavioral interviews

Behavioral interviews are quite structured and therefore, your answers should also be likewise, that is, not too long or too short. It’s a kind of ‘story telling’ because you are required to share past instances and experiences to justify your answer.

Therefore, while preparing for such an interview, you should make rigorous efforts to create stories with parlance to the relevant competencies.

• Creating stories from the past that show favorable behaviors or actions and creating a short description of the same, which covers the relevant information in brief.
•  All the answers should have proper opening, middle explanation and a conclusion.
• Be honest  as you can as there would be further probing based on  the answers you give.
•   Bring variety to the answers in terms of time or the area that you choose to give the example about, like school life, college life, last organization etc.
• Listen to the question very carefully, evaluate the most relevant example and narrate it carefully.

Remember that it’s just not all about having the right skills, but also about how well you are able to market your skills to the interviewer. And, with the right preparation and marketing behind you, who knows you might land up your dream job because as someone rightly said “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet”.   

- Ms. Priya Bali

  Faculty, INLEAD 

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

Housekeeping: Unsung Heroes of Customer Satisfaction

Has it ever happened to you that you arrive at a hotel all excited looking forward to an amazing stay, but are a little too early and were requested to wait as the room wasn’t ready?

Well, the reason for this wait is that it takes the housekeeping team twice as much as time to clean a departure room than for a guest who is staying over. A room attendant may have over hundred check points for a new arrival including wrinkle free bed linen, stationery, stain free amenity cards, spotlessly clean rooms and many more. Guest satisfaction and cleanliness in rooms during guest stay is a critical factor in ensuring repeat business.

Housekeeping department of a hotel probably employs the largest number of manpower. The number of staff hours depends on the hotel and the guest type it deals with. Staffs therefore are scheduled according to the number of guest staying. Since most of the guest nowadays book in advance especially during peak period, the work load is known well in advance. Although said simply, it can be very daunting for housekeepers as they deal with high variability of task like occupied and departure rooms, evening service, special request, staff absenteeism and host of other things which can push any housekeeper over the edge. Good housekeepers’ find ways of effectively/sharing the workload on a day to day basis.

Housekeeping is a physically demanding job. It also gives you an eye for detail and makes you a perfectionist. At an average, housekeeping staff services anywhere between 10-14 rooms a day in a 9 hour shift yet, they are often invisible to the typical guest. It is a profession that is prone to injuries therefore hoteliers must cultivate work practices that prevent them. Proper training ensures a key role in accident prevention. Following guidelines along with other safe practices ensures that the staffs are safe whilst avoiding injuries to employees that can affect their performance, productivity and morale.

To overlook the importance of housekeeping is a huge mistake since the rooms division generates the most profit for a hotel and the cleanliness and condition of the rooms are most important factors in customer satisfaction ratings. 

Hence, the next time you visit a five star hotel and are welcomed by a spick and span room, don’t forget to say a warm thank you to the housekeeping staff for their efforts. 

-Ms. Bindu Menon

 Senior Faculty, INLEAD 

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

A Teacher's ode on Teachers’ Day

Teacher is not the one who “Teaches” but the one who helps you “Learn”

I strongly believe in learning from what I Teach! If I haven’t had one learning from each lecture I have delivered I have wasted the efforts I’ve put in to formulating those ideas together. It’s really important for any teacher to first understand himself what he is about to teach others or in other words, what he is helping others to understand. If you can’t understand what are the Poisson Process, Lambda and Mue and their significance in the queuing theory created by Agner Krarup Erlang, how you will ever explain a student that behind all these scary jargons is a simple concept of reducing the wait time for your customers standing in the Queue. It is essential for a teacher to imagine how difficult or easy it is to grasp a concept for a person who is coming across it for the first time. The “Mul Mantra” is to assume that your entire audience is hearing about the topic of your elaboration for the very first time and is a complete alien to each terminology mentioned. Then try explaining it with the simplest of details and following an exhaustive approach. This way you might sound repetitive to a certain scholarly set of your listeners but you surely would take care of minimizing all “OTHT-Over the head transmissions” and keeping your sleeping beauties awake and alert!


Over a period of time, I’ve developed this unsurpassed passion towards helping people learn and understand concepts that are new to them. I will be embarrassingly honest to admit that till a few years back, the significance of the birthdate of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was limited to either having no classes when I was a student or to having no classes when I was a novice teacher. It was just like a regular fun day for me. It’s surely  the same now also but what has changed is the respect that I have now for all the teachers, for those trainers and for all those mentors who guide people, who direct people all across the world, the ones I know, my teachers, my guides, my colleagues, most importantly my students and the ones who aren’t a part of my awareness set. This is to extend my wishes and gratitude to all and wishing everyone a Very happy teachers' 
day. 

-Ms. Ginny Kaushal
 Faculty, INLEAD 

INLEADers @Parle-G Industry Visit

There was an air of excitement in the INLEAD Campus on 27^th August, 2015 as the International Business Management students of the new July 2015 Batch were all geared to go for their first Industry Visit. The venue for the visit was the Neemrana Parle G plant in Rajasthan.

The Parle brand has been one of the largest manufacturers of biscuits and confectionary for almost 80 years now. It is the brand behind Parle-G, which is currently the largest selling and most loved biscuit in the world. The company has about 145 factories in India and many more located internationally, especially in southern Africa. The main aim behind the visit was to get INLEADers acquainted with the daily working of a big brand like Parle.

The visit started with Ms. Shweta, HR Officer, Parle, Neemrana, giving a presentation to the students about the history of the Parle G brand and how it has evolved from just one brand to the current 89 brands. She also explained the students about the logistics behind the Neemrana factory and the reason behind the success of the spread of their brands into the national as well as international market.  

This was followed by a tour of the plant, where the students were shown the way the biscuits were being baked, cooled and finally packed in the plant. They were then acquainted with the machines and technology being used in the process. Parle uses machines from Germany, but the packaging technology being used is Japanese. The students were then taken to another factory about a kilometer away where candies were being manufactured. INLEADers were also gifted bags of candies after the tour.

The Industry visit proved to be a great learning experience for the students where they got  a practical view of all that  they had studied inside the classrooms. 

World Trade Organisation – The story from the other side

There have been umpteen articles written and  research done on benefits of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and on how the organization has the potential to  make the world a more cohesive place, a place where the developed and the developing nations will walk hand-in-hand into the sunset. Ironically, like every coin has two sides, there is a flip side to this as well.

So, to begin with, let’s first understand what basically is WTO? World Trade Organisation is a multilateral body comprising 166 member countries that have come together to facilitate smoother & productive international trade in commodities, services and intellectual property.

This particular organization has its fair share of detractors and  there are plenty who step on the streets every now and then with anti-WTO placards, raising their voices in protest. This article looks into the flip side of the WTO, the side which may not be a pretty picture and  which may be leaving few stones unturned, where the moss maybe growing and the rot spreading deep.

According to Global Exchange, an International Human Rights Organisation, and a few more such organisations, there are at least a dozen reasons why WTO is a farce. Let’s look into some of the valid ones put forth by these entities:

  1. WTO is fundamentally undemocratic - The policies of WTO impact all parts of  the  society but they do not take into account all the sections of the society. The US trade representative apparently gets ample representations and  inputs from the industry but none from the citizen groups like consumers, environmental, human rights  and  labour organisations.

  2.  WTO will not make the world safer – WTO would like the world to believe that it’s making the world a safer place by promoting global understanding and peace. In reality, however, the domination of the world trade by the richer countries has been one of the primary  reason for fueling protests in the disgruntled nations.

  3. WTO tramples Labour & Human rights – WTO puts the rights of corporations to profit over and above the human and labour rights. WTO pits workers against each other by promoting internationally recognized labour standards. It further has a greater power to punish a country violating rules, probably even more than the UN.

  4.  WTO would be privatizing essential services – WTO is seeking to force countries to privatize essential services like education, health care, energy  and water, so that these sectors are open to multinational corporations.

  5.  WTO is destroying the environment – WTO is being used by corporations to dismantle hard won local and  international environmental barriers, by labeling them as “barriers to trade”. Once it deregulates industries like fisheries, logging, water utilities, and  energy distribution, there will be a surge in environment degradation.

  6. WTO is increasing inequality – Free trade is not working for majority of the nations, and apparently inequality has worsened since 1990s. Companies are making use of free trade laws  and  shifting businesses to countries where labour is cheap  and  environmental norms lax. In fact, the 20% of the richest nations now consume more than 80% of the produce. The poor seem to have become poorer.

These are but a few arguments against WTO and  the so called proclaimed benefits from its policies. Going further, we will surely see a number of debates related to climate change that could influence plenty of free trade decisions. Developing nations now play an increasingly important role in world trade and WTO with all its norms that may be skewed for the developed nations will now be forced to make accommodations in its these policies. However, this is just my opinion on the issue and like in every democratic country; everyone is entitled to have their opinion. 

Ms. Monica Mor,
Senior Faculty, INLEAD 

Crisis Management during an Event

Arranging an event is like being on a constant battle. You have no idea what new challenge or problem would be thrown in front of you and from where. That’s why, just like a prepared soldier, an event manager has to be well prepared at all the times and have a back-up of things which he/she considers can go wrong during the course of the event.

An event manager is the captain of the ship called “Event”.  He/she has to make sure that the people on board have a fabulous evening/morning as promised according to the schedule.

Here, we present to you an easy crisis management plan that all the event managers out there can follow in order to make sure that they’re never stuck in such a crisis situation.

 1)  Clarity on Chain of Communication- “Too many cooks spoil the dish.” Just like the saying, having too many people speaking on behalf of the event organizer can lead to a lot of speculation and confusion. It’s always better to appoint a media spokesperson in order to insure that streamlined information is communicated to the audience and the press.

 2)   Timely Responses- Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. In case of a crisis, this silence can have a huge impact on the reputation of your company. So, make sure, that you timely respond to all the messages, queries or media questions that come your way. Keeping the audience in oblivion is not a smart move. Social Media can become a great communication tool during the times of crisis.

 3)  Keep the Media informed- In case you had already called journalists, photojournalists and
photographers to cover the event, keep them updated about the status of the event. Keeping them in dark about the developments can have a huge negative impact on the event.

 4) Keep your Events Insured- Better be prepared than sorry. Cancellation of an event can cause huge monetary losses to the event organizer and manager. In order to insure that you don’t end up with a negative bank balance after an event blunder, make sure you get your events insured in advance. Though their premiums are high, but, they really come in handy at the time of crisis.

 5)  Plan well- Anything can happen at any time, even towards the end of a particular event. So, till the event is over, keep your ears and eyes open. In order to make sure that nothing goes wrong, plan your event in a systematic manner and have a back-up plan ready.

Further, what has happened, has happened and “The secret of crisis management is not good vs. bad, it’s preventing the bad from getting worse.” 

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

Management Skills on the 70MM Screen

Cinema has never remained merely a source of entertainment. For decades, movies have played a vital role in enriching one’s learning, giving an advanced approach to what cannot be learnt simply from textbooks and lectures. The count of movies depicting Management lessons is endless; however, here are a few picks from my ‘must watch’ list:

Moneyball (2011)

Based on a true story, this great piece of cinematic art illustrates how organizations, in order to gain a competitive edge over competitors, often need to challenge the prevailing old assumptions and seek 'clear blue water' away from the rest of the industry. 

Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

One of the most inspiring movies ever made. It’s a story of how a struggling salesman transforms his life through an internship. Will Smith’s powerful performance along with Gabriele Muccino’s brilliant direction will make your hearts melt. The protagonist’s attitude towards life and pursue dreams amidst all adversities with constant determination is highly motivating.

Up In the Air (2009)

The story is of Ryan Bingham, a corporate head-honcho, played by George Clooney, whose job is to fire people from their jobs. He travels through air most of the year doing his job and lives out of the suitcase. The movie is crisp and also shows how he transforms when his own company grounds him. This movie offers a lot of insights into HR issues, personal issues, communication skills, management and lot more.

12 Angry Men (1957)

This movie is one of the best sources to understanding group dynamics or behavior. The fate of an accused is left out to the decision of 12 men in a closed room. In the beginning, eleven out of twelve agree to wrap up the case instantly and convict the accused but one man stands against the motion and makes everyone debate. How he does it and what comes out of it is the real learning out of this movie.

Pirates of the Silicon Valley (1999) 

One of the best movies on management and business! If you wish to understand the story of how Apple and Microsoft were formed, this is the movie. Based on true stories and incidents, this is a must watch for any management student or otherwise too. 

The story starts with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both in college and ends with both making the giant brands, a reality. It has some amazing scenes like in which Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer sit in a meeting with IBM and sell them the operating system which they didn't even have. The other scene in which Steve Jobs goes to Xerox to understand the new UI based operating system. Just brilliant!

The Social Network (2010)

This movie needs no introduction. It’s the story of how today’s biggest social media platform - Facebook came into existence. It's a beautifully made movie. Watch it to learn the nuances of entrepreneurship and related elements.

Wall Street (1987)

In management or business we talk a lot about Ethics. Are they always followed or are often compromised – forms the crux of the movie. Greed, insider trading, going to the top are just few of the things Wall Street will show you. One of the best movies on Business, Stock Market and Ethics! Not to be missed for an MBA student.

Antitrust (2001)

This is a high voltage drama on trust issues and the tussle between the Open Source Software Business model and the opposite way of doing the software business. The movie is a good piece of cinematic work. It shows how two friends choose different career paths, moreover, two separate ways of doing business.

Remember the Titans (2000)

Based on the true story of an African-American coach, played by Denzel Washington, this movie revolves around how he creates a racially mixed team in which White and African-American players learn from each other and form an ultimate team. Watch this movie to learn Team Building and Acceptance.

Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year (2009)

Very few Indian movies are made so well on topics of business or management. The movie shows how a simple man pursuing internship in a computer company takes on the entire system of bad sales practices and establishes his own company on the basis of ethics and honesty. He makes one mistake though. The movie shows both sides of business very effectively - the bad side of Puri's business style and the good side of Harpreet's business sense.

-Mr.Sumit Chakravarty
 Faculty, INLEAD

 Images Courtesy- Google Images 

Is the Chinese Dragon losing fire?

The great Chinese Dragon tumble on Monday led to a furore in almost all the leading markets of the world with all of them ending in deep red. The Shanghai Composite Index ended trade on Monday down 8.49 percent, after all of the yearly gains were wiped out of the market. Let’s start decoding what led to this Monday Mayhem.   

A quick background…

In 35 years from 1979 to 2014, the Chinese economy has grown by 10% per annum and doubled in size every 8 years, relative to the US economy. The subsequent governments in China worked on “decollectivization” of individual farm lands which helped improve agrarian productivity to help feed a burgeoning city population. Then they set up innumerable micro and small enterprises in the manufacturing sector and opened new industrial zones in Pearl River Delta in South China (adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao) and in the Fujian Province (close to Taiwan).

The Economic Boom

Gradually, foreign investments surged into China primarily due to availability of cheap labour, and also due to the succession of Hong Kong into Chinese mainland in 1997 and China’s subsequent entry into the WTO also added to the cause. Chinese Government ensured competitiveness of Chinese goods by repeated devaluation of its currency from 1.5 Yuan to 1 US$ in 1978, to 4.8 Yuan to 1 US$ in 1990, to 8.3 Yuan in 1994, to 10 Yuan very recently. One example of a successful manufacturing enterprise from China is Foxconn, manufacturer of iPhone, which is now setting up its manufacturing units in India.

The Problem starts                                                                   

With a devalued currency and manufacturing glut, exports surged to unprecedented levels. Over time, while manufacturing continued to power ahead, unfortunately, the global demand and consumption of Chinese manufactures hit a new low. China started experiencing a crisis of over accumulation; i.e production far outstretches consumption both in the international and in the domestic markets, especially in cement, steel, aluminum and shipbuilding.

The situation deteriorates

The Chinese economy in 2007 found itself to be uncoordinated, unbalanced and unsustainable. In 2009, thousands of companies shut shop leaving 20 million workers unemployed. By the time it was 2013, there were ample Government stimulus programs in place and shadow-banking networks active. (It has been common practice for investment banks to conduct many of their transactions in ways that do not show up on their conventional balance sheet accounting and so are not visible to regulators or unsophisticated investors.) Growth rates were upped, but it left a toxic legacy. There was indebtedness all around, insufficient consumption of manufactures, and to top it all the property bubble deflated in 2014. Central Government then encouraged investors to flood the stock market with money, and by June 2015, the Stock Exchange had soared by 150%. But, since this was in complete dissonance with the real economic situation, and with huge numbers doing margin trading, it didn’t take long for the stock market to crash, which it did on the 12^th of June, 2015 and there was rout of 4 trillion $ of value from Chinese stocks. These developments in China will surely have had repercussions all over the world and for a long time to come!

And, eventually on 24 August, the worst fears of most of the world economists were realized when the Shanghai market tanked and took all the major markets with it. 

-Ms. Monica Mor

 Senior Faculty, INLEAD

Courtesy- Google Images 

The changing Food and Beverage Scenario

Gone are the days when one would walk into a hotel and be welcomed with a royal spread of multiple Food and Beverage options. The guests had a lot to choose from …ranging from authentic Indian to exotic cuisines like Italian, Chinese, continental etc. Instead, what one  finds at majority of hotels today is  just limited to two-three options like an All Day dining, a Bar, one Specialty restaurant and of course, an optional in-room dining.

Guest preferences and financial factors are primarily the reasons to be blamed for the big change. A guest today might find it more comforting to work sitting in a coffee shop while having an internet access.

Recession has also tightened the budgets of corporate and business travelers, which has ultimately led to a rise of mid-segment, economy and budget hotels. With economy or budget hotels taking the center stage, lodging projects that are under construction or planning stage are venturing into what is understood today as “Select- Service” with limited amount Food & Beverage option.

From hotels perspective, Food & Beverage departments are viewed as an intensive operation that takes a lot of time to manage but have extremely low profit margins. This doesn’t eliminate the hotel that boasts about Michelin star restaurants, new menu trends like gastro pubs and tapas style offerings. It’s limited to hotels offering world class service; standalone fine dines restaurants or high end pubs. The target clientele for these segments are the “High paying Guests”. 

Another trend that is slowly and gradually catching up in the hotel industry is partnering with well-known Food & Beverage brands. For example, Marriott, partners with Starbucks for many of their coffee shops at their hotels. Johnny Rockets opened a unit inside Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.  Beyond partnership, many hotels have also created grab-and-go meals. Aloft’s Re: fuel and Hampton Inns offers On-The-Run breakfast. They are easy meal option for guests on the move. The Grand Hyatt in New York recently launched Market- a 24 hour self-service grab and go area. It’s open to public and offers hot meals, salads, pastries that are packaged for take-out.

These are few of the trends that are driving sales in the hospitality industry by meeting guest’s needs for convenience, value, flexibility along with quality.

“The Guest isn’t always right”. But, if you don’t listen to them, your product won’t either. 

-Bindu A. Menon

 Senior Faculty, INLEAD 

Courtesy- Google Images 

BIONICS: “A lot Like Life”

BION-IC (Life-Like) literally means imitating the nature.

Science and Engineering have been the two most fascinating fields known to the humankind since ages and when these two fields come together, they create Bionics.  

“Bionics” is technically defined as the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the designing and engineering of systems and modern technology. It is basically the flow of concepts from Biology to engineering. Imagine conceptualizing an Information System for a hospital based on the mechanism seen in the nervous system of a butterfly. Seems impossible? Well, with the Bionics the impossible becomes possible.

Bionics also includes inventing new innovative structures which can mimic the damaged natural body organs or parts. By using a similar technology, we can increase the chances of acceptance by human body. The development in the field has reached to a level where they can incorporate electronics and pneumatic mechanisms of considerable complexity into the Modern prosthetic limbs often giving the feel of a real limb. Imagine how easy it would be for a person with no legs to accept an artificial limb that looks and functions like an original one.

Few examples of body parts and the biomaterials and biomedical devices that can be used to replace damaged or diseased body parts are as follows:  

1.    Artificial Joints: Artificial hip joints are made from materials like stainless steel-polyethylene or cobalt-chromium alloy-polyethylene combination.

2.    Pacemakers:  A pacemaker is a battery-operated device intended to stimulate contraction of the heart at a certain rate. 

3.    Crowns and Dentures: Recent developments have led to innovations of metal-ceramic crowns and have led to an increase in strength of these structures. Dentures (false teeth) are generally made from acrylic for ease of fabrication.

4.    Cochlear Implants: It is an artificial device that can replace a damaged ear and help in hearing. It is designed to stimulate nerves inside the inner ear, thus producing a hearing sensation. The technology involves converting sound into electrical impulses, which can be used to stimulate the auditory nerves, sending a signal to the brain, which finally creates a hearing sensation.

5.    The iron lung: Artificial lungs are not a new development. The history can be traced to 1940s where the “iron lung” was used in treating polio.

Bionics can prove to be a life changing technology for a lot of people and with more and more development happening in the field with each passing day, the field can prove to be of a real help to the healthcare industry. 

-Ms. Ginny Kaushal,

 Faculty, INLEAD

Images Courtesy- Google Images

GST – why India needs it?

The 15^th month young NDA government is all set to keep its prestige at stake for the early passage of the much controversial GST bill. So much so that it is even considering having a special session for the same next month.

The main question that arises here is why is the NDA that opposed the bill for ten good years during the Congress regime is so curious to get it passed now. Here, in this article, I will try to find answers for all that. Before we begin, let’s first understand what GST actually is and what it means to India.

What is GST?

The Goods & Services Tax or GST is a comprehensive tax levy on manufacture, sales and consumption of goods at a national level. One of the biggest taxation reforms, the GST will hopefully integrate State economies and boost overall growth. It is set to be implemented from 1^st of April, 2016. There is an expectation of a boost of about 2% to nation’s GDP with the GST bill in place.

Currently, through a tax credit mechanism, taxes are being paid at all value addition level, at each stage of sales and purchase in the supply chain. For example, a manufacturer has to pay tax when the goods are rolled out from the factory. The goods are then again taxed at the point of retail.

In the GST system, both Central and State taxes will be collected at the point of sale. GST proposes to replace most central and state levies with one single tax.   In fact,  all indirect taxes like excise  and sales tax, value-added tax, central sales tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax, octroi, lottery tax, electricity duty, state surcharges, etc. on all products (except alcohol, tobacco & petroleum) will be replaced. This will benefit individuals as it will bring down the prices, and lower prices will lead to greater consumption which will eventually benefit the company.

What type of GST is proposed for India?

India is planning to implement a dual GST system, where there would be a Central GST (CGST)   and a State GST (SGST). Currently, the rate is expected to be around 14-16%. After this rate is decided, the states and the center will decide on CGST and SGST.

The GST has been implemented in about 140 countries, with France being the first to do so in 1954. Brazil and Canada follow a dual system of GST which is the same as being proposed in India.

Opposition to the GST within India:

There are some states that are in opposition of the enactment of the GST, like manufacturing states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. This is because the GST is levied on buyers or where goods and services are being consumed. On the other hand big consumer states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala would benefit, with huge collections from multiple points of sale primarily due to their size of population and its consumption habits. The states (especially the manufacturing ones) which may lose out on their earnings want an assurance that their revenues will be protected. Finance minister, Mr. Arun Jaitely, has been reiterating the fact that there would be compensation to states who would suffer revenue losses for at least five years after moving to the new regime. This compensation would be to the tune of a 1% additional levy on the GST for loss of revenues. The GST has been passed  its Lok Sabha test where the BJP has a majority but is stuck in the Rajya Sabha, where Congress has waved the red flag since the party feels that there could be a cascading effect of the 1% ‘entry tax’.

Nevertheless, modalities are being thrashed out and a GST empowered committee would be responsible for the transition to the new taxation regime. There would be constitutional amendments to be done as also discussions with industry associations.

With the rollout deadline of April 1, 2016 looming near and the Congress stalling the entire monsoon session, the NDA government will have to take some serious steps in order to end this tug of war with the Congress.

-Monica Mor

 Senior Faculty, INLEAD 

Life is all about learning!

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

We all learn something new every day. Consciously or subconsciously, this is a gradual and a never ending process.

We as learners, use our individual methodologies, capacities and interests to learn new things in life. And our learning approach is affected by many factors like age, intelligence, attitude, aptitude, and sensory preferences.

Knowing the learning styles is important for us. No matter which walk of life we are from, directly or indirectly, we are involved in some kind of learning process.

In this article, I will be discussing the VAK learning model by Neil Fleming, which is used by professionals worldwide.

Let’s start by understanding what a learning style actually means.

Ellis (1985) described a learning style as "the more or less consistent way in which a person perceives, conceptualizes, organizes and recalls information.”

Everyone has a preferred or a predominant style of learning. Knowing, understanding and nurturing that preferred style of learning makes your learning process easier and much more exciting. However, this doesn’t mean that a person only learns by using one style. We can use multiple styles at a time or different styles at different point in time.

Talking about the VAK Model, each and every alphabet in VAK has its own meaning. In VAK Model…

V stands for Visual: It means learning by seeing.

Here an individual:

• Absorbs the information by seeing the images, faces, diagrams, charts, pictures and maps
• Learns by observing the body language and expressions
• Tends to pen down the information
• Creates list of information and make notes in an organized manner

If you are a Visual learner, use color coding to highlight important information and carry a note pad with you wherever you go. Cover your room walls with pictures that motivate you   and try seeing more of learning videos.

A stands for Auditory: It means learning by hearing. 

Here an individual:

• Absorbs the information by discussions, speaking and arguing
• Learns by auditory activities
• Tends to have the internal dialogue
• Repeats & paraphrase for the confirmation of the information

If you are an auditory learner, use audio, recording and recite to memorize information. Listening to experiences and discussions has a great impact on you. When you read or learn new thing, try explaining it to yourself aloud. You would learn better and quicker with quizzes and discussions and reading. 

K stands for Kinesthetic: It means learning by movement. 

Here an individual:

• Absorbs the information by involvement, performing activities and movement from one place to the other
• Learns by expressing, acting and moving
• Tends to get distracted if have to just sit for longer without a task in hand
• Excellent motor skills, which means hand eye coordination

If you are a kinesthetic learner, you learn and memorize while in motion and express yourself better through dance, theatre and sports. You learn faster through the sense of touch like using a keypad. You should try to use models and experiments as your typical way of studying.

Lastly, whatever style or model you follow, the one prime factor that is required for effective learning is passion. Passion is like the fuel to the knowledge car. You may take different paths to reach your destination but without the fuel, your car won’t be able to move an inch.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Happy Learning!

-Priya Bali
 Faculty, INLEAD

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

The Mystery of BOUTIQUE HOTELS!

The hospitality Industry is thriving like never before. New hotels are mushrooming one after another across the globe. With more and more travellers taking the travel way, this boom in the industry is here to stay. 

Courtesy- http://cdn.luxatic.com/

This exponential rise in the Hotel industry has led to a creation of a number of classes which is not only confusing for the guests, but also for the hotel companies, as now everyone has a different interpretation of what each of these classes mean.

Full Service…Luxury… Limited Service…First Class… Select Service…Focused Service… Extended Stay… Seven Star… Five Star Deluxe… Five Star… etc. 

And, here enters the boutique hotels; the confusion around what classifies as a boutique is one of the most interesting unsolved mysteries known in the hotel industry. 

The expectation of a frequent traveller today has moved beyond just comfort and convenience. Increasing number of travellers prefer to be "surprised" — positively of course. Nowadays, they look for properties that are different in look and feel, somewhere where they can get a unique experience while on the go and, their this expectation is fulfilled by the Boutique hotels


The origin of Boutique hotels dates back to the early 1980s. Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, London and Bedford in Union Square, San Francisco, are known to be the first two boutique hotels in the world.

Boutique hotels distinguish themselves from others on the basis of their small size . For a property to be considered a boutique hotel, it should not have more than 100 rooms, but shouldn’t be that  small either. Hotels with less than 10 rooms are generally not categorized as a boutique hotel. It can There could also be a Boutique wing of a big hotel. The boutique section feels like a separate hotel. It has its own reception desk, lobby, and decor. Guests can quickly sense a more exclusive identity and better service in a Boutique hotel. For example, Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace in Vegas, has a quiet enclave within the massive Caesars Palace casino-hotel.

A Boutique Hotel offers ultra-personal service.   They are eccentric and can surprise and delight guests with winsome touches. A Boutique hotel has a special focus on Food and Beverage. Most of the boutique hotel houses outstanding restaurants and bars; celebrity-chefs and offers stylish lounges. The Taj Campton Place in San Francisco has a bay area two-Michelin-star restaurant Campton Place.

   W St. Petersburg Hotel, Russia

A Boutique hotel is not generic, or bland. It strives to be one-of-a-kind, and has an independent attitude. The designs can range from Modern or Designer Decor with a Quirky Touch. For example, W St. Petersburg Hotel in Russia has a fantasy décor which resembles a space-age disco. 

So, if special attention, best food and services are on your check list for your ideal hotel, a Boutique Hotel is the hotel for you.

-Bindu A. Menon

Senior Faculty, INLEAD