Name of the Game - I

Business is a good game – lots of competition and a minimum of rules. You keep score with money. Atari Corporation founder Nolan Bushnell

With these lines, I begin a journey to the flamboyant world of business games where the dice throbs to the tune of sheer shrewdness. It is immaterial whether the player has the most coveted degrees up his sleeves. What really matters is the amount of cunningness and tact one can employ to emerge victorious. While we talk about “innovating at the frontier”, we must understand that the boundary demarcating the level of practicality from that of madness consummates at what can be equated with the Horizon. In order to step upon a smooth transition, transient though, from the former to the latter and vice versa, one should be extremely quick at judging the sensitivity of the either.

Well, innovation must never stop at any milestone for it is a lasting process. As the player buckles up his shoes to jump into the arena, he must realize that it’s the magnitude of his sheer persistence that will ultimately see him through. He should have hardened his soul with innumerable sessions of practice beforehand, just to get the right kind of feel of what awaits him. As with any business management student, the concept of defining theories and testing hypotheses are not the only avenues to achieve the prowess of a visionary. The most important skill he needs to improvise on is the ability to sense and sniff. The sensory reactivity of the player to an impending problem would eventually fetch him the most optimal solution. This very aspect has to be ingrained in the individual from a very tender age when the mind is at it’s receptive best. The Shaolin brand of martial arts schools absorb the students when they are in the age of infantile celebration. The students are gradually exposed to various degrees of physical and mental endurance techniques that subsequently sharpen their ability to concentrate.

The same applies to the students pursuing management degrees. In order to be able to get a good grasp over the chaotic deliberations of the stock market or the meshed locales of supply chain system, they need to have a pre-cognitive understanding of the happenings there. They need to have played games in the same spirit as that of a teenager drooling over a pokemon or an age of empires. Only the structure of the game is a little different wherein the settings are inherently realistic not fantastic.

One such investment game is the “Money Exchange Game”. Two players move in sequence. Player1 has an initial monetary endowment A. Player1 decides the amount x of A to transfer to Player2. The transfer x is a productive investment; it increases by a multiple R (larger than one) before reaching Player2. Then, Player2 decides how much of a of Rx to return to Player1. Player1 leaves with A-x+a and Player2 leaves with Rx-a. If Player1 initially has $10 and decides to transfer $5, Player2 would receive $15. If Player2 decides to return $8 out of the $15, the final pay-off of the players are $13 and $7 respectively.

Similarly, I’d like to propose another game aptly titled the “Gift Exchange Game”. Like the previous one, here two players move sequentially. 1 has to propose a wage w in a given interval. 2 can accept or refuse. If he refuses, both players get a zero pay-off. If he accepts, he has to choose a costly effort e. Then, the game is over and the 1st player gets a pay-off Re-w, while the second gets w-c(e), where c is the cost of the effort. The transfer or investment in the earlier game is replaced by the commitment of the 1st player to pay a wage w., irrespective of the effort of the 2nd player. The return payment is replaced by the effort e and its cost c(e) to the 2nd player. The opportunity for both the players is represented by the productive factor R. Like the Money Exchange Game, a rational selfish 1st player should anticipate a minimum effort of the 2nd player and should promise a minimum wage. With minimum wage, effort and cost of zero effort all equal to zero. Both players get zero equilibrium pay-off.

The games present a very good platform for the management students to employ their grey matter to achieve optimality in all instances.

David vs Goliath

Yup !! After what seemed like eternity, I was able to break free from the clutches of apparently endless nights pouring over countless case studies, simulations, financial ratios, balance sheets, numericals and what not !! My first term exams came to a screeching halt today after having squeezed the last drop of verve in what can be aptly described as a prelude to the concentrations camps in Auswitz. I must confess that in the last three years, my life had not been as punishingly strenuous as It was during the last week in so far as the depth of commitment is concerned. As of now, the Goliath has been put to rest under the shades of transience with David all agog to embark upon a pristine soul-searching expedition.

Well, so far so good. I look forward to the awaiting episode of my academic milieu that will unfold in the coming week. In the meantime, while I was under the spell of a hysteric "Exam-phobia", I did not leave any stones unturned to catch some the most brilliantly carved Hollywood flicks, namely, A Beautiful Mind, Usual Suspects, Original Sin, Black Hawk Down, Exorcist-The Beginning, Anacondas-Hunt for the Blood Orchids, Butterfly Effect, Bourne Supremacy, Collateral, Paycheck, Three Kings, Station Agent, Heat, Donnie Brasco, From Hell. I'd perform an analytical dissection of the thrill factor associated with these some time later...

Call of the Phoenix

Good Heavens !!! Its already 2 weeks and I haven't posted anything on Moonlovers. It seems as If time had warped into another dimension and I had been reduced to nothing but another piece of scum ravaged by its incorrigible reflexes. Well, its another story that was I insurmountably busy with the numerous pending assignments and project presentations that come free with an MBA programme. My endterm would be beginning the next week and I still have a lot of significantly trivial queries unanswered, comprehensibly incoherent concepts muddled.

In the meantime, the MISRA species, thanks to its indomitable spirits, has been able to clean up the mess implanted by the thy Highness COUGH in all its capacity. I would certainly take this joyous opportunity to enlighten the fact that my alma mater XIMB ranks as the Xth, sorry, 10th best B-school in India according to the COSMODE Business World survey undertaken in 2004. XIMB is an extremely well-groomed B-school with all the assets required to be at the top of the pinnacle, but suffers primarily due to the altruistic nature of the Jesuit society running it, who are too modest to initiate an aggressive advertising propaganda and partly due to an ineffectual location i.e. Bhubaneswar.But, when it comes to parameters like academic milieu and technology, it undoubtedly pips its more illustrious fraternity to the post. IIMs get the patronage from the government of India, XLRI has the backing of the TATAs, MDI spoofs its proximity to Delhi as intellectual richness, others bask in the glory of being situated in the Metros and rubbing shoulders with the top notch firms. Notwithstanding the innumerable hardships, XIMB has been able to carve a niche for itself by sheer diligence and competent grey matter. I unflinchingly proclaim that XIMB would soon be what Sirius (Dog Star) is to our galaxy i.e., the Brightest one or the Cynosure of all eyes. We, at XIMB, live by the parable Many Dream, Some Dare, We Achieve...

Terminator 4: Rise of the MISRA

There has not been much improvement in my health as I am still amidst a full fledged war with the microscopic battalion of inconquerably resilient viruses of a self-styled dictator named Cold the devil who has found a conspiring ally in Cough the wizard, both of whom seem to have taken a special interest in trying to confine me within the forlorn precincts of Room # 21 in Block A. But, I haven't yet forsaken all hopes as I raise my steely, curvaceous Excalibur , for this spoon incarnate holds the elixir to freedom, the yellowish syrup that will, for once and all, annihilate the existence of my perennial enemies. I attach a sample of human domination, in the form of what we plebeian mortals refer to as Tab(ul)lets with the syrups before gulping it down the channel of control as opposed to LoC (Line of Control). Then, ensues what will ultimately go down the annals of history as one of the fiercest battles ever fought, the result of which will eventually determine the survival of one of the species, i.e., Kamal Misra or the Virus...

Of Fahrenheits and Stock Market...

I have not been able to write much in the last couple of days, the reason being an unexpected bout of high fever. Today, somehow I managed to muster enough determination to be able to type a few lines. I missed a few classes and have to make amends in a very short time frame. Especially, the Financial Accounting class will require the larger chunk of pending ground work, since I'm still facing a supposed lack of confidence in being able to catch up with the fundamentals.

Now a days, X-FIN, the Finance Association of XIMB is all agog with the innovatively experimental stock market simulation game aptly titled DALAL STREET, which as a matter of fact was designed to hone the trading skills of the would-be managers passing out of XIMB. It's all fun seeing the stocks of the top-notch companies negotiating the seemingly turbulent market in their respective styles. My team "SILVER BLAZE" (remember the famous Sherlock Holmes novel about the invincible derby stallion) suffered a minor setback as all shares bought by us plunged abysmally due to the ruckus in the finance ministry as of this morning.

Race against Time

Today it was an engaging ordeal for me on the personal front. Apart from the daily recipe of infantile salvation from an otherwise turbulent schedule, the institute had more to offer, a typically managerial ploy. Only two classes and adding to the exhileration was a cancelled marketing quiz. I believe, the system of management education leans excessively towards an offshoot of time management, that is time deployment. It's left to the candidates to decide how they plan to distribute the precious microseconds and nanoseconds, even if it means the installation of an atomic clock in the premises of their cerebral faculties.

Since TIME happens to be the crux of my Blogger musings today, I deem it relevant to devise an infallible mechanism wherein we can control the sanctity of the so-called Boundless entity which leaves no stones unturned to ravage the possiblities of any substantial permanence. But more of it later...

Trailing zeroes

Today had been very hectic in the sense that I was zombie incarnate in as many as 5 classes in succession. It's a liberal toss-up between the Cat & Dogs and the melancholic drizzle variety when it comes to rainfall in Bhubaneswar, but so far we have seen a phenomenal domination by the former in the last few days. Some guys handled a presentation session in the Human Resources class pertaining to the rise and rise of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). I was kinda' taken aback to be presented with the fact that the immediate equivalent of IOCL in China is benevolence personified to around 7 Lakh employees while IOCL cuts it sharp at 30,000. What about the never-ending hogwash proclaiming China to be a genetically competent socialist entity when in reality Indians are far more effective albeit with a lower headcount to sustain the $25 billion powerhouse that has found its way into FORTUNE.

I'm not very satisfied with my performance in Financial Accounting although It's no mean task to morph myself into a mechanized number cruncher to improve upon my interpretation of the Balance sheets, Profit & Loss A/c, Cash flow statements in such a shorter time span as compared to the days I had taken to master the art of writing software. Well, then I have never studied Finance. Apt as it may sound, I'm certainly not trying to endorse the Fox & Grapes story in any manner. On the other hand, I believe in the fable "Slow and steady (read: Study) wins the race".:) I'd certainly try to pick up pace once I find myself thoroughly percolated into the elusive crevices of earnings per share, DER, P/E ratio and things of that clan. Of course, When going gets tough, the Tough get going. How true !!

India won a silver in the Olympics and adding to the joy, the Indian hockey team defeated South Africa 4-2. Just this morning I was going through an article by Rajdeep Sardesai on the NDTVwhere the author had expressed acute contempt at the prevailing attitude of the sportsmen in our country. According to him, cricket in the singular act of vainglory (We still express pride & happiness to the "Kapil dev's 1983 Prudential world cup" folklore whereas the the aussies are on the verge of becoming Quadrupeds) has wiped out the existence of the other sports events where in cricketers bask in the intermittent glories of having defeated Pakistan in some charity match and endorsements, glamour galore. Contrary to this the atheletes have to share a single lodge in multiples while still carrying the pride of the Tricolour on their shoulders. I'm forced to cogitate as to whether CRICKET SHOULD BE BANNED. Smart alecks, what d'ya think ??