International Business Midterm Exam Group C: Fill & Download for Free

If money is not an issue, go for IIM L. It’ll open more doors even some years down the line than FMS will. Many other industry experts and teachers from institutions like TIME etc. abide by this opinion too.Truth be told, FMS lacks the same recognition that IIMs enjoy.FMS always touts its tangible benefit as regards ROI (which is a sham because placements wise FMS doesn’t have the privilege of the same opportunities that IIM L has. For consulting and finance, few companies visit FMS. Even if same companies come in other domains, way more roles are opened and way more students are hired at IIM L. IIM L triumphs FMS by a margin that is more than twice) but never talks about the intangible benefits of socializing and a bunch of other things that you get via the hostel culture.Take Consulting, for instance,From FMS, McKinsey hired 1, BCG 0, and Bain 5 for the batch of 2020. Combined 6 hires.Whereas at IIM L, McKinsey hired 6, BCG 13 & Bain 11. Combined 30 hires. MBB, the Consulting trinity hired 5 times more from IIM L than they did from FMS, despite batch size at IIM L being just twice that of FMS. IIM L placed all its 443 students whereas FMS placed just 219 out of its 230 students (11 chose not to sit for placements for some reason).IIM L has started publishing its placement report. Here are the number of offers made by some of the top firms at IIM L for the batch of 2020, from the published report (link to the same can be found below):Here are mean and median salary stats for IIM L from the same report:So the mean salary for a batch of 443 students was Rs. 24.25 lakhs. For 219 out of 230 students at FMS, the mean salary was Rs. 25.6 lakhs. However, note that IIM L’s average has been impacted by a much larger batch size. More than twice the number of students at FMS were placed at IIM L. It’s safe to assume, the salary for the top 221 students at IIM L, is way above FMS’ mean salary. Since IIM L’s median salary is Rs. 23 lakhs, sorting salary in descending order, the 222nd student would have gotten a package of Rs. 23 lakhs, other 221 students having a salary above Rs. 23 lakhs. (Of course, some would like to make the preposterous assumption that all 221 students could have a salary of Rs. 23 lakhs. Haha)If you choose IIM L over FMS, a few months into the college it will be crystal clear to you that you have made the right decision. What factors make me say this? Well, the following:More companies visiting IIM L and therefore better placement opportunities (as proved above)Better faculty (mostly FPMs from old IIMs) who are seasoned in their trade.A more extensive alum base. FMS has always had a small batch and therefore their alum base and by extension networking opportunities are limited. Additionally, the IIM umbrella is extensive. IIMs ABCL, at least, have a special affinity for each other further expanding your avenues to network. For instance, the 4 colleges participate in an exclusive annual sports event, Sangharsh, where they compete against each other. FMS again is limited in this arena.Stately infrastructure. If I’m gonna spend possibly the best two years of my life somewhere, I want the facilities around me to be magnificent. This can be better understood by looking at the pictures of the respective campuses.IIM L campus:FMS campus:While the IIM L pics above don’t even cover 1% of the 200 acres campus, the FMS pics cover almost the entire campus.Also, FMS has hiked its fees. It’s Rs. 48,000 per semester. In 2 years, a student will end up paying Rs. 1.92 lakhs.FMSites also pay Rs. 40,000 per year to their student council. So it’s Rs. 80,000 in 2 years.Both added it comes down to Rs. 2.72 lakhs in 2 years.Throw in rent, ordering your own food, and traveling back and forth from college (because sadly FMS won’t be at walking distance from your residence).Rent at least Rs. 12,000 per month. For 20 months (let’s be lax and not take it as 24 months), it’s Rs. 2.4 lakhsFood and traveling, at least 350 per day. Adds up to Rs. 10,500 per monthAgain for 20 months, you have expensed 2.1 lakhsSo total comes to, in lakhs, 2.72 +2.4 + 2.1 = Rs. 7.22 lakhsIIM L fees are Rs. 20 lakhs, for 2 years, including mess fees (approximately the same as all the old IIMs).I agree there is a difference but not as much as FMSites make it out to be. FMS keeps saying it’s Rs. 40,000 and conveniently chooses to ignore the rest of the expenses. And tell me, is ROI the only means to infer the value captured from an MBA? If you do consider ROI, you consider the cash flows for how many years post MBA? 1 year, 2 years, 3 years?A career spans more than 30 years and the decision you make now will define you for life. It will brand you for life. Do not be short-sighted or parochial in making this decision.Also, do consider that any ROI calculation consists of two factors: the numerator and the denominator. While the denominator i.e. the fees is fixed, the numerator i.e. the salary you'll get, is variable. With better job opportunities at IIM L, you might very well end up with a higher paying job than you would at FMS (The average salary figures are highly misleading because, as already said, the batch sizes are vastly different).Sorrowfully, the Red “building” of dreams is just that, a red building and the rest of the infrastructure you have to make up for in your dreams. IIM Lucknow, on the other hand, spans a magnificent expanse of 200 acres.Additionally, if you’re an economically underprivileged student, based on your family income, you can get scholarships up to Rs. 3 lakhs per year at IIM L i.e. Rs 6 lakhs for 2 years, bringing the fees to Rs. 14 lakhs.Also, it is always said that IIM L is 35 years old whereas FMS is some 60+ years old. But a person after graduating with an MBA will be active for 40 years tops. After that, a person will retire so those extra years that are being talked about should not count. Also, even though FMS has been around for 60 years, it has always had a small batch size, IIM L, on the other hand, has had a bigger batch size. And here are some verified numbers about the number of alums of each college in the top companies (links to the articles from which these numbers have been taken are provided below)For Consulting-For Finance,For FMCG,Yes, FMS despite being touted as the “Mecca of Marketing” has far fewer alums in even FMCG companies than IIM L has. In fact, the number of alums in the dream Marketing companies like HUL and P&G for FMS isn’t even half of the number of alums that IIM L has in the respective companies.Note: Procter & Gamble (P&G) opens only one role at FMS i.e. Sales. Whereas at IIM L, P&G opens a total of 4 roles: Brand (Marketing), CMK (Customer Research), Corporate Finance, and Sales.Update: Both P&G and Colgate-Palmolive are missing from the Final Placement reports of FMS for the batches of 2019 and 2020 as well as from the Summer Placement report for the batch of 2021. Whereas, IIM L had students joining both P&G and Colgate-Palmolive from the batches of 2019 and 2020 as Full-time employees. Both the companies also hired Summer Interns from the batch of 2021, at IIM L. FMS isn’t even eligible for P&G’s Emerging Leaders Program, which is a great way to bag a Summer Internship there before college begins. Only IIMs ABCL and XLRI are eligible for the same.For Technology & E-commerceSo that about settles the debate. Clearly IIM L alums are greater in number everywhere.I have provided enough data-backed analysis. Make a wise choice for it is the most important one you’ll make!PS. Some of the content of this answer has been picked up from a similar article which was written on Inside IIM and taken down. Not taking full credit for it, even anonymously. Going anonymous because I have seen a lot of heckling and derogatory comments when the truth about a certain college gets spoken!Edit 1:Adding some points that I missed out ona) Peer GroupBelow is the official Batch profile data that was made public by IIM Lucknow for the batch of 2020. The batch strength was 441= 299 Male + 142 Female students. Data about the number of students from IITs, NITs, BITS, SRCC is also provided.You may find similar data for FMS batch of 2020 from the below link. The batch strength was 230. Information about the college background of every student is provided so you will have to manually count the number of students from IITs, NITs, BITS, and SRCC.http://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/2020batchprofile(1).pdfHere is a collated comparison of the % of students from elite backgrounds in each college, for the most recently graduated batch (batch of 2020)As you can see, almost half the students at IIM L hail from an elite background whereas only a quarter of students at FMS hail from an elite background. While IIM L’s batch strength is only twice (x2) that of FMS’, IIM L’s students from elite backgrounds are more than thrice (x3.33) that of FMS’. Your quality of peer learning will be accordingly affected.Additionally, even recruiters are aware of the quality of students at each of the colleges which is why the obvious inclination of Consulting firms like MBB, FMCG firms like P&G and Colgate-Palmolive, etc. to hire way more from IIM L. Even if you don’t have an elite educational background you will benefit from the higher quality-placement opportunities at IIM L due to your peers from an elite background.IIM L gives weightage to academic and gender diversity thereby ensuring that the peer group is rich and diverse, consisting of students from Science, Commerce, and Arts background. There are students from IITs sure but from SRCC, Stephens, etc. For IIM L, this happens by choice because of the selection criteria. FMS having such a CAT skewed criteria is the one that happens to miss out on diversity, ending up with a high proportion of engineers.You can see IIM L’s final admission criteria for yourselfA total of 5% weightage is given to gender and academic diversity. 5% to work ex as well.A total of 10% weightage is given to academic and gender diversity in the initial WAT-PI shortlisting.And here’s FMS’ final admission criteria:While 3% is given to gender diversity, absolutely no weightage for academic diversity. None for work ex either. Peer learning takes a hit at FMS as a result with most of the crowd consisting of freshers who are engineers.b) RigorAt any IIM, including IIM L you’ll go through 6 terms in 2 years. Every term will last 2–3 months with 6–7 courses, 2 books for each course, one midterm, one end term, and on average 4–5 quizzes in each course. You end up reading 12 books and writing 40+ quizzes and exams (taking 7 courses, 4 quizzes, and 2 exams per course) every 3 months.Note: I haven’t included assignments and project presentations in this.FMS has 4 semesters in 2 years and is nowhere close to the rigor you’ll go through at any IIM.The rigor that you’ll go through at any IIM will equip you for the high-pressure corporate environment, making you mentally strong.Additionally, at IIMs (including IIM L) you have access to various databases like Euromonitor, Gartner, etc. for conducting research and studying. This is lacking at FMS, given the fees paid.c) Corporate Case CompetitionsI have seen FMSites waxing eloquent how the lack of rigor allows a student at FMS to be the king/queen of case competitions and bag more case competition wins than any other B school. Allow me to debunk this claim. Below is a comparison of the performance by the students of the 2 B-schools in the various case competitions at the National/International level for the year 2019:Similarly, below is a comparison for the year 2020:As you can clearly see IIM L has won more case competitions than FMS in both the years, so much so that while FMS had only 2 National winners in the year 2019, IIM L had 5 i.e. more than twice.Data for the same has been taken from the Dare2compete website which collates such data for all the colleges and ranks them accordingly. Below are the pertinent links for the year 2020:Competitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesBelow are the pertinent links for the year 2019:Competitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesAdditionally, neither of the 2 colleges featured in the top 10 most competitive colleges as regards case competition performances in either of the 2 years. Below are links to verify the same:Competitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesHow then, FMS hails itself as the King/Queen of case competitions is beyond me. All the case competitions are open to students of IIMs ABCLIK, FMS, XLRI, ISB. Every student has an equal opportunity to showcase his/her caliber. In the end, it is up to an individual how much effort he/she is willing to put in.In the year 2019, for instance, 2 students from IIM L featured amongst the top 5 students across all the B schools as regards case competition performance. First FMS student featured at rank 11 in the list, bested by yet another student from IIM L, however, who was ranked 8th. Below is a link to verify the same:Competitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and Corporatesd) HistoryIt’s said again and again that FMS was founded in 1954.Refer the following link for the truth about the same:Faculty of Management StudiesFMS made a modest beginning with a three year part-time Post graduate management programme in Business Administration for senior and middle level executives in 1954Yes, in 1954 a 3 year part time MBA was started.1967The department starts a full time Master of Business Administration for graduatesOnly in the year 1967 was a full time MBA started, still being a 3-year course though.1991FMS increases the intake capacity of full time MBA Programme from 60 to 90 studentsUntil 1991 the batch size was less than 61 students. That is why FMS’ alum base is also small. I have given enough proof of the alum strength of each college. Also, given that IIM L was established in 1984 (more than 35 years ago), anybody who has passed from either FMS or IIM L a long time back will be at a senior position and anybody who has passed recently will be at a junior position.This is IIM L’s alumni brochure published in the year 2010:http://kaveri.iiml.ac.in/Alumni_Brochure.pdfJust have a look at positions that the IIM L alums held 10 years back (For proof that the brochure was published in 2010, go the second last page. It’ll read 25 years of Alumni Excellence’ i.e. the year 2010). These alums have moved further up and other alums who were at junior positions when this brochure was published have risen up the ranks to senior positions too.Also, The Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management(IISWBM) is the oldest MBA institute in India. I wonder if its age will make it better than all the IIMs, XLRI and FMS. But then, you haven’t even heard its name. Even new IIMs do better than IISWBM.Also, note that IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta were founded in 1961 and IIM Bangalore was founded in 1973. FMS should be better than all of these too if we consider the fallacious age argument. Age argument for FMS only works for new IIMs which are less than 15 years old and for IIMs K and I, for now.e) Placement CommitteeA lot gets said anonymously about the Placement Committee at IIM L on Quora. Notice the theme is always the same. The same baseless false allegations are peddled in these answers. If some high-level corruption or some heinous crime were happening, it would make national level news. I dare you to find even one credible link that will substantiate these claims as regards placement corruption at IIM L. You won’t be able to find anything on IIM L because the slanderous allegations are just that, somebody who didn’t even get a WAT-PI call from IIM L is harboring a grudge against the institute and is trying to malign it.However, there were some allegations that surfaced on B leaks to allege corruption and abuse of power at FMS. Below are screenshots of the same:Note: Everything that has been claimed until now has been backed by solid proofs but I have not personally ascertained the veracity of what surfaced on B leaks. It might be true, it might be false. I would request you to find that out for yourself.FMS PlaceCom Corruption Claim #1:The Placement Secretary is a student who heads the Placement Committee. Strong claims of corruption have been made against him. This post still exists on B leaks. The Placement Secretary that is being talked about here got placed at McKinsey, the only offer that McKinsey gave at FMS was to the said Placement Secretary for the batch of 2020.FMS PlaceCom Corruption Claim #2:This post was later taken down by B leaks. The claim here is that the Placement Committee members at FMS abuse their power to ensure elite placements for themselves. Further, it is claimed that when it was raised to the Dean, she conveniently sided with the FMS Placement Committee. (I reiterate: Don’t take these claims at face value but investigate them yourself)Edit 2:For the year 2020, FMS has done away with the GDPI round altogether and released results. Yes, that’s right, without even interviewing aspirants it released its Admission list for the batch of 2022. It is a very clear example of mismanagement on part of the institute. While, all the IIMs (including IIM L of course), even the new ones have managed to conduct online interviews, FMS didn’t (Yes, these are pressing times but if all other colleges were agile enough to adapt and conduct online interviews, shouldn’t FMS, that claims to be among the top MBA institutions in India do so too?). Let me walk you through the announcements made by FMS that reek of mismanagement and expose the insensitivity and callousness shown towards all the aspirants.#1 FMS GDPI Announcement:On 17th March 2020, FMS postponed its interview process until further notification. Aspirants were left stranded, fervently preparing for the upcoming interviews.Source: http://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/Notice_Postpone_of_Admission_Interviews_2020.pdf#2 FMS GDPI Announcement:On 16th May 2020, the management still looked unsure of when it wanted to conduct the process and left aspirants hanging in the balance speculating about the interview dates when most of the IIMs and other top-tier colleges like NITIE had already released their admission lists.Source:http://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/Notice_Admission_2020_Process_Delay.pdf#3 Direct FMS Results:On 26th May 2020, FMS directly declared the results finding itself mired in a quagmire of mismanagement where almost all the other colleges were already done with their interviews and had declared their results. The aspirants, aggrieved of course, were entitled to a fair chance to prove themselves worthy of admission via the interviews they had been previously promised. The mismanagement is an indictment of the workings of the college. For many aspirants, rightfully indignant as they are having been rejected without any interview, it has emerged as the “Red breaker of dreams”, I’m sorry to say. How many dreams busted per square foot without any opportunity to prove themselves? :(Edit 3:Most of the colleges, including FMS, are struggling to complete their Summer placements for the batch of 2022. IIM Lucknow, on the other hand, has placed 100% of its students from the batch of 2022 in a completely virtual process. Placing 100% of one of the biggest batches of 510 students amidst so much uncertainty and a recession by Day 3 is no small feat but IIM Lucknow achieved it and made it look effortless. Please note that the below article was published on 12th November 2020.Meanwhile, FMS released its 16th admission list for the batch of 2022 on 5th November. There were also reports that FMS’ Summer placement process for batch of 2022 was going on when this admission list was released. Another example of mismanagement?FMS’ Summer placement for its batch of 2022, which has roughly only 250 students, is a rolling process this year. Rolling process is when a college can’t place all its students in a short span of 2–3 days and chooses to do it across many more days, sometimes even months.I would just like to end this with 2 quotes as the Corona crisis has brought to the fore the inner workings and agility of many a college:"Don't wait until you're in a crisis to come up with a crisis plan."-Phil McGraw"Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last, some crisis shows what we have become."-Brooke Foss WestcottSources:FMS Delhi Admission 2020: Eligibility, Criteria, Process, Cut-off; Last Datehttp://www.iiml.ac.in/placement-reportsIIM Lucknow Placements 2020: Highest international CTC offered Rs 58.47 Lhttp://www.iiml.ac.in/sites/default/files/2020-01/1014779915FINAL%20PLACEMENT%20REPORT-28-01-2020.pdfPlacement Reportshttps://insideiim.com/alumni-report-2018-consumer-goods/https://insideiim.com/tech-e-commerce-alumni-report-2018/https://insideiim.com/banking-finance-alumni-report-2018/https://insideiim.com/top-consulting-firms-alumni-report-2019/http://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/2020batchprofile(1).pdfCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesCompetitions, Quizzes, Hackathons, Scholarships and Internships for Students and CorporatesFINAL PLACEMENT REPORT 2018-20FMS Delhi Final Placement Report 2020 - 100% placement achieved | 230 students received 234 offershttp://www.iiml.ac.in/sites/default/files/upload/news/IIML-Admission-Policy-2020-22_CAT2019-310719.pdf (http://www.iiml.ac.in/sites/default/files/upload/news/IIML-Admission-Policy-2020-22_CAT2019-310719.pdf)http://kaveri.iiml.ac.in/Alumni_Brochure.pdfIndian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management - Wikipediahttp://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/Notice_Postpone_of_Admission_Interviews_2020.pdfhttp://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/Notice_Admission_2020_Process_Delay.pdfhttp://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/Notice_Admission_MBAFT2020.pdfIIM Lucknow achieves 100% summer placements in entirely virtual processhttp://fms.edu/sites/default/files/files/MBAFT_16TH_ADMLIST_GEN_2020.pdf